Top Signs That You May Have a Slab Leak

Do you think you have a slab leak? Here are the top signs! If you think you have a slab leak in san diego or orange county call Rapid Restoration asap!

1. If you have started to notice moisture or mildew underneath your carpeting or if you see cracks in your tile floors or bubbles in your linoleum floors, this could be a sign of a leak.  As the water from a leak starts to collect, it has nowhere to go but up.

2.  Usually, hot water line leaks are discovered sooner, because you can feel them right under your feet!  If you start to notice that one particular area of your floor is warm, it could be a sign that a hot water line is leaking underneath your slab.

3. If you have better ears than mine and listen carefully, you may be able to hear the hissing or splashing sound of running water.

4. If you see cracks in your baseboards or walls, it could be a sign of a slab leak. Since your slab is one single piece that’s made of concrete and steel, it doesn’t give at all. A leak can cause the entire thing to shift. As your foundation shifts, it will start to impact your entire home – even walls and floors that are nowhere near the leak.

5. If it seems like your pool is constantly losing water, you may have a leak.

6. If your water pressure has suddenly gotten very low, it could be a sign of a slab leak. Many slab leaks occur in the main water line – or where the water flows into your home from the outside. If there is even a tiny leak in your water line, your water pressure will drop significantly.

7. If your water bills have skyrocketed all of a sudden – and you have no idea why – it could be a sign of a leak somewhere. The damage from slab leaks can add up quickly; a pinhole-sized hole in one of your pipes can leak out more than 10,000 gallons of water in just one month!

8. See what your water meter is doing. Make sure that all of your faucets are turned off, that the toilet is not running, and that the washing machine or dishwasher is not on, go outside, and take a look at your water meter. The dial should not be moving. If it is, you likely have a leak somewhere.

9. Check your leak detectors. Some water meters have leak detectors inside of them that look like a small black or white triangle or wheel. If it is spinning – or moving at all – it means that you have a leak somewhere.

10. Check your water meter reading. Make sure there is no water running anywhere in your house, then go outside and read the numbers on your water meter. Leave all the water off for at least half an hour then check the numbers again. If the number has gone up, you’ll know you have a leak somewhere. And, the higher the number climbs in that half hour, the bigger you’ll know your leak is.

San Diego Water Damage Restoration

Rapid Restoration can restore your property to your satisfaction if you have experienced a water damage loss.  Our technicians are experts at handling emergency flood response calls and immediately putting you at ease by drying down your property with the latest technology and methodology.

Our construction division will walk you step by step through the reconstruction process to ensure your satisfaction.

Rapid Restoration may be one of the premier San Diego water Damage companies, but our reach includes all of Southern California with our various services that we offer.  Our services include water damage restoration, mold remediation, full reconstruction services, full plumbing services, heating and air conditioning services, power washing, carpet cleaning, tile and grout cleaning, upholstery cleaning, concrete staining, natural stone care, and smoke and fire remediation and reconstruction.

If you are experiencing a water damage emergency, or if we can help you in any way, please feel free to call us at (877) 997 2743  or visit our website at https://rrflood.com/

Mold growth in San Diego

Even though this is considered a “La Nina” year which typically brings cold and dry weather with it, San Diego has experienced a pretty rainy winter.  Heavy rains and volatile weather can cause wind damage to roofs, which can lead to water damage to ones property.  The water damage, if untreated, can lead to mold growth in your property.

Mold has been linked to several health issues when people experience prolonged exposure.  To make sure you don’t risk the health of you and your family, call ACME Flood to come to see if your property has mold issues that need to be re-mediated.  Call us at (877) 997 2743 or visit our website at www.rrflood.com for more information on mold.

Health Effects and Symptoms Associated with Mold Exposure

http://healthandenergy.com/mold.htm

There are four kinds of health problems that come from exposure to mold:

Mold can trigger an allergic  reaction and asthma in sensitized individuals (repeated exposure to mold or mold spores sometimes causes previously non-sensitive individuals to become sensitized). About 15 million Americans are allergic to mold. The most common reactions are flu-like symptoms and asthma. Those with chronic lung or immune problems, are at risk for more serious reactions like fever, lung infections and a pneumonia-like illness.
Some toxic molds such as Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Penicillium, Stachybotrys, and  Trichoderma produce mycotoxins capable of causing severe health problems.

When mold grows indoors in moist organic materials, building occupants may begin to notice odors and suffer a variety of health problems associated with mold exposure.

Allergies
Inhaling or touching mold or mold spores can cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Allergic reactions to mold are common, these reactions can be immediate or delayed up to six hours. Allergic reactions include:

  • Respiratory problems, such as cough, sneezing, wheezing, infection, and/or difficulty in breathing
  • Hay fever-type symptoms
  • Nose and throat irritation
  • Nasal or sinus congestion
  • Watery, reddened, or burning eyes
  • Sensitivity to light
  • Red eyes
  • Runny nose
  • Sneezing
  • Dermatitis ( skin rash or irritation)
  • Headache
  • Fatigue

Asthma
Molds can trigger asthma attacks in persons who are allergic (sensitized) to molds.

Irritant Effects
Even in non-allergic (non-sensitized) people, mold exposure can cause irritation of the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs of both mold-allergic and nonallergic people.

Opportunistic Infections
People with weak immune systems (i.e., immune-compromised or immune-suppressed individuals) are more vulnerable to infections by molds (as well as more vulnerable than healthy persons to mold toxins). Aspergillus fumigatus, for example, has been known to cause aspergillosis in the lungs of immune-compromised individuals. These individuals inhale the mold spores which then start growing in their lungs. Trichoderma has also been known to infect immune-compromised children.

