On Property Management, Risk Management, and Professional Water Damage Remediation

A few years ago we completed a large mold remediation job for a local jewelry store in Langhorne, PA.
The mold grew because flood water damage from a storm wasn’t dried properly.
Even though the carpets were dry, the drywall behind vinyl wallpaper was allowed to stay wet.

When groundwater intrudes into a structure, whether it’s a home, an office building or a commercial store, it’s considered Category 3 water. This is sometimes referred to as “blackwater.”

It’s not sewage, but it’s treated like contaminated water. Why? Because it’s picked up all sorts of nasty stuff as it flowed over the ground and came into the building. Floodwater contains all the contaminants that would normally just “stay put” in the ground. That includes pesticides, bacteria from dog poop, and you guessed it, mold spores.

When drywall soaks up this blackwater, and can’t dry because plastic wall covering prevents proper drying, it grows mold.

What is interesting about this story is that PuroClean Emergency Recovery Services was hired as “second team in” on this problem.

The property management company coordinating maintenance services for this large national jewelry chain already had the carpets cleaned and dried by another company.

Unfortunately, this other company didn’t have the meters, technology, or understanding to take care of the wet drywall before it grew mold. The project ended up being an extremely costly endeavor. We had to repair and replace all the damage fast! The goal:  get the jewelry store open on time for Black Friday.

The question is, how did this happen?
What we’ve found in conversations with other property managers has been very educational.

First, many property managers don’t have a Risk Management Plan in place. A Risk Management Plan has all the information and contact numbers a property manager needs in case of emergencies. The information in a Risk Management Plan isn’t placed there arbitrarily.

Before it’s written, the property manager interviews each of the emergency contacts in the Risk Management Plan and determines availability and pricing for all the vendors. That way they know who to call and the price of the service so there are no surprises in the event of a disaster.

Second, most property managers know their properties well. But, they don’t know the difference between a carpet cleaning company who extracts water from carpets and having a professional water damage remediation company dry the whole structure.

Carpet cleaners clean carpets. Professional water damage remediation gets the whole property dry. We do this with meters that measure the moisture level in the whole building.

Why is this important?

Mold can’t grow unless it has heat, moisture, and food. If you take away the moisture, no mold can grow. So with meters to measure the moisture, we prevent mold by making sure the building is dry after a flood.

Third, part of a property manager’s job is watching the bottom line. So, they’re interested in finding vendors who quote low prices.

On the surface, it appears cheaper to have a carpet cleaning company simply extract water from the carpets. Unfortunately, if they leave the wallboard wet, as they did in this case, mold grows.

Remediating a property for mold is a much more costly endeavor. And mold growth presents severe health risks for the customers and employees. That makes for a huge liability for the property manager who is in charge of maintaining the property.

PuroClean Emergency Recovery Services is proud to be the company called by this Property Management Company’s.

We’re happy we could return the jewelry store to pre-loss condition in record time so they could be open for Black Friday.  And, there was no loss of revenue for the owner!

Now, we’re standing by with the resources to help them complete their Risk Management Plan so that future emergencies can be addressed before they become even larger problems!

If you are a Property Manager in charge of Risk Management Planning, contact us today at 877-750-7876 to make an appointment.

We will be happy to walk you through the steps for comprehensive planning for professional water damage remediation so that this situation doesn’t happen to you!