Fitness Centers and flooding

12/22/2020 (Permalink)

Fitness center with spin bikes.

SERVPRO Can Help You Restore or Prevent Severe Outcomes after Flood Damage in your Osceola Facility

When a storm or other extreme weather event punctures the roof at your Osceola health and fitness center, it creates a perfect opportunity for rainwater to filter in, leading to flooding. Since you cannot predict such intrusion, what matters is what you do once it happens. The outcome can be disastrous if you do not take immediate steps to address all the problems that develop.

What problems should I expect after water incursion through the roof?

Such flood damage in your Osceola fitness center is likely to affect most of the contents in your facility as well as structural components. In most cases, you can expect some typical issues such as:
• Water trapped within the walls
• Water trapped in the ceiling
• Water-logged floor materials
• Deterioration of wall panels and fixtures

When water enters a building through the roof or other elevated parts of the structure, it affects more areas as it finds a way towards the floor. Unlike breaches at the ground level whereby water wicks slowly through materials, the intrusions from elevated points allow water to reach cavities such as the spaces between walls, ceilings, and closets faster, this is gravity at work.

Sudden exposure to water affects materials in different ways, depending on the physical traits of their constituent parts. Composite materials can disintegrate as the water damages the bonds that hold them together. The water might also spark chemical processes like rusting metallic items in your fitness center, including the weights, benches, and other accessories. Calling our SERVPRO team in time can help prevent rather than reverse these processes.

How should I plan my response to a flooding incident?

• Stopping the water infiltration
  • Removing the water
  • Clean up
  • Dealing with moisture

When flooding happens because of a hole in the roof, performing other restoration steps before fixing the opening exposes the property to further intrusion should the rain continue. Since carrying out full repairs on short notice is not feasible either, you need alternative solutions. Our SERVPRO technicians can help set up a roof tarp stopping further flooding inside the structure until you repair the damaged section. The tarp is strong enough to last up to two years, so it is not just temporary patchwork to secure your facility for a day or two but should get a permanent repair soon after the incident.

Fast extraction of any water pooling around the facility is essential since leaving water sitting in the property over extended periods leads to secondary damage. The water might penetrate the subfloor necessitating expensive repairs. Standing water also increases humidity levels within the structure, which can transfer damages from the areas affected initially. Wet-vacuuming helps remove the water fast. Our technicians have access to different varieties of extraction equipment, including portable and truck-mounted ones allowing us to extract any pool of water, "Like it never even happened."

Are there unique challenges of restoring a flooded gym?

If your fitness center is like most, you have the advantage of vast open spaces. Moving contents out of the way or setting up restoration equipment is easier. Most of the equipment also has metallic parts, which can withstand water exposure. However, you can expect other challenges.

Depending on the material you have on the floors, water exposure can cause minimal or extensive damages. In the case of a wooden floor, you have to worry about the expansion that occurs from absorbing significant amounts of water. Even more troubling is that the expansion might not go away after drying, so the damage can be permanent. If the floor is made from synthetic materials such as rubber, vinyl, or poured urethane, you do not have to worry about expansion. However, substantial water intrusion under the material damages the glue holding the floor material.

You might also have a carpeted area in your facility, especially around the weightlifting benches. Extended exposure of carpets to water leads to backing separation. Carpets used in commercial settings have higher pile densities ranging from 18 to 30 ounces per square yard, which makes them more resilient. However, water can still damage them permanently.

Our SERVPRO crews use different techniques to help resolve these situations, including expediting water extraction and setting up drying chambers over wooden floors to control the drying process. For the carpets, we can remove them for offsite drying to quicken the process.

SERVPRO of Osceola can put in the hard work necessary to save your fitness center from flood damage. Call us at 407-933-0707 to help. We're Faster To Any Size Disaster.

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