Healthy individuals are usually not vulnerable to opportunistic infections from airborne mold exposure. However, molds can cause common skin diseases, such as athlete’s foot, as well as other infections such as yeast infections.
Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis may develop following either short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic) exposure to molds. The disease resembles bacterial pneumonia and is uncommon.

Mold spores are hardened containers, which possess all the DNA instructions needed to create new mold creatures, aerial eggs as it were. If they bump into dry walls they just rebound and go back to floating, but when they bump into wet walls they stick. Out of the broken open shell a single creature’s body appears, then a groping arm grows from that body, a leathery hypha, albino and clear, and then from that hypha grows another, and another, and then many, many others more. These hyphae are used by molds to obtain nourishment.  For some species it is the sulfur grains in concrete that are sought, in others it’s the metals in paint, or the glue in wallpaper, or even, for one especially abundant species, found at some time in almost every house in northern temperate climates, it will be the actual antibiotic poisons that the wood they land on produces which they slurp up and use as food. The hyphae excrete enzymes that break down complex organic materials. All over your house these freshly appearing mold creatures will plug into the walls via their hyphae.

Mold typically grows on organic materials that remain moist for more than 24 hours. Materials exposed to high humidity can become moist enough to support mold growth.. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by some molds are toxic and associated with “Sick Building Syndrome“.

Not everything the hyphae absorb can be handled by the main body of the creature further back. Many are too poisonous, and any mold that did accept them would lose its suction grip, unplug from the feeding spot, and fall poisoned to the floor. The way they get out of this problem is by spraying out the excess they don’t need, releasing it in gaseous aerosols. At any moment during the day there will be freshly landed molds on the room walls in your home, aerosolizing carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, ethanol fumes, various alcohols, and much else. Concentrations are generally too low to detect except with special equipment, but there are exceptions. Some are favorable, as with those wall molds related to the wild truffles, which produce an especially delectable emanation; but some of the exceptions are less pleasant, as with the molds that produce a musty or a rubbery smell. When the mold levels are high enough to produce this you’re likely to be able to see them too, enormous colonies, which appear to us as an unpleasant fur. But even when the density is too low to see they’re there, many thousands of separately plugged in mold individuals on a home’s inner walls. In older houses, old layers of paint surviving from the 1920s are likely to contain arsenic — it was used as an oil binder — and fungi plugging in from newer layers above will spray out an arsenic derivative like everything else. At one time this was a hazard, but now there’s so little of this old paint left around that it doesn’t matter. The last poisoning in England from an arsenic derivative released by wall fungi was in 1931.

If enough moisture is available for the mold to emerge from hibernation, they are very likely to start growing on your walls. Most of the mold spores you get were probably produced locally, and any especially damp building in the neighborhood will act as a fertile nursery. Other mold spores come from further away, and the British meteorological service’s sampling aircraft have detected them arriving in Britain across the sea from all sides, with buoyant flights across the North Sea from Denmark taking only two day or so with a fair wind. In the U.S. they can be blown from Texas to Minnesota within a week. The spores can last up to forty years before hatching.

 

Rain Is Coming- Have you checked your roof for leaks?

Weather experts are predicting that we are headed into an El Nino season, which usually means heavier rain levels than normal for Southern California.  While we welcome the rain especially in light of fire season and agricultural needs it can bring to the forefront some issues.  We recommend that everyone check their homes for roof leaks, if left unattended they can create property destruction and health issues related to mold.  Rapid Restoration is available to help you with both preventative measures as well as restoration, in case damage has already been done.

Mold & Your Health from the Center for Disease Control (CDC)

Mold and Your Health

Exposure to damp and moldy environments may cause a variety of health effects, or none at all. Some people are sensitive to molds. For these people, molds can cause nasal stuffiness, throat irritation, coughing or wheezing, eye irritation, or, in some cases, skin irritation. People with mold allergies may have more severe reactions. Immune-compromised people and people with chronic lung illnesses, such as obstructive lung disease, may get serious infections in their lungs when they are exposed to mold. These people should stay away from areas that are likely to have mold, such as compost piles, cut grass, and wooded areas.

Mold and Your Home

Mold is found both indoors and outdoors. Mold can enter your home through open doorways, windows, vents, and heating and air conditioning systems. Mold in the air outside can also attach itself to clothing, shoes, bags, and pets can and be carried indoors.

Mold will grow in places with a lot of moisture, such as around leaks in roofs, windows, or pipes, or where there has been flooding. Mold grows well on paper products, cardboard, ceiling tiles, and wood products. Mold can also grow in dust, paints, wallpaper, insulation, drywall, carpet, fabric, and upholstery.

You Can Control Mold

Inside your home you can control mold growth by:

  • Keeping humidity levels between 40% and 60%;
  • Promptly fixing leaky roofs, windows, and pipes;
  • Thoroughly cleaning and drying after flooding;
  • Ventilating shower, laundry, and cooking areas.

Mold growth, which often looks like spots, can be many different colors, and can smell musty. If you can see or smell mold, a health risk may be present. No matter what type of mold is present, you should remove it. Since the effect of mold on people can vary greatly, either because of the amount or type of mold, the best practice is to remove the mold and work to prevent future growth.

Rapid Restoration are experts at Mold Remediation give us a call 877.997.2743 with any mold questions or concerns

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