Property Recovery 911 was summoned to help investigate that origin of a water event that had eluded the home owner as well as plumbing and roofing professionals. Water was cascading through the ceiling of a basement powder room and upon arrival we were given a multitude of possible scenarios by which the basement flooding was caused. Our primary goal was to identify, isolate and neutralize the source of infiltration; once achieved, water mitigation could commence in earnest.
Cause of Water Damage
Employing a host of highly specialized equipment, we were ultimately able to identify a cracked stack as the culprit with the use of a borescope that we were able to snake through the wall cavity form the basement up. Although the realization that grossly filthy category 3 water had saturated wall and ceiling cavities within one’s home is never welcome information; our discovery secured insurance coverage, which was a major relief to the homeowner.
Mold Contamination
Our investigation also uncovered trace amounts of mold contamination, which prompted us to set up containment and establish negative pressure prior to beginning flood restoration service. Effective building containment requires the construction of a containment chamber as well as an exit chamber. Proper ingress and egress requires one to access and seal the exit chamber prior to opening the exit chamber contained work area. This fail-safe is necessary to maintain constant negative pressure to protect the area outside of containment from mold contamination.
In order to create an air tight environment, containment was created using 6 millimeter fire retardant polyethylene held in place with a combination of Zip Poles and myriad of specialized fastening techniques developed to cause little ancillary damage. Our enclosure was then fitted with heavy duty zipper access points to create a positive seal when accessing containment. Finally, negative pressure was established by ducting out a HEPA filter equipped air scrubber to extract air from containment. This process creates a vacuum by pulling air out of containment that is then purified as it passes through the pre-filter and HEPA filter within the air scrubber.
Once established, negative pressure is continually monitored with a differential pressure recorder also known as a manometer. In most instances we maintain between 7 and 11 Pascal’s of negative pressure, which is achieved by adjusting the air scrubbers variable speed motor. Painstaking preparations to establish uncompromised containment are crucial to protecting unaffected areas of the structure during structural drying and subsequent mold remediation.
Water Damage & Mold Contamination
The presence of mold is always associated with elevated moisture content that often require water mitigation and structural drying prior to mold remediation. Whether chronic or sudden, mold contamination is symptomatic of a moisture problem and will persist until the source of moisture is corrected. As outline above, the basement flooding in this instance was caused by a cracked waste pipe in the wall cavity extending from the first level into the finished basement; necessitating deconstruction, water mitigation and structural drying prior to mold remediation.
Water Damage Restoration
Following the appropriate preparations and precautions, we began deconstruction of building materials that had sustained water damage. This included disconnecting the sink and toilet from both the basement powder room as well as the 1st level powder room above. We removed ceramic tile from the floor and wall in the 1st level powder room as well as plaster to expose wet building materials for structural drying. The basement powder room was completely gutted along with a single wall in the adjacent finished basement family room as well as the utility room on the opposite side.
Water damage restoration continued with structural drying, which was accomplished by deploying the appropriate structural drying equipment on each level and in each affected room. After several days of structural drying, all areas were brought to within 3 percentage points of dry standard completing the water damage restoration portion of this job.
Mold Remediation
Following structural drying, mold remediation commenced with detailed HEPA vacuuming of the exposed building materials, followed by application of Serum 1000 laced with an enzymatic catalyst. Serum 1000 is a surface and substrate cleaner used to remove organic contamination. It is composed of 20% hydrogen peroxide formulated with surface active agents. The additive mentioned above changes the hydrogen peroxide from a base to an acid. This change in PH accelerates the oxidation resulting in a far more effective cleaning agent that literally boils mold contamination out of porous surfaces, lifting it out into the generated foam.
After an hour of air drying, all surfaces were HEPA vacuumed a second time to remove the loosened organic material. Our final step is to encapsulate the treated building materials with Sentinel 24/7 Zero. Sentinel’s 24-7 ZERO is a high-performance coating with antimicrobial protection, designed to inhibit the growth of stain and odor causing mold, mildew, and other microorganisms on the coating film.
Property Recovery 911 is committed to assisting victims of disaster protect their interests by quickly removing the source of damage and starting the restoration. We are prepared and on call 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to dispatch a quick response team who can be on your location within 1 hour protecting your interests. Our emergency restoration and preservation services include water mitigation, fire restoration, mold remediation and board up. Contact us at (267) 808-7200 for prompt, professional emergency restoration services.