On July 15th, 2017, a disaster struck a skilled care center in the worst possible way. A four-inch water line broke in the ceiling of a SpiriTrust Lutheran® senior living community. It was in the middle of the night affecting four wings and more than fifty rooms. Indeed there are some things you cannot control.
Nurses and staff had to work with great care and urgency to move and relocate 99 residents. This is in cooperation with first responder crews from the community. The SpiriTrust Lutheran® team did an outstanding job of moving everyone safely and efficiently to neighboring communities. Still, they were struggling in the middle of the night with substantial amounts of water.
Compleat Restorations was called to respond
Compleat got to work immediately after the last resident was evacuated. All the standing water was extracted from every part of the building before the sun greeted the dawn of the day.
Compleat provided boxes for the staff so they could carefully pack all the important contents from all the residents’ rooms. A large demolition crew from Compleat Restorations was sent immediately to begin removing affected walls and set equipment so drying could begin in less than 24 hours. There was one tough issue on everyone’s mind–how do we handle the large quantity of affected carpet squares?
When water gets underneath the rubber backing of a carpet square, the water becomes trapped in a moisture barrier between the carpet and the floor and drying is not possible without removal.
We did attempt drying the carpet, but after a few days, a decision was made to remove the carpet tiles.
It is a teachable moment in many ways.
There are just some things you cannot control in an emergency. SpiriTrust Lutheran® could not control an unexpected pipe break at one of the worst times of the night, but they did control a well-executed response to the situation with the highest levels of care and safety.
Neither Compleat Restorations nor the insurance company could control the natural properties of water, but as a team, they did control trying to make the best possible decisions for the customer.
Therein lies the moral of the story. Always work as a team to manage the things you can control. Do not give too much focus on the things you cannot control. Thanks to the teamwork of everyone involved, the skilled care center was dried and ready for repairs within a little more than a week. A job well done.
Before:
After:
Related Services:
Water & Flooding