ServiceMaster by Rice - Des Moines Blog Categories

commercial mold remediation
  • Wintertime Indoor Humidity Control What Is the Ideal Indoor Humidity to Prevent Mold in Offices? Maintaining the right indoor humidity level during winter is crucial for preventing mold growth in office environments. With Des Moines experiencing cold winters and fluctuating indoor conditions due to heating ... Continue Reading

water damage prevention
  • Minimizing Water Damage Risks for Businesses | A Comprehensive Guide Springtime in Des Moines brings longer days, warmer temperatures—and unfortunately, an increased risk of water damage for commercial properties. For local businesses, taking proactive steps to reduce the risk of water intrusion isn’t just about property preservation—it’s ... Continue Reading
  • Home Maintenance Checklist for Des Moines Residents As the weather warms up in Des Moines, spring offers the perfect opportunity to tackle essential home maintenance tasks that can help prevent costly water damage throughout the season. Neglecting these tasks can lead to a variety of water-related issues, from leaks to mold ... Continue Reading

Carpet Cleaning
  • Home Cleaning Tips for the Holidays The holiday season is fast approaching. It’s a fun-filled time when family and friends gather around the dining room to share a meal or bake gingerbread houses in the kitchen. However, it can also be a hectic time, full of hosting and houseguests. Is your home ready for the ... Continue Reading
  • Regular Rug Cleaning Promotes Healthy Air Did you know that experts recommend vacuuming at least one time per week? How are you doing with that? Running the vacuum on a consistent basis is a great start to keeping your rug and home clean, but the suction of a vacuum cannot handle the heavy lifting required for a ... Continue Reading
  • Spring Cleaning Tips For Your Home With temperatures settling in the high 60s and 70s, it means that spring is here to stay! Does this mean that we have escaped a potential light dusting of snow for the rest of April? You can never really say for certain when you live in the Midwest, but all of us at ... Continue Reading
  • Advantages of Winter Carpet Cleaning Winter is here and we are sure you have spent plenty of time cleaning and preparing your home to make it perfect for when friends and family visit for the holidays. However, how much time have you spent on your carpets? Having clean, stain-free carpets for when your visitors ... Continue Reading

Cleaning
  • Home Cleaning Tips for the Holidays The holiday season is fast approaching. It’s a fun-filled time when family and friends gather around the dining room to share a meal or bake gingerbread houses in the kitchen. However, it can also be a hectic time, full of hosting and houseguests. Is your home ready for the ... Continue Reading
  • Home & Commercial Services to Prevent Getting Sick This Winter The holiday season is upon us, and along with it time with family, good food, and cozy time spent indoors. However, with all of the extra time spent indoors in close quarters with others comes the unfortunate reality of spreading germs and sickness around. Viruses and other ... Continue Reading
  • Sick Building Syndrome: Why Are Your Employees Always Under the Weather? As beautiful as the weather may be at the change of seasons from summer into fall, this time of year is often marked by spikes in sickness as people spend more time back indoors. Apart from Covid-19, annual viruses and bacterial infections like the flu, strep throat, and ... Continue Reading
  • Grout & Tile Cleaning Tips From The Professionals During these blistering summer months in Iowa and Southern Minnesota, we may be more focused on spending time under the sun, but have you thought about your grout and tile care? Most likely not, but you’re in luck! Especially when days are full of tracking in dirt and mud ... Continue Reading

commercial water damage
  • Frozen Sprinkler System Failures: Water Damage Restoration in Des Moines Commercial Buildings Commercial sprinkler systems are important safety features that many businesses depend on. An indoor sprinkler system can quickly put out a fire if spontaneous combustion occurs in your office, restaurant, or healthcare facility. However, during the colder months of the ... Continue Reading

commercial water restoration
  • A Guide to Restore Your Des Moines Home After Flash Flooding Flash flooding poses a significant threat to homeowners in Des Moines, Iowa, particularly during the spring and summer months when heavy rains can overwhelm local waterways. According to the National Weather Service, Iowa receives an average of 40 to 50 inches of rain ... Continue Reading
  • How to Prevent Bursting Pipes in Des Moines Warehouses Warehouses in Des Moines, IA, face unique challenges when it comes to protecting their plumbing systems from bursting pipes. With freezing winters, older infrastructure, and expansive spaces, the risk of pipe failure is significantly higher. Bursting pipes can cause ... Continue Reading

Disaster Preparedness
  • How To Prevent Fires, Floods, and Mold This Summer Summertime in Iowa means hot, humid weather with the potential for severe storms. It also means it’s time to break out the grills and gather around a fire with friends and family. A change in the season means a shift in focus for home safety. Heavy rains can lead to ... Continue Reading

