After water damage
Water damage cleaning
The subject is not the cleaning, it is the drying. A space handed back barely dry gets its smell and its mould back within days.
Drying governs everything
Removing water and cleaning is quick. What takes time is bringing the substrates — screed, lining, insulation, timber — down to a moisture content that no longer allows mould to develop. We measure that content, we do not estimate it, and we do not hand a space back before it is reached.
On the coast and along the dock the air is already loaded with moisture: drying takes longer here than elsewhere, and it is one of the reasons a job done on the cheap gets paid for twice.
In a transit shed
A roof leak or a burst service above an aisle reaches the cargo before it reaches the building. We deal with the space and the structures; we make no determination about the state of the cargo, which is for the facility manager, the insurer and, where appropriate, the average adjuster.
We keep waste streams strictly separate and we record what was removed. Nothing falling under the port reception regime joins another circuit.
What the work covers
Removal
Standing water, silt, soiling, materials beyond saving.
Stripping out
Saturated materials that will not dry in place.
Disinfection
Floors, walls and accessible structures.
Controlled drying
With moisture readings, to a threshold — not to a date.
What governs the lead time
Mould establishes itself within days: the earlier we start, the less has to be stripped out. But drying itself cannot be shortened — and where the building sits inside a restricted area, the port access pass is added upstream.
What we will not do
We do not trace the leak and we do not repair: plumbing, roofing and services are another trade and they come before us. We make no determination about cargo and we put no figure on a loss. In older buildings we touch no material liable to contain asbestos.
Questions about this service
- How long does drying take?
- It depends on the substrate, its thickness and the ambient air — from a few days to several weeks for a screed. We take moisture readings as drying proceeds and we stop at a threshold, not on a date. Announcing a firm duration before measuring would be inventing a figure.
- Can the space go back into use before drying is finished?
- Technically sometimes, but we advise against it in writing. A substrate handed back damp gets its smell back within days and mould follows. The cost of redoing it always exceeds the cost of waiting.
Give us the window.