Commercial Water Damage and the Musty Atmosphere in Your Chicago-area Used Bookstore

1/10/2018 (Permalink)

Chicago Bookstore and Retail Shops Benefit from Water Damage Restoration by SERVPRO

SERVPRO Can Mitigate Water and Secondary Damages to Your Commercial Property in the Chicago Area

With easy access to the internet, few people in Chicago seem to read books the way they did only a generation ago. Nevertheless, many people still enjoy finding a classic that they once read as a child, and without such bookstores, this treasure would remain inaccessible.

Especially when it involves commercial water damage, Chicago, our Windy City on Lake Michigan, poses unique challenges to some business owners. Bookstores that sell only new volumes escape some of these problems merely because their merchandise never faced exposure to mold and mildew over the years from the buildup of moisture.

Bound in leather or heavy paper and cloth, books contain the perfect environment for microbes. Pages hold moisture, while at the same time provide the cellulose fibers these organisms need. The grooves between the pages at the top of the book provide the surface area that mold spores can easily land on while hiding them from feather dusters. Not washed with soap and water like many other items found in a typical home or workplace microbes can collect in staggering numbers, waiting for an elevation in humidity to trigger their growth.

Placing your inventory on the shelves of your store brings the mold spores from the past into one location. Keeping humidity low in such a situation is crucial to protecting not only your merchandise but also for protecting your entire building. In this kind of ongoing need, SERVPRO recommends the use of a dehumidifier, which we can install for your company. Water damage can severely impact your inventory by allowing microbes to grow wildly, making mitigation vital to your business' continued success.

Lyophilization, basically freeze drying documents and papers to mitigate damage as part of the restoration service, can help remove the mold present in your inventory, and it can also prevent any further deterioration of older volumes, as it also kills anything that may live inside books. While this process takes place, our crew can perform the necessary work in removing any water damage, removing any present mold from shelving, cleaning out storage areas, and repainting walls and ceilings, so both mold and its musty odor disappear.

SERVPRO of West Loop / Bucktown / Greektown views each business in our area as an essential part of our community's fabric. Helping you continue providing your goods and services to the public gives us great satisfaction. Call us at (773) 434-9100 to reach our 24-hour service whenever you notice water damage and its effects on your bookstore or another place of commerce.

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