24/7 Emergency ServiceRoswell Toilet Leak Leads to Water Damage Throughout Home
12/20/2019 (Permalink)
If your home or business suffers water or fire damage call SERVPRO of East Cobb. We can make it "Like it never even happened."
In a well established and quiet neighborhood on the East side of the growing city of Roswell, GA, disaster struck a two story traditional brick house in the form of a toilet supply line leak. The homeowner was out of town on business for a couple of days and returned home to find water cascading down through the ceiling of his living room, kitchen, and dining room. He was immediately hit with an overwhelming sense of worry and dread. At the time, it seemed like everything he owned was ruined. He began playing through his head the process of having to rebuild his entire life, all because of this most unfortunate water leak. This only added to his feelings of uncertainty and frustration, and just when all seemed lost...He called SERVPRO of East Cobb.
SERVPRO of East Cobb’s highly trained and professional restoration team will help you navigate all of the twists and turns that can come with restoring your home or business after water damage and can help you regain control of the situation. Upon notification, SERVPRO of East Cobb can have technicians on-site within an hour in most cases, ready to start the drying process so that your life can get back to normal. If your home or business has suffered water damage, give SERVPRO of East Cobb a call today! We are approved and preferred vendors for most insurance companies and have a great working relationship with local insurance adjusters. If you happen to be a State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, Auto Owners, or The Hartford insurance customer, SERVPRO of East Cobb is a preferred provider of these carriers making the process simple for our customers. Taking all of the guesswork out of filling out insurance paperwork, scheduling with adjusters, and documenting your claim.
It is SERVPRO’s policy to protect our customers personal information and SERVPRO would never publish identifying information about our customer’s property. We asked this Roswell homeowner if it would be alright to share his restoration project story with prospective customers and highlight the work we performed on our website. Having been thoroughly impressed with our level of service and attention to detail, he acquiesce without hesitation. The following is a step by step walk through of his water restoration claim.
Our customer called SERVPRO of East Cobb just after lunch on a Sunday afternoon, to notify us of his home water damage issues. Our loss coordinator fielded his call, and calmed his nerves by assuring him that SERVPRO help was on the way. Then immediately dispatched one of our IICRC certified water restoration technicians to his home to perform an emergency water extraction and start the drying process. While on the phone with our loss coordinator, we gather pertinent information about the homeowners property like when it was built, insurance policy information, and the number of rooms affected. Is water and electrical power available on-site? What type of materials were affected by water damage (hardwood floors, carpeting, drywall, etc.)? The information gathered was electronically transferred to our water restoration technicians, who were in route to the customer’s home. By gathering and providing this information to our technicians, they are ready to start the restoration process as soon as they set foot on the property. Equipped with specialty drying equipment suited to the type, condition and size of the loss at hand.
SERVPRO’s goal is to save all building materials and restore them to their preloss condition through our advanced drying and restoration techniques and processes. Materials that can not be saved are documented for the homeowner and adjuster, then removed and disposed of off site. Sometimes materials may not be cost effective to restore, in which case the item(s) or material(s) are again, documented for the homeowner and insurance provider’s records then removed from the home or business.
The first step our water restoration technicians take on any restoration project is to assess the structure and affected areas for safety hazards like falling sheetrock or electrocution risks. Once the property was deemed safe, our technicians started documenting and assessing the extent of the water damage. Taking pictures and notes of damage to be compiled in the restoration job file along with drying-logs that document the progress of drying the structure, building materials, and contents of the home.
Room by Room Mitigation Scope of Work
Cause of Loss: The cause of loss was a broken toilet supply line on the second level in the master bathroom. Water leaked from the broken toilet supply line for approximately three days and did damage to all three levels of the home, affecting fifteen rooms. The cause of loss, first, and second levels were all classified as a category 2 water damage due to contaminants in the water that could potentially cause illness through contact or ingestion. The basement level was upgraded to category 3 water damage because of potentially pathogenic, toxic organic and inorganic substances.
*The home was divided into three zones and individual scopes of work were written up for each zone.
