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Burst Pipes Cause Major Damage To Remote School

Burst Pipes Cause Major Damage To Remote School

Recommended by the Senior Architectural Technician of The Highland Council, Rainbow International Highlands & Islands were asked to help with recent flood damage at a local school.

The initial instruction that Rainbow received was “We have some serious flood damage and are now looking to engage with yourselves to start clearing up and drying out the affected areas of the building. We would ask that as part of your engagement you can carry out anti mould treatment and provide a certificate of dryness upon completion of your works.”

The school had suffered a catastrophic flood when a pipe on the third flood had failed causing water to cascade along part of the third flood and down into the two flood below. It was unclear how long the water was flooding the floors at mains pressure affecting the 96 rooms.

Rainbow attended the property along with Senior Architectural Technician to carry out a detailed report of the damage and restoration that needed to be completed.

“I have never seen the school looking so clean. Everyone involved was delighted with the results and the kids were allowed to return to school as planned.”

With the added pressure of Covid-19, Rainbow had to have the school habitable by the end of summer break, ready for the students returning, and future work could be completed during school holidays.

The team was deployed to the school on June 26th to start removing affected contents, whilst waiting for power to be returned to the building to allow drying equipment to be installed.

Whilst the drying was underway, it was realised that the walls had been painted with anti-graffiti paint, posing a barrier, making it impossible to dry the rooms. Holes were drilled into the walls to ensure that any water trapped behind the walls was dried effectively. Some rooms were also tented off to prepare for target drying which helped to speed up the drying process.

Due to the location of the job, the team had to stay in a nearby hotel for the weeks working on the school. This was also during the lockdown in Scotland, so few hospitality venues were open for business, but luckily there was one hotel open for essential workers.

After nearly two months of drying and restoring the school, on 12th August, the last piece of drying equipment was removed from site. The team had worked tirelessly and the time and effort was accredited by the comments from the Headmaster of the school.

During these tough times it is great to see that teamwork is still there, as well as hard work and results being accomplished.

This is just another job where Rainbow’s amazing customer service develops a long standing relationship.