It’s that time of year again! Most people start looking for that perfect Christmas tree about a month from the treasured holiday. For some families, they simply go out and buy an artificial tree and spend an evening putting it together and decorating it with their family. Other families prefer to go out to a Christmas tree lot and buy one from a tree dealer. Then there are those that prefer the age-old tradition of going out onto a tree farm or out into the woods to find their very own Christmas tree. If that’s your idea of a good time, then lets talk about the perfect Christmas tree!

We don’t want to be a downer, but the most important thing to remember is safety when you plan on going out to cut your very own Christmas tree. There are two main options that you can choose for cutting down your own Christmas tree.

First, there are tree farms all over the place outside of most cities and towns around the holiday season. Find one that is in your area and call them to ask about the rules on their tree farm. Some have different prices, rules and amenities. You will find that some of the tree farms have other attractions like the option to take a hay or horse and buggy ride or even get your picture taken with Santa! Some tree farms will have tools ready for you to use to chop down your tree, others will require you to have your own tools (ax, saw or chainsaw) and some will even do it for you, but what’s the fun in that?

If you’ve never chopped down a tree, don’t think that it’s easy to use an ax. Healthy, green trees can take some hard work to chop down with an ax and often the tree will have jagged edges. It’s usually best to use a saw or chainsaw if possible on your tree. Some tree farms will allow you to use a chainsaw, but it’s best to call before you leave just to make sure. You can typically use a chainsaw in some forests or parks, but you should always call your ranger station before you go to learn the rules for your local forest or park. Saws and chainsaws leave clean smooth edges and are usually easier to deal with when setting your tree in its base when you get it home.

If you plan on going out into the forest or park to get your tree make sure that you and your family dress appropriately and it’s a good idea to bring along a snack or a lunch, especially if you’re going to be traveling or walking a long distance to get your tree. If it’s cold make sure to dress warm and wear good waterproof boots, if there’s a chance that you will have to go through wet areas or mud.

After you pick your location, you get your tools ready, your have your food packed and you’re dressed for the occasion, don’t forget that your tree may be pretty heavy. A good tip is to bring something to tie or wrap your tree up so it can be easily moved and not drag half the forest back to your vehicle with you. If you have a sled to pack your tree out, bring it. A sled can make a world of difference when moving a 150 lb tree a few miles through rough terrain. Don’t forget to make sure your tree gets plenty of water after you cut it. If you fail to get your tree into water quickly, it may dry out and seal the cut meaning that you will have to cut it again at the base. We hope that you tree is perfect and that you and your family have a beautiful Christmas and holiday season! Tarion is a private corporation which was founded in 1976 to protect the rights of new home buyers and regulate new home builders.

Bad things happen and while there are professionals to help you handle different situations in life, more often than not, they’re only there to help you ‘after the fact’. When most problems happen, you’re the only one there so if you’ve planned ahead at least you’ll be able to mitigate some of the consequences of what happened. In this case, let’s talk about home trauma emergencies.

What are home trauma emergencies?

They include things like cutting yourself with a knife in the kitchen, running the lawn mower over your foot (or somebody else’s), falling off a ladder, dropping the baby when you were trying to make a funny home video, and the list goes on.

There’s another category of home trauma cleanup that a lot more serious. It’s called ‘crime scene cleanup’ and it’s a huge industry too. The technical term for this type of service is CTS Decon (Crime and Trauma Scene Decontamination). In this kind of trauma cleanup services, it’s usually assumed somebody was either severely injured or killed. Many of the same procedures for minor home trauma are equally applicable to CTS Decon.

The overriding concern with home trauma emergency is to return the area to its pre-incident state of cleanliness. The biggest danger in any kind of home trauma cleanup environment is that biological materials from the person injured might be left behind and could contaminate someone else. That’s the dangerous side of the problem.

The other side of the problem is just the mess that sometimes results from home trauma emergencies. Here we’re talking ‘blood and guts’, OK? Not a pretty thought, right? That’s why CTS Decon is such a big business…. it’s not something average people are prepared to do.

In your situation, hopefully, some common sense, first echelon first aid procedures and supplies will be adequate for the initial response. You should always have some bandages, medical tape, something to use for a brace or a splint (i.e. for broken bones), disinfectant, scissors, something to use for a tourniquet is always a good idea, some type of burn medication is good to have (for accidents in the kitchen) and maybe have some aspirin too. You can actually buy good ‘home medical emergency’ kits either online, at good pharmacies or at various kinds of specialty stores.
In most cases, for minor home trauma, it’s not life threatening and simple washing and cleaning and bandages will do the trick. If necessary, you can always take a run down to the nearest hospital emergency room. If it’s a more serious situation than that, that’s what 911 is for. Or you can call an ambulance yourself.

