How Long Can It Take Our Livermore Business To Resume Operations After Water Damage?

1/20/2021 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Livermore is here and ready for your commercial water damage call.

SERVPRO Helps Assess the Damage and Devise Ways to Manage Water Removal Efficiently from Properties

Significant water spills are likely to force a closure of indoor areas such as offices, break rooms and facilities at your business. Although it is rarely easy to achieve, speedy removal of the water is essential for resumption of normalcy so that employees can regain access to the affected areas. SERVPRO has qualified technicians available 24 hours a day to help Livermore businesses prepare and perform water removal, fast.

What sort of preparation is necessary before starting water removal In Livermore?

Although a water spill, especially from the clean water supply lines, may seem like a straightforward problem to resolve, many challenges can arise if you start the process without making any preparations. Some simple steps that reveal invaluable information include:

• Identifying the cause of the spill
• Estimating the amount of water involved
• Assessing the types of materials in the affected areas

After identifying the source of the water spill, it is also essential to know what caused it before starting the removal processes. Pipes can burst due to movements, if they are not secured appropriately, high pressures exceeding the standard 30-50 psi, low temperatures leading to freezing, and corrosion. The different causes may necessitate other procedures such as demolition of the materials around the pipes. For instance, the replacement of all corroded pipes within the property is necessary to guarantee a lasting outcome. Such replacements require widespread demolition, which can interfere with some removal processes. In case the pipes burst because of freezing, there is a need to melt the ice to increase the flow of water within the pipes.

Knowing the problem helps ensure that the necessary resources are available at the loss site. For instance, when our SERVPRO technicians realize we have to demolish some walls or floor spaces, we arrange to have the right resources, including materials such as plastic sheets, for creating containments. Frozen pipes require heating to melt the ice, and in some cases, an external heat source might be necessary. Our crews assess the situation and find the right heating equipment for that purpose, including:

• Portable electric heaters
• Indirect fire furnaces
• Direct expansion units

How can we estimate how much water we need to remove?

Knowing the amount of water that requires removal helps improve planning and can influence the outcome positively since water removal is more than a convenience exercise.  At businesses, you might have hardwood floors or carpeted areas, and delaying the removal process can lead to permanent damages. 

To estimate the amount of water for removal, our technicians consider the total square feet covered and the depth of standing water to get the approximate volume of water involved. Since extraction devices have a gallon per minute rating, our SERVPRO technicians can convert the estimated volume of spilled water to a timeline of how long the extraction process might take. 

After extracting standing water, drying excess moisture from wet materials and lowering humidity is necessary. Wet materials continue to deteriorate, so you might end up with significant losses if drying is not handled appropriately. High humidity levels in the air are also undesirable because they can cause discomfort, among other problems. 

How can we dry moisture efficiently after water spills?

The drying process is more complicated than water extraction since several factors can delay the outcome. Our technicians focus on:

• The percentage of wet materials
• Relative humidity levels
• Temperature levels  

Water penetrates porous and semi-porous materials such as fabrics and wood, which act as a reservoir, slowing down the drying process. Apart from checking for the presence of such materials at the site, we also check their level of wetness using penetrative and non-penetrative moisture meters, thus determining the drying effort needed. For the semi-porous wooden floors, we utilize specialized drying techniques such as setting up drying chambers, which help improve the drying process. 

For the rest of the areas, setting up air movers and dehumidifiers is sufficient for complete drying. However, there is a need to even out the number of air movers and dehumidifiers for balanced drying because using too many air movers can evaporate too much moisture leading to secondary damages. 

Apart from setting up drying equipment, our crews take other steps, including moving contents from wet areas and removing carpets for drying outside the affected structures to expedite the process.

SERVPRO of Livermore can help manage water damage at your business, eliminating uncertainties and improving the results. You can reach us at (925) 341-9040. We're Faster To Any Size Disaster.