Client problen

A leak from a mains water pipe had occurred on the top floor of a three-storey town house. No-one was home when the leak occurred, so water saturated all three floors of the property. The water damage was so extensive that it penetrated below the concrete ground floor and soaking the insulation beneath.

Extensive drying was required to restore the property.

How we helped

Not withstanding the damage, the homeowners did not wish to move into alternative accommodation. We designed our drying regime around them, so that they could stay at home throughout the process.

After initial mitigation works to minimise secondary damage to contents, ServiceMaster Restore implemented a phased drying programme, focussing first on the upper two floors of the property. This enabled us and to save a solid hardwood floor that was installed on the first floor.

Once the upper floors were dry, we undertook an injection drying regime on the ground floor. This involves blowing air into small holes drilled in the floor slab to dry the insulation beneath. We utilised state of the art equipment, designed to turn itself down at night so that the noise levels did not disturb the home owners when they were asleep. We also installed a remote monitoring system which allowed us to monitor the progress of the drying 24/7.

Benefit

Our expertise delivered three main benefits:

Minimising cost – we were able to dry the property without extensive strip out works, saving the insurance company many thousands of pounds from the overall cost of the claim;

Minimising time – the remote monitoring system enabled us to see precisely when the property was dry, meaning we could remover drying equipment at the earliest opportunity, saving both time and energy consumption;

Minimising disruption – the homeowners were able to stay at home throughout the entire process.