Disaster Prevention Tips
  • Top Workplace Hazards & Company Disaster Recovery Plans As Midwesterners, we sometimes joke about how unpredictable the weather can be. In the last few years, strong weather events like multiple derechos, record flooding, and bitterly cold temperatures have reinforced this notion. According to the EPA, with rising global ... Continue Reading
  • Top Winter Fire Hazards & How to Avoid Them As the temperatures dip in the winter months, we tend to spend more time inside our homes cozying up by the fireplace or hosting holiday parties for family and friends. This joyful time of year can also be the most dangerous when it comes to home fires, particularly if ... Continue Reading
  • How To Prevent Fires, Floods, and Mold This Summer Summertime in Iowa means hot, humid weather with the potential for severe storms. It also means it’s time to break out the grills and gather around a fire with friends and family. A change in the season means a shift in focus for home safety. Heavy rains can lead to ... Continue Reading
  • Prepping Your Iowa Home Or Business For Winter Although it is still the beginning of November, some light snowfall has affirmed that we are most certainly heading into winter here in Iowa. Anyone who lives in the Midwest is familiar with how unpredictable the winters can be around here. Nevertheless, it is always better ... Continue Reading

Disaster Restoration
  • Top Workplace Hazards & Company Disaster Recovery Plans As Midwesterners, we sometimes joke about how unpredictable the weather can be. In the last few years, strong weather events like multiple derechos, record flooding, and bitterly cold temperatures have reinforced this notion. According to the EPA, with rising global ... Continue Reading
  • How To Prevent Fires, Floods, and Mold This Summer Summertime in Iowa means hot, humid weather with the potential for severe storms. It also means it’s time to break out the grills and gather around a fire with friends and family. A change in the season means a shift in focus for home safety. Heavy rains can lead to ... Continue Reading
  • Avoid A House Fire In Your Iowa Home This Fall Fall is finally here and we Iowans and southern Minnesotans have been basking in the enjoyable weather lately. The humidity has lightened up and the temperatures have fallen to a reasonable, almost chilly, 50 and 60-degree weather. However, as enjoyable as this weather can ... Continue Reading
  • Des Moines Flooding: ServiceMaster By Rice Responds On June 30th, Des Moines, Iowa received some intense flash flooding that surged throughout downtown and many of the surrounding suburbs. Some of the surrounding suburbs, such as Ankeny and Urbandale, accumulated 7-10 inches of rainfall in a matter of hours, causing rivers ... Continue Reading

Extreme Weather
  • Emergency Restoration Services | What Des Moines Businesses Need to Know In Des Moines, Iowa, unpredictable weather can strike without warning. Whether it’s a sudden storm, heavy snowfall, or even tornado activity, business owners in the area face a unique set of challenges in managing the effects of severe weather. Roof damage, flooding, and ... Continue Reading
  • Protecting Your Property From Snow Melt Flooding With temperatures starting to settle in at the high 40s and low 50s, Iowans can finally say it feels like spring! However, due to one of the most brutal winters we’ve had in a while, we still have plenty of snow on the ground. Not only that, there are still layers of frost ... Continue Reading

Fire Damage
  • Importance of Smoke Damage Repair After a Fire A fire in your home or commercial building can be disastrous to the structure and property. While the aftermath of this event can be overwhelming to think about, it is important to know what signs to look for after fire and smoke damage so that a ServiceMaster technician can ... Continue Reading
  • Autumn Safety Tips To Avoid Disaster Beware of Fire Hazards in Your Home Fall is the perfect time to pull out those scented candles, throw some wood in the fireplace, or even turn on a space heater when it gets cold at night. As enjoyable as these amenities are in a home, they are all potential agents to cause ... Continue Reading

Fire Prevention

  • Top Winter Fire Hazards & How to Avoid Them As the temperatures dip in the winter months, we tend to spend more time inside our homes cozying up by the fireplace or hosting holiday parties for family and friends. This joyful time of year can also be the most dangerous when it comes to home fires, particularly if ... Continue Reading
  • Warning Signs to Look for When Turning on Your Furnace for the First Time As the weather cools and your house heats up, stay safe by monitoring your furnace. Neglecting your furnace doesn’t just lead to heating issues and high energy bills. It can cause deadly carbon monoxide poisoning and fires. Stay safe and avoid disaster this winter by ... Continue Reading
  • Choosing A Fire Extinguisher For Your Home Preparation is done for a reason. You prepare a meal so you have something to eat. You prepare for retirement so you can live a sustainable and full life without working. Some preparation is done to prevent difficult situations. You buy car insurance, but you hope to never ... Continue Reading
  • Know How To Prevent and Respond To A House Fire A house fire can be one of the most crushing events in a person’s life. The space you’ve worked so hard to maintain and call home can be destroyed in the blink of an eye. The bitter cold winters in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids may lead you to think fires are not to worry ... Continue Reading