Health insurance will usually cover at least part of the cost of an ambulance.

The Red Cross has several free courses to cover these types of situation too. You can learn how to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, how to move or when not to move subjects, and many other valuable things. If you’re young, single and healthy you might not care about such things but if you’ve got a family, it would be something good to pursue. Better to be prepared for a home trauma emergency that you never have than to have one and not be prepared and thereby make the consequences even worse.

to keep you home safe this March

It’s getting to be the time of year, in areas that get a lot of snow, when the snow melts. Whether that snow is on the ground or on the roof of your home, it can present a problem if it’s prevented from draining properly. One can easily rely on the heat provided by the sun to remove at least some of the snow but if your roof has improperly designed drainage, or clogged drainage… that’s a problem. You can also have serious problems down on the ground level due to clogged ground-level drainage.

Removing snow is W-O-R-K any way you spell it but there are some ways that make it as easy as possible. Did you know you can actually ‘wax’ the leading edge of a snow shovel? You would do that because it helps prevent the snow from sticking to the blade when you ‘heave’ it. Regardless… before anything else… make sure you’re physically fit for the task. After a long winter inside, where it’s warm and cozy, you might not be in your usual tip-top shape, right?

Once you get the to the part you actually start removing the snow on the ground, it’s really to your advantage to do it as early as possible before the snow turns icy and hard. The same thing applies when removing snow up on the roof except up there you’ve obviously got other safety issues involved.

When you do start removing snow from either of these areas it’s smart to remove the snow around your drainage points first because if those points are clogged, that’s a whole separate issue you’ve got to take care of.

Also, while there’s nothing wrong with doing the ground-level work yourself, don’t be reluctant to hire somebody to remove the snow on your roof. The people who do that are insured (for one thing) and for another thing they’re more experienced and probably in better shape than you to do the job.

Drainage inside the house is important and most homeowners tend to take pretty good care of inside-the-home drainage related problems because those problems are more obvious and they are hard to ignore. Drainage problems outside outside the home, on the other hand, tend to become more of a problem before they are detected. They creep up on a homeowner because many of the drains outside the home are not points that you see unless you’re specifically looking at them and they’re usually covered by snow anyway.

If, by chance, the angle of your property slopes away from your home you might not have quite as much to worry about because the overflowing water will drain away from the home. But that’s often not the case. Any water that flows around the foundation of your home, or even onto your yard where it might sit stagnant for awhile…. it’s a potential danger because (1) it could seep into your foundations, it could seep into vulnerable wooden parts of your home or it could cause fungus and/or mildew on your lawn.

Pre-planning always is wise in anything so it makes sense to make sure that your drains, inside and outside the home, are clean before winter snows come. Doing so will ensure that when the snow does eventually start to melt, it will have somewhere to go. Check out your downspouts, catchbasins and eavestroughs to be sure they’re clear, and move accumulated snow away from your home’s foundation. Insurance doesn’t always cover the damage.

Of course snow collects not just on the ground and sidewalks and driveways around your home but also on the roof. The roof presents particular dangers of excess snow accumulation because as the water melts, and if the drainage isn’t correct, it goes either underneath your shingles or simply drains over the edge of roof in any number of random places. At the least, you’ll have some drip-based erosion in the flowerbeds around your home that you weren’t expecting.

Snow removal is a job that comes every year. Having good drainage will help mitigate some of the job. So check your drainage before you need it. If it’s needs fixing, do it yourself if you can but even if you have to pay somebody else to do it,, it’s worth it because uncontrolled water can be mischievous at best and dangerous at worst.

Contrary to what you might think, you do not have to allow the rising cost of energy to eat a big hole in your budget in order to keep your home reasonably cool in the summer. Some of the ‘old-fashioned’ remedies to ‘beat-the-summer-heat, like dressing cool, sipping iced-tea and sitting outside in the shade are OK, and even enjoyable, but there’s more proactive and effective things you can do too. Here’s a few thoughts on that subject.

You’re probably aware that lowering your thermostat will reduce your energy consumption but were you aware of exactly how much? The difference is amazing. Studies show that reducing your thermostat setting by only 1 degree can mean a 3% to 5% reduction in your air-conditioning (AC) bill. That’s worth considering, right?

