Tarrytown Plumbing Overflow Experts Are Here

The Steam Team Family with President Jay Hartzell at University of Texas At Austin

Managing a Bathtub Overflow: Quick and Effective Solutions

A bathtub overflow can turn a relaxing bath into a stressful situation. Whether it’s due to a distraction, a faulty faucet, or a clogged drain, dealing with the immediate aftermath and preventing further damage requires swift action and a calm approach. Here’s what you should do if your bathtub overflows.

1. Stop the Water Flow: The first and most crucial step is to stop the flow of water. Locate the water supply valve near the bathtub and shut it off immediately. If the overflow is caused by a clogged drain, removing any excess water can prevent further spillage. Use a bucket, pot, or towels to soak up as much water as possible.

2. Prevent Electrical Hazards: Water and electricity are a dangerous combination. If the overflowing water has reached electrical outlets or appliances in the bathroom, turn off the power supply to the affected area. This precautionary measure ensures safety while dealing with the cleanup process.

3. Address the Cause: Identify the cause of the overflow. If it’s due to a clogged drain, use a plunger or a drain snake to clear the blockage. Avoid using chemical drain cleaners, as they can damage pipes and worsen the situation. If the overflow is caused by a faulty faucet, consider calling a plumber to fix the issue.

4. Inspect for Water Damage: Check the surrounding areas for signs of water damage. Water can seep into floors, walls, and cabinets, leading to mold growth and structural damage if left unaddressed. Use towels, mops, or a wet vacuum to dry the affected surfaces. Place fans and dehumidifiers in the room to facilitate faster drying.

5. Evaluate Flooring and Ceiling Below: If your bathroom is on an upper floor, or if the water has seeped through the floor, inspect the ceiling below for water damage. Water stains, sagging, or discoloration are signs of water infiltration. Addressing these issues promptly can prevent further structural damage.

6. Contact Professionals if Necessary: If the overflow has caused significant water damage, it’s advisable to contact professionals. Water restoration companies specialize in assessing and mitigating water damage. They have the expertise and equipment to thoroughly dry and dehumidify the affected areas, preventing mold growth and further deterioration.

7. Prevent Future Overflows: To prevent future bathtub overflows, consider installing an overflow drain cover. These devices act as a secondary drain, preventing water from spilling over. Regularly clean the drain to remove hair, soap scum, and debris, reducing the risk of clogs. Additionally, be mindful of the water level while filling the tub, ensuring it does not reach the overflow opening.

8. Review Homeowner’s Insurance: If the water damage is extensive, review your homeowner’s insurance policy. Most policies cover water damage caused by sudden and accidental events. Contact your insurance provider to report the incident and initiate the claims process if necessary.

In summary, a bathtub overflow demands quick and efficient action to prevent further damage and ensure a safe environment. By promptly stopping the water flow, addressing the cause, and taking measures to dry and assess the affected areas, you can minimize the impact of the overflow. If the situation is beyond your control, don’t hesitate to seek professional assistance. Regular maintenance and awareness of potential risks can also go a long way in preventing future overflows, ensuring a peaceful and stress-free bathing experience.

Have You Been Neglecting To Clean These 4 Areas Of The Home?

Water Damage Austin

Having your own house or apartment comes with a lot of responsibility, like deep cleaning all areas of the home every once in a while. Wiping down all the surfaces and doing detailed cleaning of appliances and all the nooks and crannies of your home can be exhausting, especially without any professional help. Because of how big of a task it can be to clean your entire home, there are many areas that people forget about entirely. Let’s talk about those commonly overlooked areas, and how you can clean them like a pro.

Vents

Getting dust off of shelves, tables and other surfaces is good, but what about the dust still left in the air? Are you making sure to also clean the source of that air? Dirty air vents can affect your everyday health, and unfortunately most people don’t clean them as often as they should. Next time you wonder why your cabinets are so dusty, check the vents.

Drapes

Most homeowners will clean their windows, but forget about the drapes completely, or think they don’t need cleaning. Dust, dirt, pollen and even mold can accumulate on drapes left unchecked. Many drapes can’t be cleaned in the washing machine, and require special attention. So be sure you know what kind of clean your drapes need.

Beneath Appliances

Under and behind many appliances might just be the dirtiest places in your home. Many people never clean these areas at all! Dirt, dust, grime and food can build up in these areas, and you can’t avoid cleaning them forever! If you don’t want to pull out that refrigerator or washing machine and clean all around it, call The Steam Team and let us do it!

Baseboards

Baseboards are often never cleaned, even though cleaning them doesn’t take too much time or effort. They can easily collect dust and dirt over time. Cleaning them can be done with just a damp cloth or a wipe.

