Before

After

Commercial Water Damage Restoration in Dallas School

Gym in School Floods

Extracting water from the surface is only the beginning of a successful water damage restoration.  Given enough time, water will break through just about any barrier, and that’s just what happened at this school’s gym.  

When this Dallas school found their basketball court flooded after a weekend water leak, they called for emergency water damage restoration.  The water on top of the surface floor was easily extracted, but our technicians still needed to understand what damage, if any, may have been hiding underneath. 

A surface floor is the top layer of the floor -- it’s what we walk on and can visibly see.  This school’s basketball’s court had a hardwood surface floor with a waterproof layer able to prevent the absorption of small amounts of moisture (a dropped water bottle and sweat, for example).  The water damage was too much, and the water was able to find its way through the wood and its gaps. 

We use professional infrared moisture meters that are capable of detecting different levels of moisture on a surface.  Using our meters, our technicians detected significant moisture content still in the wood -- since the surface water had been extracted, we understood the water was hiding underneath.  The next step was to figure out how deep the water had penetrated to understand if the hardwood flooring court could be saved. 

When we tested the flooring, we found that the floor’s underlayments were acting as a moisture barrier and that the water had leaked all the way to the subfloor.  The many layers were preventing our dehumidifier desiccant and air movers from being able to remove the moisture quickly enough to prevent mold growth, and demolition became the best option to keep the property’s structure safe. 

Underlayment flooring acts as structural support to the top layer of the floor.  For a basketball court, it helps with the impact someone running on it would feel on their joints, and it would also help with the noise.  In gyms and schools, quality underlayments are often necessary. In a water damage situation, they can unfortunately also complicate the restoration process by acting as moisture barriers. 

What is a Moisture Barrier?

A moisture barrier is anything that prevents moisture from getting through it.  Common moisture barriers in homes and offices are high-gloss paint.  The glossiness makes it harder for water to seep through.  Once the water has soaked through, however, the barrier makes it harder for the water to come back out.  For this gym basketball court, the floor’s underlayment was trapping water underneath it and wetting the subfloor.  

When a water damage restoration company detects moisture and it can’t extract the water quickly enough to prevent decay or mold growth, a common solution is to demolition the barrier.  Demolition is necessary when no equipment can get through the barriers, and it’s done to keep more of the property’s structure safe. 

A commercial water damage restoration project of this size requires a large team of technicians to get to work immediately.  The gym’s surface flooring, underlayments, and subfloors were removed to expose the wet concrete. Then, commercial-grade desiccant dehumidifiers and air movers were installed to remove all excess moisture from the building.  Afterward, the gym was ready to have its floor rebuilt. 

Leader in Commercial Water Damage in Richardson, TX

It takes a large team of skilled and experienced managers and technicians to properly handle a commercial water damage restoration project.  Large amounts and pieces of restoration equipment also need to be available and installed quickly. 

SERVPRO of Richardson is often the preferred choice for large water damage restoration in Dallas Fort Worth because we’ve done this work for over 30 years.  We have the equipment, resources, and trained technicians to get the job done right. 

We’re ready to help our neighbors in need.  We’re available 24-hours a day. 

Call or contact us anytime.