Can Water Damage in Your Apartment Affect Your Neighbors?

11/2/2019 (Permalink)

The benefit may be the same as the drawback for apartments: in a confined place, you're tied to your neighbors.

Apartments are convenient for many reasons, like cost, location, and in-building facilities. One factor that can be a benefit or a drawback is the relationship between neighbors of an apartment building. One apartment’s water damage can easily become water damage for surrounding neighbors. If you’ve experienced water damage of any kind in your apartment, for example:

• A burst pipe
• Overflowed toilet
• Cracks in bath causing flooding
• Large spills
• Dysfunctional appliances

It is very possible that the water damage in your apartment could reach the apartment below or beside you. Being that water is heavy in large quantities, can break through material when built up, and flows through all kinds of materials laterally, then it’s more than likely that the damage might reach another neighbor. Don’t feel bad, it’s a very common issue and the physical properties of water cause it to spread easily through floors. So, what do you do?

• Contact Your Property Manager
• Recommend SERVPRO as Your Water Restoration Specialist
• Alert Neighbors to Check for Water Damage

The property manager will repair the damage for both you and your neighbor. When SERVPRO arrives at the scene they’ll finish the rest of the restoration process, which is a five step process.

• Contact (This is what you and your property manager did in calling SERVPRO)
• Assessment (SERVPRO reviews the damage and creates a plan)
• Drying (Using their equipment, the drying process begins)
• Salvage (Any water damaged material that isn’t ruined is now restored)
• Restoration (Ensuring the quality of every damaged material)