How We Can Help

If these areas are too difficult or too inconvenient for you to clean, keep in mind that The Steam Team technicians can do it all! So stop letting these areas of your home get dirtier by the day, give us a call. Visit The Steam Team website for more information.

How To Keep The Air Clean and Fresh in Your Place of Business

Austin, Texas Water Damage

Owning a business means you have many factors to think about, and the quality of your air ducts might not be very high on that list. But neglecting to have the air system in your business cleaned can have disastrous impacts for your customers or clients, as well as your employees, and yourself. Here’s what you need to know about keeping your air clean and fresh.

Why It Matters

Forgetting or procrastinating on having your business's air ducts clean can have several negative effects. For one, when dirt and debris accumulates in the air ducts, it becomes harder for the HVAC system to do its job, leading to higher energy costs for the building as the HVAC compensates.

Not cleaning the air ducts can also be harmful to the health of employees, customers or anyone else in the building. The buildup of dust and debris will re-enter the air, causing people to have allergies and respiratory issues. If the air ducts have any humidity or leaks mold could begin to grow, which would then enter the air and be even more harmful to people in the building than dust. Because of this, any responsible business owner should know to always keep the air ducts clean by hiring professional commercial air duct cleaners.

Steam Team Commercial Duct Cleaning

When you call in The Steam Team professional technicians, we’ll arrive with powerful, st

ate-of-the-art equipment and begin cleaning the air ducts in your building. We will efficiently clean the interior of the air handler cabinet, the blower assemblies, the return and supply plenum, the cooling and heating coils and the condensate pan. We even treat the non-porous interior surfaces of the air ducts with bactericides and fungicides.

For more information on our air duct cleaning and our many other services, visit The Steam Team website.

Understanding The Dangers Of Plumbing Overflow, And What You Can Do About It

Austin Texas water restoration

You’d be surprised how unexpectedly and quickly plumbing overflow can flood your home or business. You need to understand plumbing overflow and what you can do about it, and that’s why we’re here to help. With years of hands-on experience with plumbing overflow and the resulting flooding, nobody is more qualified to help than The Steam Team.

Potential Dangers To Your Flooring

No matter what kind of flooring you have, flooding caused by plumbing overflow can do alot of damage to your floor. But water can also damage the subfloor underneath your flooring if it isn’t cleaned up soon enough. With spills this is easy to do, but in the case of plumbing overflow you won’t be able to prevent the water damage, and the floor and subfloor may need to be removed. In cases where the plumbing overflow occurred on a second or third story, the water may leak through the floor and drip from the ceiling of the lower floor, causing further damage to whatever surface it lands on.

Health Risks

As if it wasn’t bad enough worrying about your floor and other surfaces of your home, there are also potential risks to your own health. If the floors are wet, keep that in mind and take all precautions so that you can try not to slip if you must walk on the wet floor. Also, be sure to stay away from any electrical outlets that may have gotten wet, as they might electrocute you.

Mold Growth

Another potentially harmful effect of plumbing overflow is the mold that can grow in unseen places of your home, which can further cause health issues. It can happen anywhere dark with just a little bit of moisture, and it can quickly become a health hazard for anyone in the home.

Professional Cleanup and Plumbing Repair

When it comes to mold growth, but also floor damage and the other jobs required when you have plumbing overflow in your home, The Steam Team can help you! Our professional technicians are trained to use high-powered technology and expert methods to fix all of your plumbing overflow problems. For more information on how we can help, please visit The Steam Team website.

How The Steam Team of Austin Can Fix Your Leaky Appliances

Water Damage Restoration

The most common damage to occur in homes and businesses around the world is water damage. Water damage can be extremely costly to fix, but you can avoid it altogether with the right practices. One common cause of disastrous water damage is leaky appliances, so keep a close eye on any appliances that use water and look out for the signs of a leak. If you do happen to find a leak, call in The Steam Team. Here’s how we can help:

Professional Cleanup and Leak Repair

When you’ve called in our Steam Team professional technicians, they’ll quickly address the problems of your leaky appliance. They’ll come with all the equipment necessary for water extraction, leak cleanup, water damage restoration and structural drying. Even overflowing or burst appliances like sinks, dishwashers, AC units, or water heaters will be no problem for our skilled technicians. They’ll also provide plumbing overflow cleanup services. Any overflowing drain, burst pipe, toilet, shower or tub will be fixed up in no time! There’s nothing our technician’s can’t handle!

The Steam Team

If you have leaky appliances, burst pipes, or any of the problems listed above, there are many services and companies to choose from to have your problems fixed, so what set The Steam Team apart?

