Protect Your Projects from Water Intrusion
Don’t let the Rain Catch You by Surprise!
The rainy season has arrived and water and moisture intrusion are a serious concern. It can result in significant physical damage to buildings which requires expensive repair and remediation efforts.
According to a report by Zurich American Insurance Company, “water intrusion is one of the leading property damage risks associated with new construction and renovation projects.”
Water intrusion can cause costly damage in many ways. For example, in October 2021, during an atmospheric river event, a large modular residential construction project flooded and caused major damage and costly delays for one of ACC’s clients. Our team played a key role in the restoration effort to get the buildings to a place where they could be safely occupied.
By taking preventive steps and developing a plan for responding to moisture intrusions you can mitigate or even prevent a significant impact to operations.
Contact Us to discuss water intrusion concerns
Even in the absence of an intrusion event, it can still be extremely valuable to measure baseline conditions to establish parameters for a clean building. These values can be used as cleaning goals in the event water intrusion does occur.
Measuring baseline conditions should include:
- Relative humidity
- Current moisture content of building materials (non-intrusive)
- Airborne mold concentrations (mold is ubiquitous inside and outside of buildings)
- Air quality parameters (can include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, and ventilation system evaluation for proper air exchange rates)
Prevention and Planning
Quick steps to help minimize water intrusion:
- Always be aware of weather conditions anticipated for the worksite location and time of year.
- For new construction ensure temporary protective measures are adequate to withstand severe weather events.
- Inspect and clean-out roof drains and gutters to ensure they are working properly.
Have a plan to respond to water intrusions that is scalable. Large and complicated water intrusions are best left to professionals. Smaller intrusions may be handled in-house with properly trained personnel and the appropriate equipment.
Develop a written response plan, train key personnel and review regularly. If an in-house response team is established, it is important to understand its limitations and establish strict criteria for calling in professional support.
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Large Scale Water Intrusion
In the event that water intrusion occurs, the number one priority is to find out where the water is coming from and stop the leak or leaks.
If you have a flood:
- Extract the water out as soon as possible and depending on the size call a remediation contractor to help with the drying process.
- Alert your insurance carrier immediately, so they can send over an agent as soon as possible.
- Take as many pictures as you can to verify to water intrusion issues.
Wet drywall is the number one cause of mold in new and existing buildings. In most cases its prudent to contact an environmental consultant to help with documenting and determining the extent of water damage. A trained inspector using an infrared camera and moisture meter can determine what wallboard should be removed and what can be saved.
Mold can start to grow in as little as 24-hours, so starting the dry down process immediately along with the removal of wet building material is critical. Once mold starts growing you will need to contain these areas like asbestos abatement projects, which could double or triple cleanup costs.
Contact Us to learn more on how ACC can meet your environmental needs.