Zone 1: The basement was designated as zone one and consisted of three affected rooms. The basement was largely unfinished and used primarily for storage. Our team extracted water from the cement basement floor, safely packed up what little items were in the basement to be safely stored off site at our 15,000 sq. ft storage facility. Specialty commercial grade equipment was placed once all standing water was extracted. Using SERVPRO’s proprietary psychrometrics software, our technicians set up twenty-eight directional air movers, four low grain refrigerant dehumidifiers, and a courtesy HEPA air scrubber to filter unpleasant odors associated with the water loss. Affected areas were treated with antimicrobial and professional cleaning products to prevent mold growth. After a few days of drying, zone one was dried to IICRC S500 Standards and returned to preloss condition. Finally the contents that had been moved off site could be returned to the customer’s basement.
Zone 2: The main level was designated as zone two and consisted of four affected rooms (kitchen, dining room, living room, and hallway bathroom), an entryway, and a couple of hallways. The affected rooms all required light water extraction due to a small amount of standing water that saturated the free flowing hardwood floors. Extensive demolition was required throughout portions of zone two.
- In the kitchen, hardwood floors were 70% affected requiring 235 sq. ft of flooring to be removed along with all wall baseboards. A small amount of standing water was extracted from the kitchen floor. Cabinets and countertops were emptied and belongings packed for cleaning and storage off site. The ceiling was 100% affected and required all 280 sq. ft of ceiling sheetrock to be removed. The walls and cabinets were largely unaffected and were able to be restored with minimal demolition, only the cabinetry baseboards would have to be temporarily removed to facilitate drying. Once demo was completed the entire area was cleaned using professional cleaning products and antimicrobial treatments to prevent mold from growing in the home. Using eight centrifugal air movers and a single Evolution LGR dehumidifier the kitchen was dried to IICRC’s S500 Standards and was now ready for our construction team to complete repairs and finish the restoration of the kitchen. New hardwood floors were installed. Baseboards were remounted to the fully restored kitchen cabinets. Touch up paint and drywall work was completed by our talented paint and sheetrock crews. The entire kitchen was given a final cleaning and the contents were returned to their rightful places, completing the restoration of the kitchen.
- In the dining room, hardwood floors were 25% affected requiring 39 sq. ft of the flooring to be removed along with the removal of all baseboards. The contents of the room were safely packed into boxes and moved off site, taking special care of the customers antique dining room table. After demolition, the affected area was treated with antimicrobial professional cleaning products to prevent future mold growth, and two air movers were placed to dry the affected area to preloss condition in just a couple of days. Once our construction department replaced the hardwood floors and baseboards, the dining room table and other contents could be returned and arranged as they were before the loss.
- In the living room, hardwood floors were 100% affected requiring 356 sq. ft of the flooring to be removed along with all baseboards in the room. Standing water was extracted using one of SERVPRO’s truck mounted water extraction vacuums and debris was cleared from the area. The ceiling was also 100% affected requiring all 375 sq. ft of the ceiling to be removed. Once demolition was completed the entire affected area was cleaned with antimicrobial professional cleaning products to deter mold growth in the future. Twelve Centrifugal and directional air movers were strategically placed to encourage drying of the subfloor and ceiling joists, along with two Dri-Eaz LGR dehumidifiers and a courtesy air scrubber to remove airborne particulate matter. Once the structure was dried to preloss conditions, SERVPRO’s construction department stepped in, replacing the hardwood floors, ceiling drywall, baseboards, and touched up paint and drywall.
- In the hallway bathroom, the hardwood floors were 100% affected requiring 18 sq. ft of the flooring to be removed along with the baseboards in the room. The cabinets, granite vanity and sink in the bathroom were detached to facilitate drying and the entire area was treated with antimicrobials and professional cleaning products to prevent mold growth. Two directional air movers were set up in the bathroom and drying in this area was completed in just a couple of days. The construction team replaced the hardwood floors, touched up paint, reset the vanity and sink to complete the restoration of the bathroom.
Zone 3: The second level of the home was designated as zone three and consisted of five affected rooms (master bedroom, master bathroom, two guest bedrooms, and a study/home office), and a long hallway that spanned the length of the second level. Excluding the master bedroom suite and hallway, the second level had free flowing carpet throughout which was completely saturated with standing water in some places. Water was extracted from the carpet and pad, then the carpet and pad was cut out and removed. The homeowner had postponed replacement of the carpet on the second floor for several years and used this disaster claim as an opportunity to complete the flooring renovations.