Well first of all, our services will likely be more convenient for your spending, since we offer free inspections and free onsite estimates for all jobs that our technicians do. We also offer direct insurance billing for your convenience. But more importantly, we always have someone ready to take your call, and technicians ready to meet your needs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our technicians will quickly reach your worksite after you’ve called, since most of our services are time sensitive.

For more information on our many other services, visit The Steam Team website.

How To Safely Clean Up After Fire Damage in Austin, Texas

Austin Cleaing Professionals

​Nobody wants to think they’ll have a fire occur in their Austin, Texas home or business, but they’re more common than you may think. It's important to know how you’re going to clean up after such a disastrous event, and how to do it safely. You might be thinking of cleaning up the mess yourself and restoring your home or business to its former glory. But before you get in there and start scrubbing, here are some things you might want to know. Call your fire damage cleaning Austin, Texas headquarters.

Harmful Chemicals For Fire Damage Clean Up

The modern home in Austin is filled with all sorts of chemical compounds that can become dangerous when they combust or combine with other chemicals. In the event of a fire, the smoke can contain many of these dangerous chemicals and should under no circumstances be inhaled.

Carbon Monoxide

Inhaling carbon monoxide (which is in smoke) can decrease your body’s supply of oxygen. This can cause reduced alertness, headaches, aggravate existing heart conditions and cause a variety of other health concerns.

Irritation and Nausea

There are also more immediate effects that almost anyone will have when exposed to smoke, such as irritation in the eyes, nose and throat, as well as an odor that can sometimes cause nausea. These are all signs from your body telling you to stay far away from the smoke.

At-Risk Individuals

Infants, children, and the elderly are particularly at risk of health issues as a result of smoke and soot. No children, seniors, or anyone with a weakened immune system should get near a room or building that has just had a fire.

Long-Term Health Risks

Long term exposure to smoke has been associated to an increase in cardiovascular diseases. Some studies have shown that firefighters, for example, are more likely to develop long-lasting respiratory issues and cardiovascular disease.

A Safer Way To Clean Up After Fires in Austin, Texas

Because of all of the reasons listed above, and many more, it is highly unsafe to try cleaning and restoring a fire damaged home yourself. To keep you and your loved ones safe, hand the job over to the professionals. The Steam Team of Austin who are experts will be able to safely restore your home, business or room, without your safety or the safety of your loved ones at risk.Call for a free fire damage restoration estimate in Austin.

Signs Of Hardwood Floor Water Damage And How To Fix Them

Austin, Texas Water damage restoration

Here at The Steam Team of Austin, we pride ourselves on our technician’s excellent knowledge of water damage hardwood flooring, and how to fix them. If you think your hardwood floor may have been water damaged, you’ll want to keep reading to find out what you can do about it. If you’re not sure, but you’ve owned hardwood flooring for a few years, here are some signs to look out for. Austin water damage professionals.

Water Damage Floors Buckling Marks and Scratches

Most wooden floors have a sealant designed to help protect the hard wood itself from water damage. When something scratches deep enough or water to penetrate the seal, the boards are exposed and will warp. Pay attention to the water on your floor, and if any of it penetrate the seal, it’s time to call in The Steam Team of Austin to extract, dry out and refinish your floor.

Austin Water Damage

Austin water damage is extremely common in hardwood floors, and may be happening without you even realizing it. Water damage under the floorboards can occur for a number of different reasons, but will usually result in dark spots appearing on the floor and separation or cupping of the boards. When you see this, it’s time to have your floor refinished and possibly have some of the boards replaced.

Pay close attention to the color of your floor as well. If you notice that your boards have turned gray, it might be a result of the polyurethane wearing off, leaving your boards more susceptible from water damage due to spills or regular cleaning. When you see this, have your hardwood sanded and refinished soon, before the boards turn black. Once they’ve turned black, they’ll need to be replaced entirely. Call Austin water damage restoration emergency service at 512-451-8326 now.

Similarly, If you have a hardwood floor outdoors, keep an eye on the color. If it fades in color it may be damaged from the sun. Sanding and refinishing will take care of this as well.

How Austin Water Damage Help

We hope that the information provided will help you keep your hardwood floors in great condition for years to come. For more information on the many services we offer, visit The Steam Team website.

How Steam Team Technicians Repair Your Leaky Appliances

water Damage Repair

Through the years of experience cleaning and restoring countless homes, The Steam Team restoration technicians have learned a thing or two from lots of water damage experience. One important thing we’ve learned is that every home or business owner needs to keep a close eye on their appliances for potential water damage and leaks. Far too often, people don’t notice leaky appliances until the water has already done significant damage to the property. Let’s talk about how The Steam Team can help when you’ve found a leak in your appliance to prevent water damage. Things like water heaters or fire suppression systems.

