Water Damage Restoration in Ealing

Library in Ealing – Flood Damage Restoration

Rapid response saves water-logged library from extended closure

A combination of an immediate response and state-of-the-art equipment prevented a water leak in the library of the Thames Valley University from turning into a disaster for the organisation.

Over the New Year period a water leak on the fourth floor of the library building led to extensive flooding throughout all four floors below.

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Emergency services company, Ideal Response, were on site in less than four hours of receiving the call and deployed the leading rapid flood damage cleaning system, Ideal Drying, to extract the moisture from the chipboard raised floors, the ceiling spaces and the air itself.

The Problem

The majority of the books remained in situ while the drying was carried out which saved the library staff the time and effort of moving and re-shelving books, and remarkably, the library itself was only closed to the public for eight days while the water damage repairs were under way.

The Solution

The biggest challenges to ensuring a speedy water damage restoration process were the height of the building and the design of the ceiling space which led to more water retention than would have been expected. Speaking about how they overcame the challenges, Managing Director of Ideal Response, Javid Ibrahim said: “We used linked hoses and passed them through the windows and up the main flight of stairs via the centre stair well. We also secured them carefully so there was no risk of falling as the building was still being used by some University staff.”

The Ideal Drying system creates a stable, low-humidity environment and dries up to seven times faster than conventional methods. It is considered by many to be the most advanced rapid-drying system in the world and was critical in drying out the water retained in the ceiling spaces and the moisture in the atmosphere. “A conventional dehumidifier would have been completely unable to handle this aspect of the flood in the time required,” says Javid.

Estate Contract Co-ordintator for Thames Valley University, Barry Comben, was delighted that the library was restored for public use so quickly: “Given the time of the year that the flood occurred, I was very impressed by the speed at which Ideal Response responded to our needs. They had men and equipment on site within four hours of initial contact and acted promptly to ensure the University suffered a minimal amount of down time.”