STOP Restoration Bakersfield recently helped a home seller and their real estate agent. While the stately home was vacant and in escrow, thieves broke in and stole the water heater. The water feed was not fully shut off and flooded the basement. STOP technicians did a thorough inspection and found that the basement was not only wet, but also heavily contaminated with rodent droppings. We have known for years that rodent droppings are a depository for harmful viruses and biohazard—COVID 19 has made us painfully aware of this fact. Our task involved multiple objectives:
- Dry the flooded basement
- Disinfect, clean, and remove the biohazard
- Avoid cross-contamination in the rest of the house
- Protect our personnel involved in the cleaning and restoration.
We applied a hospital grade disinfectant/virucide to all surfaces, including the stairwell leading down to the basement.
We built a temporary containment wall at the top of the stairs and ran super-dry dehumidified air into the flooded basement. Fans were not used as this would make the biohazard go airborne as the space dried.
All work was done in full PPE.
In three days the flooded basement was completely dry. Out techs donned their PPE again and did the final cleaning and biohazard treatment.
Here we see a cascade of property damage circumstances: theft, water damage, and biohazard contamination.
STOP processed the scene professionally and efficiently, and escrow was closed on time.
STOP performs water damage restoration, mold remediation, biohazard cleaning, demolition, and contents cleaning in Bakersfield, Taft, Tehachapi, Delano and Shafter. They are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for emergency water damage and cleanup.
