Water damage restoration and cleaning in Bayonne, NJ

Nowhere in the city is far from tidal water, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 is the storm the low ground measures itself against.

The city urbanized and industrialized through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, drawing the immigrant workforce that built out its housing, so the dominant stock is attached and semi attached two and three family houses and small apartment buildings from that period. Bergen Point, Constable Hook and Port Johnson are named communities within the city. Bayonne Medical Center is the largest employer here, with more than 1,200 staff.

Three sides of tidal water and one storm system

A peninsula drains outward, which works well until the tide is high on every side at once. When that happens the storm system cannot discharge and water is pushed back into properties through basement floor drains and at the base of foundation walls, well away from any shoreline. That water has been in the drainage system and has crossed industrial ground, which makes it category 3 grossly contaminated water under the ANSI IICRC S500 standard. Porous materials it reached are removed, and the structure is cleaned before equipment goes in.

Attached housing shares more than a wall

The two and three family houses that dominate Bayonne share party walls, and very often share a basement holding two sets of utilities and the boiler for the building. A loss in one household is therefore a loss in the building. The extent is mapped before drying starts, readings are taken on both faces of a shared wall where access allows, and each affected unit gets its own file so that an owner, two tenants and two carriers can read the same event without the work stalling while everyone waits for someone else.

What leaves a Bayonne basement after tidal water

Carpet, pad, porous subfloor and the wet band of drywall come out, along with any wet insulation in a stud bay, because wet fiberglass or mineral wool does not dry usefully in place and holds moisture against the framing it touches. Anything absorbent stored on the floor is triaged item by item, with each decision photographed beside the item.

Sound framing is cleaned and dried in place, with its moisture content read at a marked point until it matches the control. The slab is kept and dried uncovered, because concrete is class 4 material that holds moisture and gives it back slowly. A new floor laid over a slab that never reached a measured dry standard is the next claim waiting to happen.

Appliances, utilities and the limits of a restorer

In a shared basement the water heaters, the boiler and often the electrical panel sit at the level the water reaches first. Anything submerged is a matter for a qualified service technician or the utility, and that is said plainly instead of guessed at.

Nobody should be walking into standing water anywhere near an outlet, a panel or a connected appliance. That is the first thing said on the phone, before any conversation about carpet, and it matters more than anything else said in that call.

Mold, documentation and what is claimed

The Environmental Protection Agency asks for water damaged areas and items to be dried within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth. After a tidal event that clock has usually been running since before anyone could reach the building.

Remediation follows ANSI IICRC S520 and names the condition found. Containment, negative air pressure and HEPA filtration keep what is disturbed out of shared stairwells, and post remediation verification is provided in writing when the containment comes down, with the readings behind it. The business does not file, adjust or negotiate the claim, and no state mold license is claimed because New Jersey issues none. The estimate is free and written before work begins with no hidden fees, the work carries a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee, and the business is IICRC certified, licensed and insured and family owned since 2010. Carpet, rug and upholstery cleaning is done by the same technicians once the structure is dry, and a rug that came off a wet Bayonne floor is dried flat and fully before it goes back down.