Studies show that most people can be comfortable at 78˚F. Try it and pay more attention to how it actually feels rather than how you think it feels based on the number itself. Use a timer to make sure the temperature setting comes down at night and/or after you leave for work (if nobody is home).
Insulation is relatively cheap but very effective and easy to put in properly. Pay special attention to doors, windows and ducting throughout your home. A little money invested here will pay big dividends…. usually paying for itself in a year or three depending on how much you use.
Use fans as much as you can. They come in many different types, capacities and costs and they can make a big difference in the comfort of your home. Studies show that a good attic fan can reduce home cooling cost by by to 30%. The only environment which is not optimal for a fan is areas where the humidity is very high… although lots of people in those areas still like to use fans.
Don’t cool areas of your home if you’re not there. If you’re not using a room, either close off the ventilation or close the doors. Just be careful where your master thermostat is because if it’s in the room that you closed off, it will think it needs to keep working and you’ll keep on wasting money.
Keep your AC equipment clean. The filters are the primary element to pay attention to here and luckily cleaning them is very easy to do for most types of AC systems. You can usually do it yourself.
For some types of systems you will need a professional to clean the condenser unit. Also be aware that refrigerant levels need to be maintained and if they fall below whatever the recommended minimum is, you could be wasting up to 20% of your energy.
There’s also a fire safety and health safety factor to have keep your AC units clean too. Dirty systems are more susceptible to fires plus they can be a source of harmful mold.
If you’ve got older appliances in your home, be aware that they might be emitting more heat than the newer appliance on the market now. Check that out because cumulatively it could could be costing you money because of the increased load on your AC system. This applies to the types of lighting you use too so check that out.
Next, did you know that the color of your house has a lot to do with its cooling cost? It does. Also, the types of siding or roofing you use could be a factor. Check that out and make changes if you should and can.
Also, be aware that those drapes and curtains that some homemakers fuss over also can have a lot to do with insulating your home, especially on the sunward side of the house. Keeping them closed does help conserve energy because it traps insulative air.
Next, it’s more of a long term tactic but you should use outside trees, large and/or small, to insulate your home from the sun. Trees not only can save you money on your AC bill but they also look nice, they give you a place to enjoy (i.e. under them) outside and they’re good for the environment in general…. and they’ll help reduce the load on any AC equipment that they shade too.
If and when you go shopping for any type of AC related equipment, understand and look for the “Energy Star” rating. It does mean something. Better ratings will save you more money in the long run. There’s also another type of rating called an EER rating and another one called a SEER rating. Find out what they are if they’re relevant to your planned purchase.
As you probably know, Freon refrigerant gas is no longer allowed to be used (for environmental reasons). Now what’s used is usually R-410. Just to be sure, check to be sure you’ve got R-410, or whatever is the proper specification, for any new equipment you buy. Whatever is recommended for your equipment, that’s what you need to use because using anything else could be dangerous, could damage your equipment and probably won’t work as well anyway.
If you need to buy a new airconditioner, be aware of the major types of units and what their pro’s and con’s are:

1. Room or window units
2. Central units
3. High velocity units
4. Heat pumps
5. Evaporative coolers (an older type system but one which can work very well in some situations.
6. Hydronic systems (for heating or cooling)

Choosing the proper type of AC system has significance beyond just your comfort. Home AC costs represent approximately 5% of total electricity used in the US today. Plus generating that energy accounts for about 140M tons of carbon dioxide into the air every year. Choose your AC units wisely.
Don’t think that ‘bigger is better’ in selecting a good AC unit. It’s not. Make a careful determination on what you need and buy quality. That’s all you need to do. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice from dealers but just ask lots of questions. And certainly talk to your friends about their experiences with different kinds of units.

Once you do make a decision, and you’ve bought quality, be sure you have it installed and set-up by someone who’s qualified to do so. There actually are people who are ‘licensed’ to do such things. Don’t spend money on good equipment and then have it screwed up by trying to save a few bucks by having a non-professional or local part-timer install it.

Get it done right the first time also be sure you have a clear understanding of what your specific responsibilities are to maintain it. Maintenance contracts are a good idea if you can afford them and/or they are appropriate for your lifestyle. Also be aware that you should be able to get a reasonably accurate estimate, from the licensed equipment and/or installer of how much it will cost you to operate that particular unit in your home per year. It shouldn’t be a ‘wait and see’ deal, right?

