Our team spent several hours last week carrying out surveys & removing drying equipment from a large flood that had affected two adjoining properties in Clifton, Bristol. The escape of water had originated from the pipework of washing machine on the second floor of a 6 bedroom student property & had cascaded down & flooded this property, as well as a newly converted commercial premises beneath.

The initial call-out had been from the flood at the student house, but it soon became clear that the commercial premises was the more badly affected.

Full Survey

The first element of our flood restoration work is an initial Health & Safety/ Risk Assessment to determine whether the location is safe to work in. Once this was complete, we began measuring moisture & humidity levels to establish how severe the flood had been.

Unfortunately, the water had fallen directly onto the electrical RCU in the property, which meant we couldn’t begin any drying until an alternative means of power was organised. After several days, a local electrician installed a temporary RCU drawing power from next door.

Our first job was then to extract any remaining sitting water & decontaminate the affected areas…

Extracting flood water with one of our powerful rinse extraction machines

Mould on this plasterboard is a sign of secondary damage

Secondary damage

Where possible, we will always seek to begin the drying process as soon as possible after a flood incident. One of the key reasons for this is to prevent secondary damage. Secondary damage occurs when porous materials & surfaces absorb water & begin to deteriorate. The video below shows how the absorption of water has caused the plasterboard wall & composite wood skirting board to loose structural integrity-