Frequently asked questions

A person answers at any hour and the technician calls back with an arrival time for your street. There is no fixed number of minutes, because an arrival window that ignores which town you are in is not a commitment anyone can keep. Emergency water work is the service this business does most, and the call back comes from the technician who is on the way.

Shut the water off at the main if you can reach it, stay out of standing water near outlets, and photograph everything before anything moves. Do not use bleach on wet materials, and lift what you can off the wet floor.

It depends on the category of the water and on how long it sat. Under the S500 standard, clean water reached in time is often dried in place, gray water usually means the pad comes out, and contaminated water means the carpet and other porous materials are removed rather than cleaned.

It runs until the readings say the material is back to a dry standard, which is a measurement rather than a fixed number of days. Moisture is read at set points each day and written down, and the S500 standard expects exactly that record for each day a drying project is active.

It depends on the cause, and flood is the exception worth knowing about: flood damage is excluded from almost every standard homeowners policy and needs a separate National Flood Insurance Program policy. Standard policies also carry a duty to mitigate, which is why leaving a property wet can be read as neglect and why the drying is documented from the first day.

About ten square feet or less, roughly a three foot by three foot patch, which is the EPA guidance for a homeowner. Fix the water first, because the EPA is equally clear that mold cleaned up without fixing the water problem will most likely come back.

Almost always, because mold needs moisture to grow. The first job is finding and drying the source, whether that is a leak behind a finish, ground water in a basement, condensation on a cold surface or humidity that never drops.

Fast enough that the EPA sets the window at 24 to 48 hours: dry water damaged areas and items inside that time to prevent mold growth. Past that window, assume growth until a meter and an inspection say otherwise.

No. New Jersey has no state mold remediation license, so nobody in this state can be described as state licensed for mold. What can be checked is IICRC certification and the registration number a home improvement contractor has to carry in its advertising.

No. A musty smell means affected material is still there or the space is still wet, so the source is removed and the space is dried instead. Where air and soft goods need treatment after that, hydroxyl and HEPA filtration are used.

It is the written statement, at the end of the job, that the area was cleaned, dried and checked. Independent laboratory clearance is a separate step. Where a sale, a landlord or a carrier wants a third party result, ask for one, so the result does not come from the company that did the removal.

Most carpet is walkable in about two hours and dry the same day, sooner with airflow and lower humidity. The method is hot water extraction with the approach matched to the fiber.

Most everyday soil and many stains come out. Some do not, and where a stain will not lift, that is said at the estimate rather than discovered after the work.

Yes. The products are EPA registered and safe around pets and children, and anything applied is named before the work.

Yes. Rugs are inspected by hand and washed with a pH balanced method matched to wool, silk or synthetic fiber. A small rug can be cleaned in place; a rug that needs dusting, immersion and flat drying is collected and returned, and a wool rug is dried fully before it goes back down.

To its W, S, WS or X cleaning code, matched to the fabric. The tag is read before anything is applied, and upholstery is usually dry in about four to eight hours.

Air ducts yes, to the NADCA standard, and most often as part of a water damage or mold job where the system carried the problem through the property. Routine dryer vent cleaning goes to AMG Duct Cleaning, the same owner's dedicated duct company with its own profile and reviews.

Because a chimney is one of the commonest paths rain takes into a house: a cracked crown, a missing or damaged cap, lifted flashing where the chimney meets the roof, or masonry that has never been sealed. The ceiling and wall damage that stain represents is water work, and it is dried and repaired the same way any other water loss is.

At least once a year. The Chimney Safety Institute of America quotes the national standard as requiring chimneys, fireplaces and vents to be inspected annually for soundness, freedom from deposits and correct clearances.

A level 1 covers the readily accessible parts of the chimney and the appliance connection and is the annual check when nothing has changed and nothing is wrong. A level 2 adds the accessible parts of the attic, crawl space and basement plus a video scan of the flue, and it is what applies on a sale or transfer, after a chimney fire, and when the fuel or the appliance changes. A level 3 goes further and can mean opening part of the building, and it is used only where a concealed hazard is suspected.

Yes. The Chimney Safety Institute of America states that the annual standard applies even to a little used chimney, because animals build nests in an unused flue and other deterioration can make the chimney unsafe whether or not anything is burned in it.

Passaic, Essex, Hudson, Union, Bergen and Morris counties in New Jersey. This is a service area business: the work is done at your property, and there is no storefront and no drop off point.

24 hours a day, by appointment. A person answers at any hour for an emergency, and non emergency visits are booked for a time that suits the property.

Yes. The business is licensed and insured, IICRC certified, and family owned since 2010. Ask at the estimate which certifications the technician on your job holds, and for the New Jersey home improvement contractor registration number, which a home improvement contractor in this state has to carry in advertising.

Call, or send the form with a photograph of the area, and the estimate is free and written before any work begins with no hidden fees. Photographs help most on a water or mold call, because they let the technician arrive with the right equipment rather than coming back for it.