Cleanup company battles damage of all kinds

One boneheaded mistake this fall could end up costing homeowners thousands of dollars in repair and restoration costs next spring.

T.C.M. Restoration and Cleaning owner Jeremy Hongslo said the trouble begins when people forget to detach and store their garden hoses.

“That’s where we get a lot of water damage, in the spring, but the damage is done in the fall,” he said.

Hose bibs mounted on the exterior of houses extend several inches into the house and attach to waterlines, he said. If the hose is disconnected, the water in the hose bib harmlessly drains out of the exterior faucet, he said.

But if the garden hose remains attached over the winter, Hongslo said the water inside freezes, expands and can break the hose and the hose bib. Then when the ice thaws, water from the damaged hose bib can flood a home’s crawl space or basement, he said.

Though homeowner’s insurance usually covers the damage, Hongslo said average repairs from winter water damage run about $2,500. Though he said it’s not uncommon for costs to climb as high as $25,000 by the time the damaged Sheetrock, rugs, flooring and furnishings are replaced.

Hongslo’s T.C.M. Restoration and Cleaning business began as The Carpet Man in 1996. He said he bought into the business for half the cost of a carpet-cleaning machine a friend had purchased.

“He did one job with the machine and figured out he was in over his head,” Hongslo said. That’s when he bought a half interest in the company for $350.

He paid considerably more when he bought the rest of the business from his friend in 1998, Hongslo said.

Back then, he said, the 20-something men thought the best marketing approach was to offer the lowest price, but that came with its own set of problems.

“Instead, we decided to be the best,” Hongslo said.

All T.C.M. offers is customer service, which is guaranteed, he said. “If you aren’t happy, we’ll come back and clean it for free. And if you still aren’t happy, we’ll give you your money back.”

A couple of local companies provide similar cleaning and restoration services, Hongslo said. But no one else in the Mat-Su or Anchorage areas has a Thermal Energy System to speed the dry-out process.

When restoring water damage, time matters a lot, Hongslo said. “We dry the whole structure.”

The Thermal Energy System works like a hair dryer, he said. The innovative drying system heats the air and the surfaces in the home and speeds evaporation, Hongslo said.

This new drying technology reduces drying times from three to six days down to a few hours, he said. “We can have your doors back on, your carpet restretched and be done in 40 hours.”

The Thermal Energy System can blow hot air into walls and under carpets to speed drying and prevent further water damage and mold, Hongslo said. “It saves a lot to dry what’s there instead of replacing it.”

Anyone can say they do water restoration, Hongslo said. But this Wasilla-based, family-owned business invests an average of $25,000 a year on restoration and water-removal training for its staff, he said.

One specialized training class takes a new house and floods it with 15,000 gallons of water, Hongslo said. “Then as a class you go in and over four days you dry the house out.”

He said cleaning and restoration go hand in hand, but if the damage can’t be cleaned up or repaired, the company is a licensed general contractor, too.

Whether damage is caused by smoke, water, mold or pets, Hongslo said TCM has the remedy.

He told the story of an Anchorage home his staff was called to clean. Water had been flowing through the walls for three or four days and the whole outside of the house was covered in 3 to 4 inches of ice.

Hongslo said he recommends a few steps to prevent the likelihood of coming home to a similar scene.

When people leave their homes for several days, they should turn off the water supply valve coming into the house; flip the breaker to the water pump; have someone check on the house and turn the heat down, but leave cabinet doors open so heat can reach pipes beneath the sink.

While lots of people worry about mold contamination, sewage backups are more dangerous, he said. “If we can get to a water job right away, you won’t have mold.”

Crews wear Tyvek suits and full-face respirators when they clean up sewage damage, Hongslo said.

“Sewage is more hazardous than crime-scene contaminants,” he said.

Between repeat customers and their referrals, Hongslo said there is enough work to keep his company’s 20 employees in Anchorage and the Valley busy without doing trauma cleanup. “That can mess with people’s heads,” he said. “It’s disturbing.”

Hiring and retaining quality employees isn’t easy, he said, but it’s vital to the company’s success because most clients are women between the ages of 30 and 50. “You have to have people you can trust.”

Hongslo said he conducts background checks — and a gut check — on all potential employees. “If I wouldn’t trust them in my own house, I don’t hire them.”

One more service the versatile company offers is area rug cleaning.

“Someone put thousands of hours into creating this,” he said, holding up a hand-dyed, hand-tied rug from Afghanistan. “It’s artwork.”