When you are in the industry STOP Restoration is you learn about all the dos and don’ts that can cause catastrophic events to occur in your home or business. Leaving the dryer on when you are gone or forgetting to shut off your barbeque are just a couple of examples. What about when things are out of your control? Sometimes bad things happen that just cannot be foreseen.
Much of the work we get is caused by things out of the homeowner’s control. One job in particular comes to mind. It was a very sweet elderly lady who had her grandchildren living with her at the time. Her home was a beautiful two-level on a large piece of land. Her granddaughter had taken a shower in the master bathroom shower on the main level. During her shower, the guests staying in the bedroom downstairs, directly below the bathroom, came upstairs to let them know that there was water coming through the ceiling. It was raining in the house.
Upon inspection, it was discovered that the pipe that runs down the wall from the shower head had broken off behind the wall. The water was running down the wall to the lower level pouring water through the drywall on to the floor, and the bed. When we arrived, they had a bucket underneath the leaking ceiling to catch the water. However, the damage had already been done down stairs. The bathroom upstairs though had minimal damage. The challenge with the bathroom was that in order to repair the broken pipe, the tile around the shower head had to be removed, and we had to dry behind that wall.
We set up our equipment to dry out as much as we could. We were able to save the ceiling downstairs but the floor did not dry well. Water was trapped underneath and it had to be removed. We were able to paint the room to cover the water stains, and we replaced the flooring material. Upstairs was a little more extreme, surprisingly. Due to the fact that the tile that was in the shower was several decades old, it could not be matched. Therefore it all had to be removed and replaced. But it was not just the shower. It was also the surround around the bathtub right next to the shower and the tile countertop on the six-foot vanity. All of the tile matched and since the homeowner is entitled to pre-loss condition, the adjuster agreed to replace it all since it matched before the damage occurred.
This turned out to be a bigger job than the homeowner had anticipated. In the end, she was very happy with the new floor downstairs, and the new bathroom tile upstairs. This homeowner could not have seen this damage coming as it was hidden behind the wall. As preventative as we want to be, sometimes life has another plan. If it starts raining in your home and you have water damage anywhere, give us a call. (503) 207-0334