Repairing Leaky Appliances

When you catch a leak in your home or business, whether it's just starting to drip or it has already caused flooding and water damage, call in The Steam Team and our restoration technicians will be there in no time. They’ll arrive with only the most effective restoration equipment for water extraction, leak cleanup, water damage restoration and even structural drying. We can handle any burst or overflowing appliances including AC units, water heaters, dishwashers and sinks. Any overflowing drain or pipe in the home will be easily handled by our technicians as well. 

Steam Team Water Damage Experience

When it comes to plumbing and leaky appliance issues, certainly there are other restoration companies or restoration contractors that you could hire for repairs, so you might be wondering what it is that sets The Steam Team professional technicians apart from other groups. Well first of all, our pricing policies on all water damage restoration services. We offer direct insurance billing for your convenience, as well as free inspections and free onsite estimates from all of our technicians. But if that isn’t enough to convince you, you should also know that we always have someone available to take your call and we always have technicians ready to be sent to fix your leaks, since we have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week availability when it comes to water damage in Austin. We know that your leaky appliances and plumbing issues are time sensitive, so we strive to have a team of skilled and readily available restoration technicians.

For more information on appliance leak repair to prevent water damage and our many other restoration services, please visit The Steam Team website. We have been serving Austin for 40 years. Since 1983 our water damage team has been helping Austin recover from water damage.

Fire Damage and Safety: Protect Yourself and Your Family- Austin Tx

With the recent fires in California, many homeowners are dealing with the tragedy of smoke damage first-hand. When fire damages our property, it leaves behind a trail of smoke, soot, and ash that can permanently destroy our furniture and possessions. It’s devastating to our homes, our belongings, and sometimes even our lives. Today, The Steam Team wants to stress how important your safety is when faced with fire or fire damage. Where there’s fire, there’s smoke -- smoke can potentially be extremely dangerous.

Following a fire, many homeowners first instinct is to rush to the scene to assess the damage. The most important factor here, however, is time. Do not rush-- take things slowly, instead, call the professionals for help. Fire and smoke damage should always be handled by the professionals, and safety must remain the top priority!

Safety is Our Top Priority

When The Steam Team comes in to help clean up after fire damage, safety is our top priority. The safety of you, your family, and our technicians. That’s why we follow rigorous safety guidelines and ensure that every area is properly ventilated throughout the entire process.

Equipment and Execution

Wearing the proper masks to protect from smoke inhalation and ash, our technicians always use the most advanced and effective equipment. Following our custom and proven method, they’ll properly ventilate each area that was touched by the fire and bring in the equipment to begin removal.

Practice Proper Safety Moving Forward

In the days and weeks following the fire damage, it’s always recommended to take extra safety precautions to protect yourself and your family from any contaminants that may still be lingering in the air.

With professional-grade equipment and extensive knowledge, The Steam Team will restore your home to its previous condition! Give us a call today to learn more- and don’t forget that we’re available in emergency situations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

How to Get Rid of Dirty Carpets

The Steam Team Austin, Texas

Ah, carpet flooring… it’s comfortable, cozy, and cushiony. It can be made in a multitude of different colors, textures, and designs. We can match it perfectly with our furniture. Carpet adds warmth to a bedroom or living room, and provides a cushioned landing for small children at play. But proper cleaning and maintenance keeps a homeowner quite busy! Carpet can potentially stain very easily, and requires regular attention.

Routine Cleaning & Stain Prevention

Dust, dirt, and pet hair build up at a surprisingly rapid rate. This makes frequent vacuuming imperative to maintaining carpet flooring, and even lengthening its lifespan. Hopefully your vacuum cleaner has extra attachments for reaching areas like corners, baseboards, or even between couch cushions!

When it comes to areas of your home with higher traffic, you may consider asking your house members and guests to remove their shoes near the front door. The soles of our shoes can track in anything from sand, to mud, grass, or small pebbles… All of which are things we could find in our carpet at a later date!

There is much debate surrounding the “best,” method of removing stains in carpet. When using a cleaning solution, be sure that the product you’ve chosen is designed to be used on carpet, and check to find out whether or not it should be diluted.

Is it Time to Deep Clean Your Carpet?

Over time, our carpet takes enough beating to warrant an occasional deep cleaning, and this is best done by a professional steam cleaning company! Steam cleaning uses intense water pressure and high temperatures to eradicate dirt, debris, and stains from just about any type of flooring.

Companies such as The Steam Team will definitely have the perfect tools for this project:  professional grade equipment, solid expertise, and dependable customer service. Don’t hesitate to give The Steam Team a call today for efficient stain removal and carpet cleaning!