The perfect restoration jobBy Bill Begal

This story does not include a homeowner or insurance company; rather, it involves our federal government.

To make it more interesting, my company received the coveted 2007 Phoenix award for “Innovation in Restoration.”

June 2006 had historically heavy rainfall in the greater Washington, D.C., area.

One of the buildings affected from heavy rain was the headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Begal Enterprises Inc. was contacted at approximately 12:05 a.m. on June 26 and was asked to respond to assess the damage to the building and to create a plan to mitigate and prevent further damage.

Within an hour, Begal personnel made their way downtown, carefully navigating the streets of the nation’s capital which were flooded with up to three feet of water.

Personnel walked the basement of the building, of which almost 100,000 square feet were affected. Standing water was as high as 2.5 feet in some places, and water was still coming into the structure.

Thermal imaging cameras showed that water was wicking up the drywall. The cove base glue was so saturated that it began to curl off the walls.

The water receded, mud and sediment were extracted and shoveled out, and then these areas were mopped and sanitized.

All furniture was blocked. Important documents, records and the irreplaceable EPA microfiche library were removed to dry areas for assessment.

Special containments were built to protect important documents that did not get wet but would be damaged by the rising humidity within the building.

By 10 p.m. that night, trailer-mounted desiccant dehumidifiers were onsite. Portable LGR dehumidifiers and air scrubbers were placed and energized.

Wednesday, June 28, began the full-scale restoration. Two 12-hour shifts with 40 workers on each shift worked around the clock for the next 2.5 weeks.

All affected building materials were marked for removal. This amounted to more than 72 tons of debris.

A strict cleaning protocol was established. This included HEPA vacuuming and biocleaning, using specially manufactured tack and alcohol cloths.

Air scrubbers were used throughout the project and LGR dehumidifiers were left in place to control the humidity within the structure until the HVAC system could be cleaned.

Following the cleaning, a full battery of microbial clearance samples was taken by EPA hygienists. The results: 98 percent passed clearance criteria, 90 percent of those came back with zero organisms present.

Results of this caliber are unheard of on a project this large and intricate.

It is rare that full-scale remediation of this magnitude is performed — especially considering that this was the headquarters of the organization that monitors our industry and decides on appropriate actions and protocols. That is the real “bonus.”

As this is being written, nothing, not one cent, has been paid for this award-winning project, performed more than 11 months ago.

Government Services Administration (GSA) maintains that they are satisfied with the work performed, they just need more time to review and caucus with their independent appraiser.

Additionally, they want information that was not a part of my contract.

The lesson learned is that a burn rate should have been figured and a draw paid weekly against that rate. Go to http://www.advantagecleaningteam.com/ or http://www.janiservu.com/