Condominiums, AKA: “Condo’s”, are one of the most popular types of dwellings. People like condos because they’re usually good values on a per square foot basis, there are certain social advantages with the local condo community yet you still keep your privacy, there’s usually no upkeep because it’s all included in the price, they represent an investment, and they usually come with a lot of nice neighborhood amenities.

But there’s a dark side to condo’s too. What happens with something, some kind of accident, happens in your unit that ‘bleeds’ over to your neighbors? In a single,free-standing unit, if you have flood (for example), you pretty much handle it and suffer from it yourself. But if you have a water pipe bust in a condo unit and you don’t catch it very quickly, it’s pretty much inevitable that your condo neighbors are going to catch some of that water and suffer damage too.

So how can you protect yourself (if you can) from such possibilities?

The obvious answer is to not let such things happen. One could reasonably argue that the majority of home-systems accidents are because of lack of upkeep or maintenance. That’s much less likely in a condo situation for the simple reason that proper maintenance generally the rule rather than the exception. But what if something does happen. Is there any protection?

First of all, if you’re a condo dweller or unit owner you need to remember that there are two potential parties which could, in some circumstances be held liable for flooding originating in one condo and ‘spilling over’ to another condo unit. Those two parties are the condo association board members and/or the condo unit owner. In both cases, having the right insurance can protect the individual owner.

Another factor is that all plant, equipment and systems your you, the condo owner, originally purchased are usually covered by the insurance of the the builder. But…. any improvements which you make to the unit are your responsibility not only to operate but also to insure. This is something you’ll need to be very specific about when discussion condo insurance with your insurance agent and also with the person or entity from which you purchase your condo.

But, if you have determined that your condominium’s master policy does not cover damage that apparently started within your unit, your primary issue is still protecting your own interests and the answer is still…. adequate and proper insurance.

There’s no catastrophe, or type of flooding, likely to happen in a condo that couldn’t happen in a free-standing unit so insurance companies are certainly familiar with the issues involved. The only thing that’s different in condo insurance liability issue is determining who the responsible parties are. Usually the governing laws come from the state level and, again, your insurance companies take that into account.

Condo insurance is essentially the same as home-owners insurance. There is a statement of coverage, i.e. which of your belongings are covered and what property of an injured neighbor or damaged neighbor’s property is covered. There will usually be a deductible and/or some type of co-pay.

If and when something happens, you still need to immediately contact your insurance agent. An adjuster will come out, help you fill out any necessary paperwork, make his/her report, and submit the claim to the insurance company. Usually these adjusters are capable of making binding decisions on behalf of the company. That’s their job.

So… condo living is pretty much like any other type of living except that your neighbors live in much closer proximity so it puts a different priority on having proper insurance.

It’s getting near the time of year where areas that get snow during the winter are starting to experience melting snow. For managers of apartments or condominiums they’ve got some serious work to do. Here’s some tips to make the job as safe and efficient as possible.

1. Clear the areas where people traffic first. When the weather starts to clear a lot of them will have ‘cabin fever’ and be eager to get out and around. Another reason to clear those areas first is because you don’t want any of your residents to slip and fall.
2. Clear the kid’s play areas early too. If you’ve got play areas where kids will be, clear those areas too. Kids don’t fall as ‘hard’, and they tend to bounce more, but you still don’t want anybody to get hurt. Also, parents will be wanting to get their kids out of the house.

   3. Try to let the sun work in your favor. If you’ve got shaded areas on your property, try to coordinate your work crews to work on those areas when they get the most sunlight. It’ll make the job easier

3. Clear parking areas as soon as possible. People will tend to want to go shopping when the sun starts to come out and it gets warner. They’ll be driving more, in some cases, so get the parking lot clear quickly to make it easier for them to access their vehicles.
4. Get those stairs clear of snow and ice ASAP. In many cases stairwells will not have been exposed to snow coverage but for any that were, and might still have some ice or snow on them, get them clean (and SAFE) as soon as possible. Some people will be focusing on the pretty weather and they’ll forget that the stairs, just like the roadways under a bridge, tend to stay colder longer.
5. Work around your residents’ schedules. Take into account those times when you’ll have more walking traffic around your property. It might be hard to do but do the best you can. You don’t want your snow removal crews to be impeded but you also don’t want them to impede normal activities of your residents. Sometimes you might want to have your crews work on certain areas either very late or very early.
6. Use eco-friendly ice-melt/removal compounds if it’s appropriate. Lots of building managers use various types of chemicals that accelerate the melting of ice. It makes sense to speed the job up in certain areas of your property. But if you do use these compounds, be sure it’s safe for kids and pets and also vegetation (i.e. relative to any run-off from it).
7. Be sure to give your residents advance notice. To the extent possible, be sure to give advance notice to your residents when you have snow removal work scheduled. You don’t want anybody planning some sort of function that might impede your work or which your work might endanger.
8. Be sure to have safety precautions if you’ve got crews working on the roof. If your people are up on the roof, or if you’ve got contractors up on the roof removing snow, be double sure there’s safety monitors and /or some sort of clear posting of danger warnings down on the ground.
9. Keep icicles off the roof at all times. During the winter you should have your maintenance personnel keep icicles off the roof eaves at all times. They can be very dangerous both physically and legally.

