Extraction and drying for offices, shops and multi-unit buildings, scheduled around the occupants and the trading hours.
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Commercial water damage restoration removes water and dries the building for offices, shops and multi-unit buildings. The steps match residential work, but the job is scheduled around occupants, stock and trading hours, and the records must support the owner, the tenants and the insurer. Anchorage Water Damage Restoration answers calls at any hour and sends a crew as soon as one is free.
A commercial building holds more than a house does. Offices hold computers and paper, shops hold stock and fixtures, and multi-unit buildings hold the homes and businesses of several households at once. A water loss in one unit can reach the units around it, and the decisions about what to move, what to dry and when to close a space affect everyone who uses the building.
The steps are the same as in a house: stop the water, remove the free water, measure the materials and dry them to a reference. What changes is the sequence and the scale. Occupied space has to stay in use where it can, the equipment has to be placed so that it does not block exits or stock, and the work is often done in the evening or at the times the occupants agree to.
Shut the water off to the affected area if you can reach the valve, and move valuable stock and equipment out of the water. Keep people out of standing water near power and do not reach into a wet electrical panel or a wet outlet. Call the line and tell the crew the type of space, how many units or floors are affected and whether any tenant is still using the area.
Do not enter a wet plant room, electrical room or switchgear space until the power has been confirmed off by a qualified person. Keep occupants and visitors out of the wet area and away from the drying equipment, which can be a trip hazard. Do not run a generator or fuel-powered equipment inside a commercial building, because the exhaust can build up dangerously.
The technician checks which units, floors and shared areas are affected, and which of them are still in use. The owner or the property manager is asked which spaces must stay open, which stock must be moved and which tenants must be informed. The plan is set with those constraints before the equipment arrives.
Standing water is removed from the affected floors, and stock, fixtures and equipment are moved onto dry surfaces or out of the space. Where stock is valuable, it is photographed and listed before it is moved, and the list is given to the owner. Electrical equipment in the water is left until the power is confirmed off.
Commercial buildings share walls, ceilings and plumbing stacks, and water can travel into the next unit before it is noticed. The crew reads the adjoining spaces and the ceiling void above the affected area, and it records the readings for each unit separately.
The drying is set in phases, so that the parts of the building that are still in use stay open. Equipment is placed to avoid blocking exits and stock, and the crew works in the hours the occupants agree to. Each phase is logged with its readings, so that the owner can see what has been completed.
Every unit and every shared area has a record of the readings, the materials removed, the photographs and the final dry state. The record is what the owner needs to settle the tenants' claims and the insurer's questions, and it is handed over in writing at the end.
A commercial loss involves more people, more stock and more shared structure. The work is scheduled around the trading hours and the occupants, and the records have to satisfy the owner, each tenant and the insurer. The drying steps are the same as in a house, but the scale and the sequence are different.
Occupied space cannot simply be closed off without a plan. The crew works with the owner or property manager to decide which spaces stay open, which are closed for the drying and how long each closure is expected to last. Tenants are told in writing where the work affects them.
The records are more detailed. Each unit has its own readings, photographs and list of materials removed, so that an individual tenant's claim can be answered without reopening the whole building.
The owner decides what stays, on the advice of the crew and the stock's supplier where one is involved. The crew gives its view on which items can be dried in place and which must be moved or discarded, and it records the decision for each item.
Electrical equipment in a wet space is not used until a qualified person has checked it. The crew does not test electrical equipment, and it tells the owner which items must be checked before they are switched on.
Stock that has been in contact with sewage is treated under the sewage steps, and it is usually discarded. Stock that has been wet with clean water is assessed item by item, and the owner keeps the list for the insurer.
The time depends on the readings in each unit and each shared structure, and on how much of the building must stay in use. There is no fixed schedule, and the crew sets the phases from the readings it takes on each visit.
A small loss in one shop can be dried in a few days if the materials are non-porous and the drying can run through the trading hours. A loss that has spread into shared walls and ceilings takes longer, because each area has to reach its reference before it is closed.
