Water Damage: Projects & CATCO's Solutions

School Campus Project:  Ursuline Academy Founded in 1727, this 850 student school is the oldest private (K-12) girls’ school in the United States. Challenges: 8 buildings on 11.5 acres Wind damage and flooding Lake Pontchartrain following Hurricane Katrina brought six feet of water to the site and into all of the buildings. Once the water subsided, the damage was extensive, including wood floors which had buckled, unuseable furniture and fixtures, and layers of debris, mud, and mildew left behind. All electrical systems were affected with water lines underwater and switch stations needing replacement.
CATCO’s Solution:

• Site cleanup involved the removal of 50+ trees and countless debris.
• Buildings were cleaned, decontaminated, and the mold removed.
• New electrical service was installed throughout the property.
• CATCO hired an outside agency to test the completed work to insure safety, quality, and a mold-free environment.
• Emergency response and restorative services allowing the school to reopen in time for the second semester.

Regional Grocery Chain Project:  Grocery Chain Challenge: Extreme heavy rains caused groundwater to enter this grocery store. Three to four inches including water and mud covered the floor throughout the 20,000 square foot building.

CATCO's Solution:

• Water extraction via floor cleaning appliances for tile floor.
• Additionally, rotary water jets and Spinner Hard Surface Cleaners were used throughout the building.
• CATCO was called in, the building was restored overnight and the business reopened the next day.
• (At the same time, in the St. Louis area, major flooding occurred throughout out the region and CATCO opened 35 jobs that day)

University Sports & Entertainment Arena Project: Chaifetz Arena, Saint Louis University Challenges: Pipe burst causing extensive water damage throughout this 10,000 square foot sports and entertainment arena.

CATCO’s Solution:

• This large capacity job required extensive water extraction and drying of numerous surfaces.
• Work was completed after moving and working around a significant amount of existing equipment.
• Completed within 24 hours.

High School Wrestling Gym Project:  School Gymnasium Challenges: Sprinkler head burst in this wrestling room causing flooding throughout the small gym. Although the emergency shutoff stopped the flow of new water into the system, the water currently present in the pipes drained completely through via the broken sprinkler head.

• Extracted all of the water and dried up the floor.
• Treated the floor and the wrestling mats with antimicrobial solution.
• Inspected each of the sprinkler heads and restored the system.

High School Gymnasium Project:  School Gymnasium Challenges: Ground water entered in this below-grade gym.  (hydrostatic pressure caused the water to enter through weak parts of the concrete base)

• An Injectidry System with Floor Mats was used to dry the hardwood floor using a pressure-based water vapor extraction process.
• Floor mats were used on the school’s logo to draw the water out and dry the floor, thus allowing the school to preserve the artwork in the hardwood and bringing the floor back to its “pre-loss condition.”