These tips will get you started. Most experienced property managers will have their own routine they’re very familiar with as well as a crew who can do this kind of thing almost in their sleep, but when you’ve got hundreds of residents to worry about, it’s always smart to ‘stay professional’ and organized.

In life, we all need other people to help at various times. While it’s always nice to know who we’re dealing with, there are unavoidably times when we’re forced to deal with a service contractor that we don’t know. In times like those most of us grit out teeth and hope that we’re making a wise choice but, with the proper strategy it’s possible to minimize your chances of getting ‘shafted’ by an unscrupulous construction company.

Here’s 7 tips on how to weed out bad construction companies:

Tip #1:Appearances count. Most scammer construction companies know that too and they’re hard to spot because they ‘look the part’, but there are some scammers who are new to the game and they do leave indications of their bad intent or poor qualifications of such things as (a) unprofessional attire (b) no business card (c) no markings on their vehicle… etc.. Just use your eyes and see if they look like somebody who’s successful and/or serious about doing and staying in business.

Tip #2:Have some idea of what the range of prices should be and be very wary of a ‘deal’ that sounds too good to be true. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is because all these guys operate under pretty much the same cost constraints.

Tip #3:Ask for references. 99.99% of companies should have them. Be cautious if told that ‘we just changed our name’ or ‘I’m from out-of-state and nobody around here knows me’ or something like that. It’s not your job to give newcomers a chance. Insist on several references and take the time to call them. And don’t forget to do a Google on the company and the person’s name.

Tip #4:Get everything in writing. It’s that simple. This is business and certain protocols apply. If the even any disagreement arises, you’re ‘up a creek without a paddle’ if you don’t have everything in writing. Don’t settle for any of this, ‘My word is my bond B.S. and a handshake is good enough for me’.

Tip #5:Trust your gut feelings and intuition. If you make a mistake, then most probably the company will just find another customer somewhere else. But if you go with a company that you really didn’t feel totally comfortable about to begin with… you’ve only yourself to blame for the misery you’ll suffer.

Tip #6:Always get a second opinion. Matter of fact, there’s really nothing wrong with having somebody with you who has more experience in negotiating with construction companies (assuming that’s what kind of job it is). The person you’re talking with won’t like it but even Kings have multitudes of advisors so…. two heads are better than one.

Tip #7:Always get duplicate bids. The bid is what it all comes down to. Contractors can say and promise anything but what finally makes it to ‘paper’ is what counts so that’s what you need to compare. Don’t worry about making too much work for the contractor because, if they’re any good, it’s all done on a computer anyway.
Those 7 tips, if you’ll observe and do them, should protect you from getting scammed. It happens to people every day but it shouldn’t happen to you if you’re careful.

