Office, Lab and Retail Water Damage in Massachusetts

Speed matters in a Massachusetts office, lab or store because the damage hides above the ceiling and under the floor. Drop ceiling tiles soak up water and fall, carpet tiles trap water against the slab, and drywall on metal studs wicks moisture up from the floor line. Pipes can burst over a long holiday weekend in a closed building and be found on the first workday, after water has crossed two floors. Flat roofs and rooftop units take the brunt of nor'easter rain and heavy snow, as in 2015, when MEMA logged 131 roof collapses statewide in 13 days. Every hour a suite stays wet adds to the area that has to be opened.

In the first hour, water spreads across carpet tiles and into the ceiling grid of the floor below. By 24 hours, drywall at the floor line has wicked water up, ceiling tiles are falling and wood casework and millwork are swelling. At 48 hours, mold can start in wall cavities and behind cove base. After a week without drying, flooring may lift, lab casework may need replacing and the space may need a full rebuild before tenants or customers can come back.

Much of a commercial interior dries in place when the water is clean and drying starts the first day. Concrete slabs under carpet tiles dry well once the tiles are lifted and stacked, and many tiles can be dried and relaid. Drywall on metal studs often stays if baseboard or cove base is pulled and small holes are drilled for airflow into the cavity. Sealed concrete, vinyl tile and terrazzo dry fast. Metal lab casework, steel shelving and most store fixtures can be dried and wiped down, and server and electrical rooms are kept dry with targeted dehumidification.

Other materials usually come out. Wet acoustic ceiling tiles lose their shape and stain, so they are replaced rather than dried. Particleboard casework, laminate counters on wet bases and millwork that swelled at the edges rarely recover. Carpet with a separate pad, wet fiberglass insulation above the ceiling and drywall that wicked water more than a foot or so up the wall are often cut out. In a lab or a clinic, anything porous that sewage or dirty water reached is removed, and the space is cleaned before it reopens.

Office, lab and retail water calls come from every part of Massachusetts. In Greater Boston, downtown and Back Bay office towers, life sciences labs in Cambridge and the Seaport, and Route 128 office parks in Waltham, Burlington, Woburn, Lexington and Needham all carry long runs of piping above occupied floors. Boston averages 49.2 inches of snow and 43.6 inches of precipitation a year, so flat roofs downtown take heavy snow loads and wind-driven nor'easter rain that can find its way into top-floor ceilings.

Along I-495 and I-90, corporate and tech offices in Framingham, Marlborough and Natick sit inland, with colder winter nights than the coast. North of Boston, retail centers in Peabody, Danvers and Saugus can see roof-edge leaks after heavy snow, and in Worcester, colleges, a medical school campus and offices in converted mills sit in the snowiest major city, with 72.9 inches a year. A call to the line connects the facility or property manager with a local crew that works that region.