Job of the Quarter: Water Loss at Home

7/9/2021 (Permalink)

Just 30 minutes after the flood was first discovered, our team began extracting and draining the water.

The blog that follows is an excerpt from our upcoming quarterly newsletter:

In previous “Job of the Quarter” articles featured in our quarterly newsletter and on our blog, we have highlighted jobs that send our teams traveling across the country, serving communities both near and far. The job that we have selected this quarter differs in that no travel was required, as it occurred on our own turf- inside of the warehouse, offices, and hallways of our Hunt Valley and Harford County headquarters.

Thursday, June 3rd brought a line of strong storms through the Baltimore area that wreaked havoc throughout the evening. With an inundation of calls coming in from members of the community dealing with storm and water damage, our office manager, Tracy Summers, was working late in the office. Water Crew Technician Brian Rhodes was about to head home after a long day when they first discovered rainwater flooding into our warehouse’s closed bay doors. With the rain falling at the rate of almost 4 inches per hour, they had to act fast. Tracy and Brian quickly called crew members in to help remove the water. With their help, we were able to avoid an even larger disaster.

Because there was approximately 1 inch of water covering the floor of the warehouse and the water had also spread to our main conference room, hallway, and individual offices, it was an all-hands-on-deck effort. Additionally, the water involved fell under the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration’s most contaminated classification of water, known as Category 3. Often containing “harmful pathogens” and risking human health, the Category 3 water posed additional challenges, as our crew had to take the necessary precautions to safely yet efficiently remediate the affected areas.

Around 5:30 PM, just 30 minutes after the flood was first discovered, our team began extracting and draining the water. Once the water was removed, walls were cut, wet insulation was removed, and drying equipment was put in place by 10 PM thanks to the help of approximately 20 crew members, who put in extra hours to get the job done. In order to install new drywall and complete paint work, a handful of our rebuild team members also took part. The entire project was completed by the following Tuesday and you never would have been able to tell that our offices had experienced water damage.

With every job, we strive to restore normalcy in our customers’ lives in a timely manner and make it “Like it never even happened.” In the case of this job, however, we faced a potential disruption to our business, as we were dealing with water damage on our home turf while calls were flooding in from community members. This job is worthy of our coveted “Job of the Quarter” title because of our team’s perseverance and selflessness in their decision to return to the office at night after a long day in order to help us recover from a water damage emergency and get back to helping members of our community. The job demanded quick removal and repacking of wet contents in order to keep our office afloat as we answered a slew of calls from customers as a result of the storm. Two of our pillars here at SERVPRO Disaster Recovery Team- Team Wall, Team and Persistence, ultimately came to the rescue.

Before we can resolve emergencies for our customers, it is imperative that we can effectively combat an issue at home. This quarter’s “Job of the Quarter '' proved that we can overcome any challenge, such as juggling an inundation of phone calls while dealing with a flood in our own office, and still have our customers’ backs. Emergencies of any kind can disrupt business schedules and turn lives upside-down, which are circumstances that we have experienced firsthand. By calling SERVPRO of Harrisburg West at (717)  510-6779 at the first sight of damage, you will speak with people who understand the necessity of arriving on site immediately and making any disaster “Like it never even happened.” Trust our Water Damage Restoration and Storm Damage Restoration professionals at SERVPRO to restore normalcy to your residential or commercial property whenever you are in need of our services.