Protect your property against rainwater

When heavy rain is forecast, it’s not only a dampener for your spirits, but can be for your property too. It’s essential to protect your property against rainwater. 

There are steps that you can take to help prevent the damage that excess rainwater can cause. Here’s our top 3 to get you started and help you to avoid a flooded property;

  1. Maintain your roof

The sole purpose of your roof is to keep things out of your property such as the weather and keep things in, such as the heat (when you want to).

If the surface is compromised, it can allow things in and out, which in the case of rainwater is very bad.

Get a professional to check your roof for any damage and keep up with the maintenance to keep the inside of your property dry.

  1. Clear your gutters and drains

Water needs to be able to drain away from your property in order not to flood it. Clogged gutters and drains can instead trap water, making an escape of water (in the wrong place) likely.

Remove debris and leaves from your drains and guttering to keep water flowing freely. If you are unable to do this yourself, seek expert help.

  1. Check doors and windows

It’s possible that the seals on your doors and windows can weaken over time.

Check the seals of your doors and windows to ensure that they are intact and tight. If there are any breakages or weak points, you can arrange for them to be resealed/re-beaded if your windows are in good condition themselves.

If our advice has unfortunately come too late, we can help.

ServiceMaster Restore can professionally dry your property in the event of an escape of water or a flood. If you need our expert help, call 0845 762 6828

Reopening – When it’s safe to do so

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many business operations to a total stand still. With ‘lockdown’ slowly easing, some businesses are finding themselves able to operate again following government advice, in what is commonly known as the ‘new normal’. Here’s some information you may find useful to your business reopening when it’s safe to do so.

Things will be noticeably different though, including social distancing, increased hygiene measures and reduced numbers of individuals in the business at one time.

Three tips on getting back to work safely:

  1. Be organised!

Back to work plan

As things will have changed indefinitely, it’s important to plan ahead as to how things will now work. It’s a good starting point and can ensure that nothing is missed and things run more smoothly.

Risk Assessment

The risks involving your business are now different. Therefore, it’s important to create a new risk assessment to reflect the risk that COVID-19 has brought to your business including your employees and customers.

 

  1. Be clean!

Deep clean & sanitise

As your business has been closed for a period of time, it’s good to get back on top of things with a full deep clean and sanitisation. This is something that you may wish to undertake yourself, or arrange for professional help through a specialist business such as ServiceMaster Restore.

Hygiene procedures

You should also put in to place thorough ongoing hygiene procedures, such as commitments to sanitise ‘high touch’ areas and personal hygiene procedures, such as handwashing, hand sanitiser and/or PPE.

 

  1. Inform & educate!

Signage, guidance & instructions

Customers and employees need to be made aware of what is expected of them whilst on your premises. It’s important to ensure that they have sufficient guidance, instructions and signage to remind them of the procedures in place, i.e. handwashing, 2m distancing and other important safety guidelines.

Outward messaging

Do customers know that you are due to open? Do they know what to expect once they arrive and are within your business? Now is a good time to let them know effectively. Ensure that your message is clear and is communicated via the most effective channels for your customers. The same goes for your employees, let them know as much information as possible before coming back in to work.

There are many more considerations before reopening when it’s safe. If you need further advice on reopening, speak to your local council or visit the .gov website. 

Visit our webpage for further information on our deep cleaning, sanitisation and disinfection services, or give us a call on 0845 762 6828

Post Construction Clean

Post Construction Clean

The construction workers have left, the tools and equipment have gone, but more often than not, dust is left behind on all surfaces, in the air after being disturbed and also in hidden crevices around the property.

It’s a huge task to undertake yourself and there’s always the risk that when you do it yourself that you don’t remove the dust effectively, instead you just move it around.

As professionals in carrying out this type of post construction clean, we’d strongly recommend that you get expert help, however if you are looking at doing this yourself, here are some of our handy hints.

Wipe down all surfaces

You’ll need to remove the settled dust as mentioned before. Remember that dust will have settled in lots of places so you’ll need to be thorough. As well as walls and the obvious surfaces, remember to clean on top of, and inside cupboards and drawers, shelves, window sills, light fittings, and anywhere where the dust may have snuck under or inside.

You’ll need to choose either a dry or wet cloth depending on the surface. It’s always a good idea to do a small patch test before proceeding to clean something entirely, just to ensure that you don’t cause any damage.

Vacuum your carpets and upholstery

Be prepared to empty your vacuum many times as your vacuum works hard to collect lots of dust particles from the fibres of your carpets and upholstery.  As well as your carpets, you should vacuum all upholstery including curtains, cushions, pelmets, sofas and chairs that are made from fabric.

It is a good idea to go over them a couple of times as the first time you may have disturbed the dust in the fibres, and the second you are more likely to remove those that you didn’t the first time.

Attention to detail

Once you have removed the dust (or at least most of it), it’s time to pay more attention to the specific details of your property to make it ‘sparkle’. Here you can use recommended cleaning and polishing products to give your property it’s ‘shine’ back. Remember to always read the product instructions before use for the best results.

You can do this for everything but, your carpets and upholstery, as they will need extra attention. If you don’t have carpet cleaning equipment yourself, you can hire an expert such as ServiceMaster Restore to professionally clean your carpets and upholstery.

That said cleaning up after construction work either in the home or a commercial property is a huge job, so if you’d like help from a team of experts, contact ServiceMaster Restore today for a free, no obligation quotation for our post construction cleaning services.