Clients: Howard and Candy B.
Kitchen that was damaged by a frozen pipe that burst.
Every homeowner dreads any type of damage to their house. It is even worse when the house is being sold, and you have a closing date set!
Large debris pile including kitchen cabinets, carpet and personal belongings
A disaster like this not only effects the current homeowner, but also the buyer, and everyone else who is involved in the transaction. It’s a lot of pressure.
This house in Levittown, Falls Township is owned by a disabled veteran and his family. The house was in good condition, had a nice kitchen, and it was put under contract for sale pretty quickly. It was set to close in a little over a month.
The February cold in Bucks County, PA took it’s toll on the uninsulated kitchen water pipes. The pipe froze, and it split at the elbow joint. This broken water pipe was located in the exterior wall of the kitchen, toward the ceiling. Burst pipes that are frozen eventually thaw, and the broken pipe started gushing water. The water ran down the walls, behind the the upper kitchen cabinets, backsplash, countertops, down through the lower base cabinets, and flooded onto the kitchen floor. There was no shut-off valve for the water pipes, and the water kept flowing until a water department technician came out to shut it off at the street. That left plenty of time for the water to do a LOT of damage throughout the whole house.
S.T.O.P. – Service Team Of Professionals of Eastern PA, was called in by the distressed owners to see how we could help them. Before we even discussed how to fix it, we got to work salvaging what we could for them. Our crew immediately started moving all the furniture, contents and valuables to a safe, dry place. We weren’t awarded the job yet, but this family needed help right away, and we were happy to help them – just as any good neighbor would.
Extracting water from carpets that were salvageable
We worked with their insurance adjuster, and both the seller’s and buyer’s Realtors. We kept in contact with them to let them know what needed to be done, and how fast it could be done properly.
Most of the base cabinets were damaged from absorbing water.
This kitchen was designed by the owner, and he installed the backsplash himself, so they were very upset to see how the water ruined everything that they worked so hard on. We tried to save as much as we could, and have as little impact on the house as possible, but we made sure the remediation was done properly.
After we were officially awarded the job, we started the remediation by removing the entire kitchen, all upper and base cabinets, granite countertops, sections of the wall where the water ruined the drywall, and all the insulation that sucked up the water like a sponge. We managed to save the granite countertop so that it could be re-used. The water flooded out to the living room and all the other rooms in the house. The carpets that got totally soaked and ruined were removed. Several carpets were salvageable by extracting the water with our powerful carpet water extractor.
Mold can start to grow as soon as 24 hours after water damage is done. Even in the cold of winter, mold can grow. After wet vacuuming, and extracting, as much standing water as we could, we ran industrial dehumidifiers, and air movers, to dry out the house as fast as possible. After the house was dry we sprayed the house with antimicrobial inhibit mold growth. Then we started to put everything back together again.
We worked quickly to get the house back together, and hope to salvage this deal for the seller and buyer. We’re in the process of working with the insurance company to repair the house, and put everything back in place. We’ll let you know what happens.
BTW, we offer a 10% discount to veterans, and seniors – every little bit helps.
S.T.O.P. – Service Team Of Professionals of Eastern PA is a local disaster restoration company based in Langhorne, Bucks County, PA. We are here to help you with any property damage caused by water, flood, mold, smoke, fire, vandalism or hoarding.
We can be reached 24/7 for emergencies at: 267-433-5500
