Flooded Basement
Property Recovery 911 was contacted for a flood restoration by a prestigious non-profit organization located in Philadelphia’s historic Rittenhouse square.
‘One of five original squares planned by city founder William Penn in the late 17th century, Rittenhouse Square sits in the middle of some of the most desirable addresses in Philadelphia.
High-rise residences, luxury apartments, an office tower, popular restaurants and retail stores surround the tree-filled park, which offers an oasis of respite and relaxation amidst the bustling city.Named for astronomer and clockmaker David Rittenhouse, Rittenhouse Square is where visitors and locals gather for picnics, brown-bag lunches or just strolling amid the trees, manicured lawns and sculptures.’
– Visit Philadelphia
This flood restoration job consisted of a flooded basement containing approximately 6 inches of standing water. Logistically, this flood cleanup project posed difficulties owing to the congested urban environment and overzealous officers of the Philadelphia Parking Authority who afforded no deference to our flood restoration crews need for strategically located equipment trucks.
Flood Cleanup
The organizations maintenance personnel pointed out a crack in the buildings foundation as the source of the flooded basement, which ultimately we found to be inaccurate. After several hours of extraction, the water was removed, giving our flood cleanup crew a brief respite from their labors to seek the aid of nourishment for the grueling flood restoration labors that lay ahead.
Upon return from lunch break, we found a freshly flooded basement, a detailed investigation ensued to find the source and stop the flooding. Located within a basement wall, we discovered a small hole approximately ½” in diameter, through which water was actively entering the basement. Prior to continuing this flood restoration, the source of this water intrusion needed to be identified and stopped.
Freeze damaged water supply lines caused a flooded basement in an adjacent attached building. Water from the flooded basement next door was entering the subject property via the small hole found behind the basement wall as detailed above. The Property Recovery 911 team was required to wait while unrelated crews repaired the water supply lines that were causing the problem. Once the freeze damaged water supply lines were repaired, the flood restoration project began anew.
Flood Restoration
Standing water was once again extracted from the flooded basement and the arduous flood cleanup continued in earnest. Baseboard was removed and sheet rock was ‘flood cut’, which is a technique that removes the soaked wallboard and promotes drying of the building materials within the wall cavities.
The water damaged contents to be discarded were staged for hauling within the basement, as local authorities in this urban setting would levy fines if debris were stored outside, even though pickup was made within a few hours. This complication required subcontract workers negotiate a subterranean stairway to remove several tons of rubbish, which ultimately increased both the difficulty and expense of this job.
Contents to be restored were gathered in the center of each of the 3 affected basement areas and elevated on high density foam squares, a process known as ‘blocking and tabbing’. This technique takes advantage of the flood restoration drying process by allowing salvageable contents to be ‘dried in place’ by the same machinery that is simultaneously drying the structure itself.
Sanitization
Following water extraction, deconstruction, content manipulation and debris removal; conscientious flood restoration procedures required that we thoroughly sanitize the affected area. For disinfection, we employed Benefect botanical disinfectant. Applied to contaminated water damaged materials, Benefect controls and inhibits odor causing water-borne bacteria as well as mold and other odor causing organisms on a variety of porous and semi-porous materials.
Containing botanically pure plant extracts that are safe for children, pets, and the chemically sensitive, Benefect surpasses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s efficacy requirements for broad spectrum hospital disinfectants and is known to kill over 99.99% of germs including MRSA, Fungi, HIV, TB, Salmonella, Staph, E.Coli, Flu including H1N1 and the common cold.
Structural Drying
Flood cleanup continued with the deployment of structural drying equipment, including 2 Drieaz 7000 XLi Dehumidifiers, 12 centrifugal fans, 3 axial fans and an air scrubber to protect the inhabitants from inhaling any particulate matter that may have become airborne. Over the period of 3 days, structural drying equipment remained in place and we made daily visits to monitor the effectiveness of our flood restoration efforts. Internal moisture content readings were taken from the building materials daily throughout the drying period.
The flood restoration process proved challenging due to the outdated electrical service within the building, requiring us to balance the structural drying equipment load between outlets so as not to trip breakers and compromise our timeframe. Within 3 days’ time, we were able achieve moisture content within 3 points of our dry standard and deem this flood cleanup project a success as per IICRC guidelines set forth in the S500.
Property Recovery 911 offers professional flood restoration and flood cleanup services in Philadelphia, Bucks County, Chester County, Montgomery County, and Delaware County, PA. Contact us at (267) 808-7200, we are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to dispatch a quick response team who can be on your location within 1 hour.