The crew reports progress at each visit in writing, so that the owner can plan the reopening of each space and tell the tenants when they can return.
Know where the water shut-offs are for each unit and each plant room, keep a list of the stock and equipment in each space, and make sure each tenant knows whom to call. A written plan for emergencies helps the crew and the occupants move quickly.
Check the backwater valves, the drains and the plant-room equipment during planned maintenance, and keep a record of the checks. A maintenance log is also the record an insurer will ask for after a loss.
Keep current photographs of each space, including the stock and fixtures, so that the condition before a loss can be shown. The crew can use those photographs as the baseline for its record.
Structural work, changes to plumbing and changes to electrical systems may need permits from the Municipality of Anchorage. The contractor doing the repair should confirm which apply before work begins.
Opening a fire-rated wall, a shared ceiling or a plant-room enclosure can affect the building's protection, and that work is best checked by the contractor and, where it applies, the owner's advisers before it is made.
The crew records each opening it makes and its reason, so that the repair contractor can close it correctly.
An office or shop has suspended ceilings, carpet tiles, vinyl plank and stock on shelving. The ceiling tiles that are wet are removed, the carpet tiles are lifted where they are wet, and the stock is moved. Drying is set around the working hours and the layout of the space.
A multi-unit building shares walls, stacks and roof spaces between households. A leak in one unit can reach the units above and below. The crew reads each unit and the shared spaces, and it records the readings for each household so that each owner or tenant has a clear account.
A water heater, boiler or pump in a plant room that leaks can flood the floor and the corridor outside. The crew treats the plant room first, because the source is there, and then reads the spaces that share its walls and floor. Plant-room repairs are made by the plumber or the installer, not by the crew.
The commercial buildings in the city's ZIP areas share the same utility, Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, which supplies the city. A supply or drain break in a commercial building starts on the house side of the meter for that building, and the utility is called only for its side.
Commercial buildings in Chugiak-Eagle River, Girdwood and other outlying communities are served by the same steps, but the access and the distance from the nearest free crew can differ. The owner should tell the line the building's location and the type of space when calling.
Changes to a commercial building's structure, plumbing or electrical systems need the Municipality of Anchorage's permits where they apply. The contractor doing the repair should confirm which permits are needed before the work begins, and the crew's record of openings is given to that contractor.
Call any hour and explain what is going on. You get a clear price before any work starts.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Air movers and dehumidifiers that dry walls, framing and subfloors to moisture readings, not to appearance.
Basement flooding when a sump pump stops or a backwater valve fails, handled as a house-side failure from the first call.
Water from a leaking tank water heater, extracted from the floor and dried in the wall behind it.
Recognising mold after a water loss, drying the cause and checking a firm's credentials before any work starts.
Hire a water damage firm by asking which credentials it holds and whether they apply in Alaska, what the Municipality of Anchorage may require for permits, for proof of insurance, for a written scope and for references from recent jobs.
Often, if the affected area is closed off and the rest of the building remains safe. The crew plans the phases with the owner so that the open parts stay usable, and it tells you which areas must be closed and for how long.
The lease and the insurance decide who is responsible for stock and fixtures, and the insurer decides what the policy covers. The crew's list and photographs are the evidence the parties will use, and this company does not decide liability.
The crew works at the hours the owner and the occupants agree to, including evenings where that suits the space. The hours are set in the plan, and no arrival time is promised on the phone.
The crew reads the neighbouring unit and the shared spaces, and records the readings for each one separately. Each owner or tenant is given the record for their own space.
The drying steps are the same, but the sequence, the scale, the records and the scheduling are different. A commercial loss takes more planning, and the crew gives the owner a written plan before it starts.
The repairs are made by the plumber, electrician or building contractor who does that work, not by the restoration crew. The crew's record of the openings and the readings is handed to them so the repairs are based on the same facts.