Water Damage at Home: Job of the Quarter

7/9/2021 (Permalink)

Approximately 1 inch of water enveloped the floor of our warehouse and was quickly spreading to several individual offices, our main hallway, and our

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In the past, our “Job of the Quarter” articles have featured jobs that have sent our crews traveling across the country to help communities in need after any kind of emergency. This quarter, we are flipping the script by highlighting a job in which travel was hardly necessary. This June, we faced a water damage emergency at home with flooding that impacted our Hunt Valley and Harford County warehouse, individual offices, and main hallways.

The flooding was caused by strong thunderstorms that occupied the Baltimore area on the evening of Thursday, June 3rd. Our office manager, Tracy Summers, happened to be working later than usual in the office that night in order to answer an influx of calls from homeowners and business owners dealing with ramifications of the storm. Brian Rhodes, one of our Water Crew Technicians, was moments away from heading home when he stumbled across water that was entering the warehouse through its closed bay doors. Tracy and Brian had to act quickly in order to combat the fast rate of rainfall per hour during the storm and prevent any further water damage to our office. Crew members were called back to the office after hours to extract the water, restore the affected areas, and prevent a major disaster. 

Approximately 1 inch of water enveloped the floor of our warehouse and was quickly spreading to several individual offices, our main hallway, and our primary conference room. Therefore, we needed all the help we could get. The nature of the flood water itself posed an additional challenge, as it fell under Category 3 of the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration’s categories of water. Category 3 water, which often contains “harmful pathogens” and is extremely contaminated, is dangerous to human health. As a result, our crew members working to extract the water needed to be especially careful in order to ensure safety while completing the remediation.

The water was discovered at 5 PM that evening and by 5:30 PM, our crew was assembled and ready to begin removing the water. Immediately following the water extraction, team members cut wet walls, removed damp insulation, and set up equipment necessary for the drying equipment. All of this work was completed by 10 PM that night due to the helping hands of approximately 20 crew members working overtime after a long day. In addition, several members of our rebuild team came in to finish drywall installation and paint affected areas. The entire job was completed by the next Tuesday and our warehouse, offices, conference room, and hallways appeared as though they had never been harmed by a flood the week before.

Making it “Like it never even happened,” and helping our customers return to life or business as usual are our primary goals whenever we take on a job. Our own business was interrupted during this storm due to the extensive water damage that we experienced. Calls were flooding in from customers who needed our help during the storm while we were working to remediate our own storm and water damage at home. The selfless attitude of our crew members that motivated them to drive back to work after returning home for the evening in order to restore our warehouse and office to their preloss condition was what made this job worthy of our “Job of the Quarter” title. Additionally, the job displayed our team’s embrace of Team and Persistence, which are two of SERVPRO Disaster Recovery Team- Team Wall’s pillars that saved our office from disaster.

These qualities travel with us and are applied to every job that our team has the pleasure to undertake. Here at SERVPRO Disaster Recovery Team- Team Wall, we are always capable and ready to come to the aid of customers in need, regardless of whatever challenges we face behind the scenes, as illustrated in this quarter’s “Job of the Quarter.” We understand firsthand the importance of working quickly to minimize interruptions to both life and business, so when you call SERVPRO of Metro Pittsburgh East at (412) 672-5400 after any kind of emergency, we guarantee a fast response. Let our professional Storm Damage Restoration Services and Water Damage Restoration Services ease your mind, as we are committed to making it “Like it never even happened,” for your commercial or residential property.