- Board up and temporary support
- Water Extraction (De-flooding)
- Pack Outs
- Roof Taping
- Tree Removal
- Temporary Electricity
- Temporary Heat
- Crime Scene Cleanup
- Fire Watch and Site Security
It was a warm sunny summer day when the call came. The caller was George
who is the maintenance managerof the municipal buildings in the City
of Oak Park, Michigan.
George described a leak from a roof drain at the Oak Park Police
Station. He went on to say that the entire police station had
gotten wet, and had been dried out the night before. George
asked if we would come and evaluate the damage and determine if
the carpet was cleanable.
Certified Water Damage Technician Marc Richman was at the police
station within 30 minutes of the initial call. Upon arrival
George showed Marc around the police station which was over 5000
Square Feet (Not including the jail cell area). A quick
inspection using Carpet probe and non penetrating meter found
that most of the building still had wet carpet and walls. A
particular area of concern was the exercise room. The floor in
the weight room was covered with large rubber mats under the
workout equipment. The rubber mats let water go under but would
tremendously slow down the drying.
The workers at the city did a very good job in extracting the
standing water that there was no visible standing water. The
maintenance department had rented 7 air movers and (2) 15 pint
conventional dehumidifiers from a local tool rental company.
However; given the size of the affected area, much more
equipment was needed to effectively dry out the building
materials. The odor was permeating the whole building and we
were not sure if the carpet and padding would be salvageable or
not.
When Marc explained that the carpet had to be dried prior to
cleaning, and Determined that the relative humidity in much of
the building was over 60% We suggested immediate placement of a
much larger amount of drying equipment, to protect the building
materials and sophisticated police radio, computers, and other
susceptible contents.
A team effort followed. Several Police officers helped to move
all of the weight training equipment around to get the rubber
mats out of the way and begin drying these areas. Some of the
officers even helped ping in our 25 pieces of drying equipment
and 1 air scrubber.
Four days later the entire area was dry and our equipment picked
up. We scheduled for final carpet cleaning. The end result in
terms of damage was very minor In the $2000.00 range,
according to the building maintenance manager George.
The fast action of the City Workers and our Water Extraction
Team saved the city and its tax payers tens of thousands of
dollars in new carpet and structural repairs. Over 2500 Square
feet of carpet was saved and only 1 small wall required painting
and repairs.
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