Before

After

Cleaning Up This Ft Lauderdale Recreational Center After Water Damage

As you can see in the Before Photo, a burst pipe can cause substantial damage to a commercial structure. This Ft Lauderdale recreation center has a very active membership, making the restoration and the cleaning of this facility a top priority for its management. Officials overseeing the property relied on the fast response of our SERVPRO of Ft Lauderdale South team to help with the mitigation, restoration, and build back the building would require.

Pooling of the water-focused most on the hallway of the structure, impacting connected rooms, courts, and office spaces, cleaning up after this water damage would require swift extraction solutions. Because several inches of standing water were not present, the SERVPRO professionals utilized water removal devices like wet vacuums and weighted extractors to have the most direct and complete impact on the saturated carpeting visible in the Before Photo. Using the weight of the technician operating the equipment, water was squeezed from the carpet fibers and underlying padding to begin the drying process for this flooring.

With our standing agreement with many municipal agencies and their respective structures, we understand the chain of command required in these scenarios to complete initial mitigation work. Actions like setting up the staging area when our team first arrived were pre-determined based on the damage location, the proximity to outlets and power, and the place least likely to permit cross-contamination.

Being a clean water incident, much of the carpet and other materials did not require full removal. With a mostly dry carpet, air movers and dehumidifiers could work together to regulate relative humidity and pull out trapped moisture. This would also be necessary for structural cavities, as seen in the After Photo depicting the flood cuts that were made to permit drying of these openings and the application of mold inhibitors. Many portions of wall system materials required removal in this scenario, including:

- Baseboard/Trim

- Drywall

- Insulation

- Paint

Our professionals would reinstall these materials to their original appearance before completing actions like carpet cleaning and restoration. With leading carpet cleaning tools, approaches like hot water extraction pulled new dirt and debris from the fibers and years of debris and grime. Shampooing the carpets during the conditioning process protected the colorfastness of the short pile flooring, as you can see in the After Photo.

With the walls reconstructed, repainted, and treated with biocides, we had the facility ready for the scheduled activities and events without much interruption. Our fast efforts prevented water damage from spreading further in the building and ensuring that the appropriate restoration and minimal reconstruction occurred. Our SERVPRO of Ft Lauderdale South made this burst pipe disaster “Like it never even happened.”