After storms on Monday and Tuesday, homeowners and landlords have been rushing to clean up the damage. Both Lubbock Water Damage Restoration and Servpro of Southwest Lubbock noticed an increase in business Monday and Tuesday as a result of the weather.
Servpro was even called to repair a home struck by lightning in Lubbock late Monday night.
Servpro has hundreds of air movers and dehumidifiers, but most of them are out of storage and in use now that the storms have passed. Using a combination of the air movers and humidifiers, representatives from Servpro Lubbock say the moisture in a flooded house can be evaporated within three or four days.
It takes a while for landlords and property owners to clean up after storm damage like this.
“A lot of times when we have what we had yesterday, everyone’s pretty spread thin getting to all the different calls we have around town so you have to kind of bear with us,” said Jon Willey, President of the Lubbock Apartment Association.
Willey said that water damage can be a problem for landlords, as can other types of seasonal weather. Willey recommends making repairs as soon as possible after a storm. He also advises double checking your lease to see what your landlord’s obligations are when it comes to damage.
Many leases in the Lubbock area are done through the Texas Apartment Association which has specific parameters for what landlords should do to remedy damage and how quickly repairs should be made.
For tenants who don’t feel their landlords are repairing storm damage adequately, Willey recommends communicating directly, putting requests in writing, and checking with state law about property repairs.
“If they weren’t happy with the results they were getting, they should refer to the lease, the owner, and then Texas property code,” Willey said.
