Job of the Quarter: The Immaculate Conception Catholic School

4/7/2021 (Permalink)

This February, the state of Texas was paralyzed by Winter Storm Uri, bringing a deep freeze and winter weather uncommon to the state that inflicted serious storm damage upon homes and businesses state-wide. Dallas was hit especially hard, leaving homes and commercial businesses looking for help in picking up the pieces. Here at SERVPRO, we recognized our responsibility to do all that we could to help those affected. Our crews set out on the road to Texas as soon as they could, ready to be of assistance and make it “Like it never even happened.” Our crews’ ability to drop everything, travel across this country, and help our customers find relief are precisely the characteristics that qualify their efforts for the title: “Job of the Quarter.”

Storm Damage at the ICCS

We set our focus on the Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Denton, where we set up camp. We learned of the damage sustained by the school after receiving a call from an adjuster on Friday, February 19th. As a result of the winter storm, the school fell victim to a broken fire suppression pipe and water damage at least one-inch deep throughout several rooms and hallways. The entire gym floor, which was made of VCT, needed to be removed. Additionally, drywall required replacement in hallways and classrooms in addition to carpeting in classrooms. In order to effectively dry the school and complete all of the restoration and rebuild work, we needed ten temp workers, fifty fans, and two desiccant dehumidifiers. In sum, our team had a lot of work on their plate.

Challenges Faced

The storm took place the week of February 13th through the 17th and our process of demolition and drying out the school took a total of eight days. Each day, eight to twelve crew members were needed in order to complete this tremendous job. In addition to the gym floor removal, our team also faced a flood of challenges. Firstly, the school was in session throughout the entire job, which forced our team to utilize containment and try to minimize noise as best they could. Our team also had to relocate six entire classrooms of contents to various storage & temporary storage solutions, which was no small job.

Our Team Is Resilient

Considering that our team was 1500 miles away from home while facing such challenging work, as well as the scale of the project, our team members’ efforts and contributions should be celebrated. After initial evaluations, Jamie ran the entire production portion of the project, documenting the damage and scope of work, managing the staff to complete the necessary demo as well as mitigation work, and allocating the drying equipment as needed. Jamie ensured that all of the onsite requirements were met with the school’s staff, which enabled us to sufficiently meet every one of the school’s needs. 

SERVPRO’s Emergency Storm Response

Like Winter Storm Uri, severe storms can seemingly come out of nowhere, leaving customers overwhelmed and unsure as to how to pick up the pieces. Our 24-Hour Emergency Service is designed especially for this purpose and everyday, we strive to be “Faster to Any Size Disaster.” If a severe storm takes you by surprise, gain the help and reassurance of our storm damage professionals by calling SERVPRO of Hunt Valley and Harford County at (410) 229-0012. While we provide local services, we are also a part of a larger network of national storm resources, SERVPRO’s Disaster Recovery Team, which is made up of SERVPRO franchises located across the country. Whether it is a major storm like Winter Storm Uri or smaller-scale storm damage, we hope to have the opportunity to make it “Like it never even happened,” for you or your client in the future.