Condo Media - April 2018 - 28

disaster remediation

"Everything has
to be cleaned-
inside and out."
Dry wood floors, if possible. Many
properties contain floating floors-a
sub-floor and an upper floor with a
thin layer of foam in between. "We

can attempt to dry the floor in place,"
Paula says, but in most cases,
it must be removed.
Once the water extraction phase has
been completed, a disinfectant is usually applied, and the drying equipment
(dehumidifiers and large fans) is moved
into place. Technicians take initial
moisture readings and then repeat the
readings periodically, to track the drying progress. The process takes an average of three days. When it takes longer
than expected, Paula notes, it is often
because the equipment is noisy, and
owners sometimes turn it off at night.
"We ask people to tell us when they've
done that, so we'll know that's the reason the area isn't drying properly."
Sometimes a water remediation
assignment proceeds seamlessly. "You
walk in, pull up the carpeting, set up
your equipment and everything dries."
But some jobs are considerably more
complicated-where floating floors are
involved, as noted earlier, or when water

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28

CONDOMEDIA

has seeped behind a wall, and cabinets
must be removed to dry that area. In
those cases, Paula says, "we make sure
the insurance adjuster and/or unit
owner is aware of the issue and will approve the extra work and added cost."
Insurance is sometimes a complicating factor in water remediation assignments. The issue arises typically when
the water damage is in an owner's unit
and the owner is responsible for the
clean-up. Owners don't always have
HO6 coverage for their units, and
they don't always understand that the
association's master policy doesn't
cover their belongings or damage
inside their unit, for which they are
responsible.
"The manager has to explain that
the owner is responsible for paying
the remediation cost," Paula says, "and
that can be a difficult time. We sometimes get stuck in the middle."
Association attorneys regularly
advise board members and managers
to make sure the remediation is done
and sort out who is responsible for the
cost later. And that approach works
fine in theory, Paula agrees, but real
life doesn't always follow the script.
Water (and other) emergencies often
occur late at night, she notes, and in
some cases, "no one wants to sign the
authorization form" allowing someone
else to bill an insurance company-
either the association's or the homeowner's-for the remediation work.
If the owner insists that the master
policy should pay, and the manager
says, "'It's the owner's leaky faucet
and the owner's problem,' we're
stuck," Paula says. "We want to help
and we're there to help. But there
have been times when we had to leave
until it was worked out between the
two parties. It's very frustrating," she
sighs. "But fortunately, this doesn't
happen often."
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Condo Media - April 2018

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