Which Precautions are Necessary During Water Removal in Voorhees to Comply with Government Regulations?

10/12/2020 (Permalink)

Quick reaction is what you need when water damage affects your office. Contact team SERVPRO for effective water removal and remediation service.

SERVPRO Guides Voorhees Business Owners during Water Removal, Ensuring Everything Done to Save the Property is in Line with the Regulations

When your business premises is covered with water, your primary concern is how to remove the water, dry wet areas, and restore everything to the preloss state. In your haste to achieve these goals, you might take some actions that go against regulations set by state or local authorities. Helping business owners comply with all regulations is one of the fundamental roles SERVPRO plays when restoring wet business premises in Voorhees.

Which regulations can you interfere with during water removal exercises in Voorhees?

• Standard plumbing code
• Property maintenance codes
• Waste management regulations

Faulty water pipes cause most water spills affecting Voorhees business premises. Old corroded water pipes my spring leaks flooding the building. Alternatively, joints can give way, releasing water into unwanted areas of your property. Before completing other water removal processes such as extraction, it is necessary to find the leak point. Most pipes also happened to be installed within wall cavities or other assemblies in the structure. Therefore, you might need to do some demolition to reach the affected area and rebuild the section after fixing the leak. 

Plumbing codes state that you should not weaken the structure when making pipe installations. Therefore steps such as cutting joists to reach existing pipes or accommodate new ones might violate the plumbing codes. Other aspects of the code include the placement of protective plates and fire caulking around the pipes.

Our SERVPRO technicians receive 10-hour general and construction industry training that equips them with sufficient knowledge on the national plumbing codes. We also review local regulations to ensure that any work we do during water removal is compliant.

How can water removal lead to violation of property maintenance codes?

Property maintenance codes touch on many issues, including:

• Presence of toxic fumes, gases, or materials in a building
• Operation of dangerous or defective plumbing
• Failure or collapse in parts of the structure

Although you might expect a standard water removal process where you extract pools of standing water, then dry any wet materials in your premises, things might not always go as planned. Since water is a universal solvent, it affects several materials within your property, leading to deterioration, chemical changes, or microbial growth because of the exposure and especially if such exposure is over a lengthy period. In a business facility, the inconveniences are amplified because you serve people with different interests or preferences. 

Our SERVPRO team can help you overcome the problems and, in the process, ensure that no violation of building maintenance codes occurs. For instance, we can cut down the period the materials are exposed to water by fast-tracking extraction. We also employ strategies that help control moisture as we perform other removal processes. The main strategy involves setting up dehumidifiers around the facility and thus maintaining standard humidity levels.

What wastes need removal when there is a water intrusion incident?

Water removal from your Voorhees premises may create various wastes, including deteriorated materials from the floors, walls, and other parts of the structure. Water exposure can lead to the irreversible deterioration of drywall and insulation. It can also affect other less observable materials such as the cement or glue holding floor materials together as well as the paint or other finishes on various surfaces. Some of these materials might contain hazardous substances such as lead or asbestos. Therefore, safe disposal is necessary for the wellbeing of the people patronizing the facility and to ensure you conform to waste management regulations. 

Our SERVPRO technicians take a holistic approach to waste management. For instance, we do some evaluations to determine whether demolition is necessary for the water removal processes needed at your premises. We use sophisticated equipment such as thermal cameras to check water migration patterns in concealed areas, thus ensuring we only demolish the affected areas. We also use different kinds of moisture meters and sensors to check the level of wetness in materials, thus determining whether we can dry them instead of removing them. 

On determining the need for teardown, we take precautions such as using heavy-duty plastic bags to hold different wastes at the loss site until we have a chance to dispose of them properly. Our branch is certified in RRRP, Lead-based Paint Activities, and Renovations, so it is easier to identify and handle hazardous finishes properly. 

Your effort to deal with a water spill should not lead to a violation of government regulations. SERVPRO of Haddon Heights / Voorhees can help manage the incident at your premises for a positive outcome. Call us at (856) 566-3388.