Your Commercial Facility Has Water Damage: Now What?

4/16/2018 (Permalink)

Emergency Water Damage Mitigation

There are numerous situations where a commercial property might suffer extensive water damage. For example, a flood from a storm or overflowing river bank might deposit massive amounts of dirty water all over the first floor of a structure. Or, a burst/leaky pipe might cause water to collect in the spaces between the walls or floors in the structure, leading to mold growth and other issues in these hidden areas.

Whether it’s flood water damage or some other form of moisture intrusion, what should you do when the commercial property you’re inspecting has water damage?

Confirming The Extent Of Damage

One of the first things you’ll want to do when you discover signs of water damage is verify the extent of the damage. However, a simple visual check probably won’t be enough to reliably establish the full scope of the problem.

Water can soak into many building materials far from the source of the moisture intrusion without creating obvious signs of damage for a long time. So, to accurately establish how far the water has spread, you need a specialized tool for measuring moisture in building materials—such as a moisture meter for building inspection.

Using a moister meter, you can measure the moisture content (%MC) of the materials near where you noticed the water damage. By continuing to make checks progressively farther from the site of the damage, you can establish how widespread the damage is as well as the severity of the moisture intrusion.

With this information, you’ll be able to determine whether you need to focus on drying out the affected materials, or simply tear them out so they can be replaced with undamaged materials.

Contacting a Water Damage Restoration Expert

If you’re inspecting your own property and do not have experience in water cleanup/restoration work, it may be a good idea to contact a water damage restoration expert to handle the task of dry-out/tear-out for you. This is because water damage remediation work can be too delicate or dangerous for someone without specialized experience or training to risk.

For example, a professional in water damage restoration is likely to have the right tools and experience to minimize their risks from hazards such as mold spores, exposure to fiberglass insulation, and weakened floors that may collapse—all of which are common hazards in water cleanup and restoration work. Additionally, an expert is more likely to be able to successfully complete dry-out tasks in a way that minimizes the overall damage and risk of future problems.

Trying to handle dry-out and tear-out work without the requisite training and experience can lead to problems— Be sure to contact SERVPRO of Redondo/Manhattan Beach at (310)939-9293 to get the job done right!