The home fire! Something nobody hopes to ever have but, for a fact, comes as a total surprise to everybody who does have one. If you think people just like you don’t have home fire emergencies… just turn your TV on. They’re never welcome but they can be, somewhat, planned for.
Here are some tips on how to plan for the possibility that you ever have a home fire emergency in your home:
First of all…. let’s hope you have homeowners insurance. It’s not expensive and you can even get it to cover apartment living. Most companies’ rates are relatively the same and all the big, well-known companies offer it. If you’re just now moving into a home and need homeowners fire protection for the first time in your life, you can probably get a discount from the same company you’ve got your auto insurance, or perhaps some business insurance, with.
Next… don’t do anything stupid around your house. Sure, that sounds obvious but really, you’ve got a big asset and a lot of money tied up in your home now. You’re not living in the college dorm anymore.
So take the time to learn something about what really constitutes a ‘fire hazard’. Sometimes things constitute a fire hazard that you didn’t even realize. If you discover something like that around your home… you’ll be glad you were forewarned in time to do something about it.
Next… you should make it a point to take an inventory of everything of value you’ve got around the home. The best way to do that is on one of the many ‘home inventory’ software programs that are out there. Many decent ones are even free or, for that matter, just use an Excel spreadsheet.
The point is, if and when you have to make a claim, the process will go a lot easier if you can document what you lost.
Next… be sure there’s nothing in the condition of your home that might make it more susceptible to a fire. This could include excess junk piled up somewhere, old wiring, old appliance, furnaces….. anything like that. Old stuff breaks and sometimes it ‘goes down in flames’ so minimize your odds of anything breaking and starting a fire.
Next… let’s hope that if a fire does start that it’s something you can catch early enough to put out yourself. You can buy fire extinguishers of various sizes and at the least you should have one in your kitchen. If you have a garage, you should have one there too…. especially if you do a hobby work or auto repair there.
Next… it never hurts to have some common medical supplies around the house. It’s entirely possible that you might have a small fire and hurt yourself putting it out and need to self-administer some simple first-aid. If you can… why not?
Next… be sure you have the number of the fire department programmed into all your phones…. i.e. your home phones and your personal smart-phone. In most cases you’ll just be calling 911 but if there is a special number… you should have it.
That’s about all you can do. Just think it through and be prepared. Don’t wish for a home fire emergency but do PLAN AHEAD.

You get home late at night after a movie with the wife and kids, you open the door and immediately something doesn’t seem right. You pause, listen and then you hear it…. a fizzing, sprinkling, gurgling kind of sound. You walk over to the basement door, open it and there it is… your own little ‘inland sea’. Your pipes have burst and you’re faced with a flood recovery emergency situation.
This is nothing you ever studied in school. What do you do?
The good news is that you’re not the first person this has ever happened to. Each year across the country lots of people have problems with flooding in their homes. Sometimes it’s due to weather or other natural conditions and at other times it’s due to some malfunction in your home plumbing or perhaps even something of faulty design.
Regardless of the cause, the recommended course of action (from the pros) is pretty much the same and here’s what you should do:
The first thing you should do is pay attention to what’s going on and what just happened. You’re going to have to fill out some claim forms (assuming you have insurance to cover this kind of damage) and the more information you can give the insurance company the easier it’ll be for them to justify paying the claim.
Next, call your insurance professional. Don’t worry about waking them up. If the company has a 24/7/365 toll-free ‘hot line’ so much the better. You should call it first and then call your agent to let him know what happened. Don’t worry about waking him or her up because this is an opportunity for him/her to give the ‘good neighbor’ service they’ve been bragging about.
It’s not unusual for your insurance agent to have a certain amount of discretionary authority to write checks to cover such things as perhaps a night in the motel for you and your family. It depends on your policy provisions of course.
Next (and quickly) make sure all your utilities are turned off. Electricity can be dangerous when there’s water around. And go ahead and turn off the water… and the gas too if you have it.
If the water in your basement came from a local river, creek or stream, listen for public service announcements to see if the water is healthy or not. It might not be.
Odds are that you’ll want to retain the services of a professional emergency flood water removal services company to handle the cleanup. If your insurance agent recommends one, it’s probably a safe bet that they’re OK to use plus you’ll have the assurance that they’re familiar with dealing with your insurance company.
If your agent or insurance company can’t or won’t recommend anyone, you’d be wise to have a company already checked out. Have their number handy where you can call them in a hurry. Don’t worry about the hour of the night or day because that’s just part of their business model.
Be careful about coming in contact with that flood water yourself because it’s probably got a lot of bacteria and germs in it. If you do, be sure to wash your hands very thoroughly.
If, for whatever reason, you decide to drain the water yourself, don’t do it all in one day. That’s a dangerous thing to do because it creates a pressure differential between the area outside the walls vs. inside of the basement. It could cause the walls and/or foundation to crack.
Also be sure you dress appropriately for working around possibly contaminated water. And also don’t forget the probability that all the little crawly-critters who’ve been enjoy the domestic tranquillity of your dark, dry, secluded basement will be rather agitated now. Some of them might want to take their anger out on you… i.e. they can bite. So…. dress appropriately.
Any way you slice it, having an emergency flood recovery situation to deal with is no ‘walk in the park’ but with proper planning you can get your life back in good working order with minimal effort. Just be prepared.