As a business owner, your building is your biggest asset. It’s quite a challenge to keep your building protected, but you can’t always keep your asset protected from commercial water damage, usually caused by burst pipes, plumbing line problems, flood or backed drains.
At ASAP Restoration we have the necessary knowledge and skills required to keep your property safe against commercial water damage. In order to protect yourself and your asset as much as possible, here are 12 useful facts about commercial water damage.
12 commercial water damage facts
Now, even though every commercial business is different, there can all be at risk of water damage. Even if it’s just a small leak on the roof or in the pipes, it could have serious negative impact on the value of your property. So how do you protect yourself from this?
Make sure you do preventative maintenance
Just like with your car, you should always do regular maintenance checks from time to time, to make sure that your commercial building is in good condition. Under preventative maintenance, we mean checking the gutters, plumbing lines, drains etc. basically all the potential hazards of commercial water damage. If you do this at least twice a year, you’re ensuring that everything is in proper working condition.
Most common source of commercial water damage are leaking roofs
Roof leaks can be a serious problem, regardless whether they are small or big. Even a small leak could cause major havoc to your building. So during regular maintenance check, make sure that you also inspect the roof. If you find potential weak points for heavy rain or wind, repair it as soon as possible.
Even minor leaks can cause big problems
You might think that a minor problem with your plumbing is no big deal. Well, that’s not entirely true. Small damage to pipes, if left untreated, could have severe consequences and could even lead to major water damage repairs.
Not every water contamination is the same
As we mentioned in our earlier posts, there’s more than one type of water contamination, depending on what type of water caused the commercial water damage. There’s white water (almost harmless), grey water (somewhat harmful if left untreated) and black water (seriously harmful). Depending on the type of water contamination, we recommend different approaches for commercial water damage clean-up and safety procedures. It’s best to leave this to the professionals.
Not all water damage is covered by insurance
Insurance policies do provide coverage for some types of water damage, but not all of them. So for example, a standard insurance policy won’t provide coverage against flood damages. So before buying insurance for your commercial business, familiarize yourself with what’s covered and what isn’t and what can you add to the list.
Should you buy separate insurance for flood damages?
Since not all insurance policies cover all types of commercial water damages, sometimes you will need to purchase additional insurance to protect your commercial building against flood damage. Especially if your building is in an area which can be prone to flooding.
In case of commercial water damage, contact your insurance first!
Once you notice commercial water damage in your building, the first thing you need to do (even before contacting a professional water damage restoration service) is to contact your insurance provider, so you could file claim for coverage.
Time is essential
If there’s a chance that water damage could potentially threaten your property, knowing how to handle the potential danger in a timely manner, could make a real difference. If you’re familiar with what you should do and when you should do it, you could protect both yourself and your asset.
Mitigating water damage through extraction
NO matter if water damage occurred in your home or commercial building, you need to take care of it as soon as possible, before it could seriously compromise your building’s structure. The amount of water needs to be reduced immediately, in order to find the source of the problem and repair it. A professional water damage restoration service has the right tools and skills that can help you with this.
Cleaning protocols
Not every type of water damage requires the same kind cleaning protocol. Some materials, such as concrete are more resilient to water damage and can be salvages. Others, like drywall, ceiling tiles, cellulose insulation etc. will have to be completely discarded and replaced.
Water extraction isn’t the end
Even the excess water is removed, moisture caused by commercial water damage could be hiding in the walls, under the floor and it could eventually lead to mold infestation. So when contact a water damage restoration service, make sure that they also have a mold prevention specialist. He will thoroughly inspect your commercial building for mold and make sure that it doesn’t spread.
Mold can infest your building very fast
Once your building was hit by water damage, it could take between 24 and 48 hours for the mold infestation to begin. So make sure that the space is thoroughly dehumidified and dried out once the water is extracted.