Fire Restoration
  • Top Winter Fire Hazards & How to Avoid Them As the temperatures dip in the winter months, we tend to spend more time inside our homes cozying up by the fireplace or hosting holiday parties for family and friends. This joyful time of year can also be the most dangerous when it comes to home fires, particularly if ... Continue Reading
  • Avoid A House Fire In Your Iowa Home This Fall Fall is finally here and we Iowans and southern Minnesotans have been basking in the enjoyable weather lately. The humidity has lightened up and the temperatures have fallen to a reasonable, almost chilly, 50 and 60-degree weather. However, as enjoyable as this weather can ... Continue Reading
  • What To Do After A House Fire After suffering from a house fire, it can be overwhelming to think of everything involved in getting your family life and living situation back to normal. At ServiceMaster by Rice, we are here to provide you with some steps to help you through the fire restoration process ... Continue Reading
  • How To Avoid an Electrical Fire at Home & Work An electrical fire can be dangerous to your family, employees, and your home or business, and the repair and restoration process of bringing your establishment back to its original state can be a time-consuming and overwhelming procedure. Here are some ways you can take ... Continue Reading

Fire Safety
  • Top Winter Fire Hazards & How to Avoid Them As the temperatures dip in the winter months, we tend to spend more time inside our homes cozying up by the fireplace or hosting holiday parties for family and friends. This joyful time of year can also be the most dangerous when it comes to home fires, particularly if ... Continue Reading
  • Warning Signs to Look for When Turning on Your Furnace for the First Time As the weather cools and your house heats up, stay safe by monitoring your furnace. Neglecting your furnace doesn’t just lead to heating issues and high energy bills. It can cause deadly carbon monoxide poisoning and fires. Stay safe and avoid disaster this winter by ... Continue Reading
  • Choosing A Fire Extinguisher For Your Home Preparation is done for a reason. You prepare a meal so you have something to eat. You prepare for retirement so you can live a sustainable and full life without working. Some preparation is done to prevent difficult situations. You buy car insurance, but you hope to never ... Continue Reading
  • Home Safety Tips For The Holidays The weather outside may be chilly, but inside, your home is probably warm and cozy and fully decorated for the holidays. However, the increase in heat and electricity usage during winter can potentially be dangerous. According to the National Fire Protection Association, ... Continue Reading

Fire Safety Tips
  • Why Is My Smoke Detector Going Off? Smoke detectors play a critical role in fire safety, providing early warnings that can save lives. In Des Moines, IA, where seasonal weather fluctuations can introduce unexpected challenges, ensuring that your smoke detector functions correctly is essential. However, many ... Continue Reading

Flood Damage
  • Preparing Your Home Or Business For Flooding Every Iowan longs for the refreshing spring air, warmer temperatures, and the ability to enjoy the outdoors again after a long winter. The bloom of spring is one of the best times of the year, but it typically comes with significant moisture. Rapidly melting snow and a ... Continue Reading

Hoarding
  • Hoarding and Trauma Cleanup: How To Handle It If you have a family member or friend who is a hoarder, you are probably familiar with how traumatizing it can be. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with hoarding, it can be a frightening and serious issue to those affected by it. Hoarders are people who develop a ... Continue Reading

Mold
  • Mold & Your Health: When It Becomes Unsafe Mold is a natural substance that occurs frequently in nature. Sometimes, mold can be a great thing, especially when it comes to breaking down old organic materials (dead leaves in your yard, e.g.). However, in most cases when mold invades your home, it threatens to do more ... Continue Reading
  • Whole-Home Mold Cleanup & Prevention Service: Common Mold Areas Mold is a part of our natural environment but can become dangerous fast if it gets out of control inside your home. Outside, mold is actually very beneficial to the ecosystem. It breaks down dead organic material like dead leaves or fallen trees, with regrowth as its end ... Continue Reading
  • Types of Mold: Aspergillus Many professionals label aspergillus mold as the most common of the types of mold found in homes. While mold infestations in the home are never welcome, similar to other molds, aspergillus is used for helpful purposes like the production of citric acid! What is Aspergillus ... Continue Reading
  • Types of Mold: Penicillium Molds like penicillium play an important role in breaking down organic materials, producing life-saving antibiotics, and even making cheese! However, seeing mold growing in your home is never a good sign. Although it can be difficult to discern which type of mold may be ... Continue Reading

