The two men standing in the driveway had no uniforms and their pickup truck had no visible advertisements. It was obvious that they were not specialists and experience told me that this job was likely beyond their ability to properly address.

I introduced myself as a Water Restoration Specialist and asked if I could take a look at the structure. A quick walk-through showed about a thousand square feet of floor space had been flooded and water had wicked-up or impacted several walls, cabinets, the kitchen and bathrooms. The structure had not been correctly prepped for the drying-down process and the necessary equipment was not present to facilitate in a timely manner. I suggested to the two men present that they seek the services of a professional.

Two weeks later I headed across the street to take another look. The infra-red camera showed the walls and other building products were still wet. Yes, that’s correct - it can take several weeks for a structure to completely dry on its own. But, it only takes a few days for serious microbial amplification to occur. What could have been a water mitigation project and completed for around $2000-3000, is now a complete remediation or demolition of all contaminated building products. The cost for the removal, clean-up and reconstruction will now likely exceed $20,000.

Water-damaged homes are relatively common these days and have cost banks millions of dollars a year - and that’s only in the Las Vegas Valley. Who is ultimately responsible for not handling such a situation correctly? Who will ultimately pay for these losses? Will it be the bank’s customers? And perhaps the bank gets write-offs for their losses, in which case we all pay for it with higher taxes.

Scott holds multiple indoor environmental certifications, including the WRT (Water Restoration Technician) from the IICRC - Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration.

For more on this or other home care subjects, contact Scott at www.scottsauer.com.