We’re the Ones Who Make Water Disappear
You know that feeling when you walk into a building after a big storm and you hear that squelch underfoot? Yeah, it’s not a great one. Water has somehow got in where it really shouldn’t and now you’ve got a problem brewing.
That’s pretty much what we do – we turn up, get the water out, dry everything down and get your building back to normal before mould takes chances of taking over and the damage spirals out of control. We operate all over Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, the Central Coast and the Hunter Valley, and when you call us about water ingress, we don’t mess around.
The Common Water Ingress Culprits
To be honest, it’s all a bit hit and miss, but we’ve seen the usual suspects pop up time and again over the years.
Penetrating damp is probably the most common water ingress issue we come across. What happens is rain pushes its way sideways into external walls, usually through cracks in the render, dodgy mortar joints or waterproofing that’s just given up the ghost. It soaks through brick walls, gets in cavity walls, and before you know it you’re left with damp patches on internal walls and that classic musty smell that just won’t go away.
Roof leaks are another big one. Could be faulty flashing, a couple of cracked tiles, gutters that haven’t been cleaned in ages. On strata buildings with flat roofs it gets even tougher as the water just pools up there. And the tricky part with roof leaks is the water doesn’t always come straight through below the problem. It tracks along a beam, through a wall cavity and pops out somewhere completely different, which makes it a real pain to figure out where it’s actually getting in from.
Plumbing leaks are the sneaky ones. A pipe slowly leaking behind a wall or under a concrete slab, and nobody knows about it until the moisture has done its thing. By that point you’ve got wet gyprock, swollen skirting boards and sometimes even fungal growth behind walls that you can’t see but you can definitely smell.
And then there’s rising damp – more of an issue in older buildings where the damp proof course has either failed or wasn’t done properly in the first place. Moisture just seeps up from the ground through the concrete and masonry and you end up with salt stains and cracked render along the bottom of the walls. Not something we come across every week but it happens.
Why You Shouldn’t Just Leave It
We get it – water ingress doesn’t always look that bad at first. A bit of damp carpet here, a wet patch on a wall there. Easy to think it’ll just sort itself out.
But it won’t.
Mould starts growing within 24 to 48 hours once things get damp. And once mould growth gets a foothold in the carpet or behind the gyprock, it just spreads. Fungal growth in an enclosed space with poor ventilation is a real health risk, especially in commercial buildings where people are working there every day.
The structural side of things is another big worry. Timber framing rots, steel corrodes and the gyprock loses its structural integrity and basically turns to mush. If moisture ingress gets into structural elements and it’s left untreated for long enough, you’re looking at repair costs that make the original water damage look like loose change.
And if you’re a strata manager or building owner, there’s all the insurance and liability issues to contend with too. Water damage that develops gradually without being addressed can get really messy when it comes to making claims. Tenant complaints pile up. The cost of remediation skyrockets the longer you leave it.
The sooner you act, the more money you’ll save – every single time.
What We Do When We Arrive
Right, so you’ve given us a call. Here’s how it all works.
We turn up as quickly as possible. First things first, we get the standing water out. We use industrial wet vacuums to suck up any water that’s collecting, whether that’s inside units, hallways, common areas, plant rooms or anywhere else. If it’s a flooded car park or basement, we’ll bring out the big guns – our car park scrubber which can clear big areas of concrete in no time.
After the water’s gone, we set up our drying equipment. Air movers, carpet drying fans, commercial dehumidifiers – the setup varies depending on the job, but the idea is to pull all the remaining moisture out of the air, walls, carpet, underlay, any building materials that have soaked it up. We want everything back to normal moisture levels so mould doesn’t get a chance to grow at all.
Throughout the whole thing, we keep you in the loop. Strata managers especially need to know what’s going on so they can pass on the info to residents and owners. We’re not afraid to say if we think the root of the problem needs a plumber, a roofer or someone to take a look at the waterproofing – we’re not going to pretend we can fix something that’s out of our remit.
Where We Draw the Line
We get the water gone and dry buildings and that’s what we do.
We don’t mess about with waterproofing or fixing structural problems in buildings. No ripping into your walls to sort out drainage issues or install a new damp proof membrane for us. That needs specialists and sometimes structural engineers to sort out.
But what we WILL do is tell you what we think the problem is. We’ll point you in the direction of who can help. External waterproofing, drainage, damp proof repairs – whatever it is. We’ve been around long enough to know who does a top job in this area and who to avoid.
We can’t do water ingress prevention, but we will say this. Most of the dodgy jobs we get called to could have been avoided. Gutters that haven’t been touched for ages, waterproofing around balconies that’s all cracked and peeling, drainage that’s been half blocked for months… with a bit of good design and regular maintenance you can stop water ingress in its tracks. If you’re a strata manager reading this thinking “I should probably get someone to check that out”, yeah. You probably should.
The Types of Places We Service
Mainly any big commercial or strata building you can think of:
- Apartment complexes and residential strata
- Office blocks
- Shopfronts and shopping centres
- Underground car parks and multi level car parks
- Basements and plant rooms
- Warehouses and factories
We cover Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, the Central Coast, the Hunter Valley and Sydney.
Why People Keep Coming Back to Us
We show up fast and we bring our own gear – that’s the short version.
The longer version is that we’ve been doing commercial cleaning and office cleaning for strata and commercial properties for years. We know the ropes on these buildings. We know the strata managers need the updates, the tenants need to get in and out and it needs to be done properly the first time because nobody likes coming back a week later to sort out the same problem.
If you’re having water coming in and you want it dealt with, give us a call on (02) 4960 8630 or try us online. We’ll sort it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How quick can you actually get to us?
Well that depends on where you are and when you call us, but we get most places in a few hours. Water ingress is the urgent priority for us.
Will you fix whatever caused the leak?
No, that’s not us. We get the water out and dry everything down. If the cause is a busted pipe, failed waterproofing, a roof issue or a drainage problem we’ll tell you what we think it is and point you in the right direction to get it sorted.
What kind of gear do you bring?
Depends on the size of the job and what surfaces need attention. Industrial wet vacs, big car park scrubbers for concrete areas, air movers, carpet drying fans and big commercial dehumidifiers. We bring the right tool for the job.
Need a report for the insurance claim?
We can put together a report covering what we did, what gear we used and the state of things before and after. That usually does the trick for most insurers.
Do you do residential jobs?
Not really. We’re set up for commercial and strata work. If you’re a homeowner with water damage you’d be better off calling a different mob.
Where do you service?
Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Central Coast, Hunter Valley and Sydney.