Odor Removal
  • 8 Bad House Smells and How to Solve Them Lingering house smells are frustrating, especially when you work so hard to keep your house clean. They can also be concerning for your health and safety when it comes to harmful airborne particles infiltrating the air. When you can’t specifically see grime or sweaty gym ... Continue Reading

Press Release
  • ServiceMaster by Rice Selected for SRM National Network Expansion Des Moines-Based ServiceMaster by Rice Included in National Disaster Recovery Network Expansion ServiceMaster by Rice was announced this week as part of a major expansion of the ServiceMaster Recovery Management (SRM) network. SRM is a national leader in large-loss ... Continue Reading
  • ServiceMaster by Rice Acquires Story County Franchise ServiceMaster by Rice is pleased to announce our recent acquisition of the ServiceMaster franchise in Story County, IA. Over the past decade we have been a strong partner with Iowa State University. One of the largest projects was supporting them during the floods of 2010. ... Continue Reading
  • ServiceMaster by Rice Ribbon Cutting in Mason City In 2018, ServiceMaster By Rice purchased the ServiceMaster Restore franchise in Mason City, Iowa in an effort to expand our restoration and cleaning services throughout the state of Iowa. The acquisition expanded our footprint as one of the largest ServiceMaster franchises ... Continue Reading
  • Des Moines Branch Utilizes Modern Technology for Restoration Process New technology from Matterport has brought documenting the restoration process to the next level by addressing the industry-wide challenge of timeliness, accuracy, and insurance disputes. Each restoration project is unique and assessing the damage can be time-consuming. ... Continue Reading

Water Damage
  • Preparing Your Home Or Business For Flooding Every Iowan longs for the refreshing spring air, warmer temperatures, and the ability to enjoy the outdoors again after a long winter. The bloom of spring is one of the best times of the year, but it typically comes with significant moisture. Rapidly melting snow and a ... Continue Reading
  • Avoid Water Damage From Frozen Pipes In Your Home All of us at ServiceMaster By Rice hope you had a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! It’s been a strange start to winter as far as the weather goes. Apart from some initial snow at the end of November throughout some of Iowa and Minnesota, we really have ... Continue Reading
  • Recovering From A Flooded Home Any Iowan knows how unpredictable the weather in this state can be. Although many of us are prepping for the relaxing 60 and 70-degree weather that comes with fall, there are still summertime natural disasters that we are prone to. More specifically, Iowans need to be aware ... Continue Reading
  • What To Do If Your Basement Floods Flood damage can be overwhelming and devastating to property and homeowner morale. It’s difficult to know where to start clean-up efforts, but if you can act quickly, you will minimize lost property and prevent further damage to your home. If your home has been affected by ... Continue Reading

water damage restorartion
  • Understanding the Risks of Ice Dams | Protecting Your Home This Spring Ice dams are a common yet serious issue for homeowners in Des Moines, IA, particularly during the transition from winter to spring. These ridges of ice form along the edges of roofs, preventing melting snow from draining properly. As temperatures fluctuate, ice dams can lead ... Continue Reading

Water Restoration
  • What To Do If Your Basement Floods Flood damage can be overwhelming and devastating to property and homeowner morale. It’s difficult to know where to start clean-up efforts, but if you can act quickly, you will minimize lost property and prevent further damage to your home. If your home has been affected by ... Continue Reading
  • Des Moines Flooding: ServiceMaster By Rice Responds On June 30th, Des Moines, Iowa received some intense flash flooding that surged throughout downtown and many of the surrounding suburbs. Some of the surrounding suburbs, such as Ankeny and Urbandale, accumulated 7-10 inches of rainfall in a matter of hours, causing rivers ... Continue Reading
  • Mason City Flooding As many of you may know, northern Iowa and southern Minnesota received a large amount of rainfall this past weekend. This heavy rain has now left a handful of towns with water damage and flooding issues. Mason City was hit especially hard, which took quite a heavy blow. Upon ... Continue Reading
  • Things To Consider With Owning A Lake Home Now that we have made it through the first half of Spring, the temperature and humidity rates have started rising. For many Iowans, this means that days at the lake are not far off. Although, our late start to spring likely means that the water will still be a bit chilly ... Continue Reading

Weather
  • Working with Insurance for Disaster Recovery Living in the Midwest, we have our fair share of weather that can turn disastrous. Severe thunderstorms have the potential to come in tandem with tornadoes, flooding, or even a derecho. When strong winds, hail, water and other storm conditions sweep through, the damage left ... Continue Reading