- In the master bedroom, hardwood floors were 100% affected and required all 228 sq ft of hardwood flooring be removed as well as all baseboards in the room. SERVPRO technicians utilized portable water extractors to remove standing water and carefully packed the contents of the master bedroom for cleaning and storage off site prior to removing the flooring. Professional cleaning products with antimicrobial agents were used to clean the affected areas, as a preventative measure against mold growth. A total of six Sahara HD TurboDryer air movers and a single low grain refrigerant dehumidifier were used to dry the master bedroom over the course of several days. The construction team reinstalled new hardwood floors and baseboards then touched up sheetrock and paint prior to final inspection.
- In the master bathroom, tile floors were 100% affected and required all 60 sq ft of tile flooring to be removed from the master bathroom. Standing water was extracted from the tile floor and master bathroom contents were cleaned and packed for offsite storage. The toilet was detached to facilitate drying and the removal of the tile flooring. Then the entire affected area was treated with professional cleaning products and antimicrobials to prevent mold from growing in the future. Three centrifugal air movers were used alongside a single LGR dehumidifier to dry the master bathroom over the course of several days. Once the master bathroom was dried to preloss conditions SERVPRO’s construction department replaced the tile flooring, reset the toilet, and touched up drywall and paint, completing the restoration of the master bathroom.
- In the hallway, hardwood floors were 100% affected and required all 135 sq ft of hardwood flooring be removed as well as all baseboards. Standing water was extracted from the hall prior to removing the baseboards and hardwood floors. SERVPRO’s proprietary professional antimicrobial and cleaning products were used to clean the affected area and prevent mold from forming. Four centrifugal air movers, two axial air movers, and one dehumidifier was used to dry the hall to IICRC S500 Standards. Restoration of the hallway was completed when SERVPRO’s construction department installed new hardwood floors, baseboards, and touched up minor drywall and paint flaws.
- In guest bedroom one, carpeted flooring was 40% affected, requiring 65 sq. ft of carpeting to be removed. At the homeowner’s request our team removed 100% of the carpeted flooring in preparation of the new hardwood flooring that would be installed after structural drying was completed. The entire room was cleaned using professional antimicrobial cleaning products. The contents of the bedroom were packed up and moved off site for cleaning and storage. Only four air movers were required to dry all affected materials and subflooring in just a few days. As mentioned, our construction department completed the restoration of the bedroom by installing new hardwood floors, replacing baseboards, and touching up paint and drywall issues.
- In guest bedroom two, there was no damage caused by the water loss, but in preparations of upgrading the flooring, carpet and pad was removed from the room. The contents of the room were packed up for safe storage off site, so that hardwood flooring upgrades could be completed in guest bedroom two.
- In the study/home office, carpet was 10% affected and required that 14 sq ft of carpeting to be removed. Again, at the homeowner’s request our team removed 100% of the carpeted flooring in preparation of the new hardwood floor installation. The contents of the study/home office were carefully packed and transported off site for cleaning and storage. Antimicrobial professional cleaning products were used to clean the damaged area. Two centrifugal air movers quickly dried this partially affected room. Once dry, the construction department completed the restoration and flooring upgrades by installing new hardwood floors and touching up paint and drywall blemishes.
What to Expect Until Help Arrives!
When you call, SERVPRO of East Cobb a loss coordinator will ask you several questions regarding your water damage emergency. These questions will help us determine what equipment and resources to bring, including how many trained SERVPRO Professionals may be needed.
Our SERVPRO Representative will ask several questions:
- Your name and contact information
- Your insurance information (if applicable)
- The street address of the water-damaged home or business
- When did the flooding or water damage occur?
- What caused the water damage (if known)?
- Is there electricity available (on-site)?
About SERVPRO of East Cobb
SERVPRO of East Cobb specializes in the cleanup and restoration of residential and commercial property after a fire, smoke or water damage event. Our staff is highly trained in property damage restoration. From initial and ongoing training at SERVPRO’s corporate training facility to regular IICRC-industry certification, rest assured our staff is equipped with the knowledge to restore your property.