SERVPRO Helps to Restore Church After Flood Damage in South Colorado

Church operations follow established routines that can run uninterrupted for years, but an incident of flooding can throw everything into a tailspin. It happened at St. Paul Church in South Colorado where the Reverend, John Fitzpatrick, found the roof leaking like a sieve, in the middle of a hailstorm. Being a Sunday, and only thirty minutes to the evening mass made the situation dire. "My first thought was, we have to cancel mass, and then my second thought was, we've got to get these pews covered or something," Rev. John explains his initial predicament. Luckily, he was able to contact SERVPRO immediately and we managed to respond within an hour.

Saving an enormous structure like a church from flood damage is not an easy task because of challenges like high roofs and expansive spaces.  Although church members feel inclined to save their sanctuary, their actions may fall short because of lack of resources. Rev. John understood this and therefore called SERVPRO because we are well equipped to handle large loss incidents. "People were showing up to come to mass, and you know I was kind of meeting them at the door and saying, hey, sorry we can't have mass. You all can go home, but people wanted to stay and help," John says.

Speed is essential in any water loss situation because materials deteriorate the longer they remain wet. Our crew members at SERVPRO of South Colorado Springs utilize different approaches to limit such exposure. Installing a roof tarp provides a temporary barrier stopping more water from reaching into the structure solving the first problem Rev. John clearly describes when he says, "The roof was leaking like a sieve, and the water was coming down the walls." Covering the pews with plastic sheets also helped. 

Getting reassurance in the middle of a significant loss is essential, just like getting the job done. Having many members in our SERVPRO team, and bringing a variety of equipment to the loss site provides that reassurance. We brought several units of air movers, trailered desiccant dehumidifiers and truck-mounted water extractors, among others. As Rev. John summarizes, "I felt that right from the beginning, everything was going to be taken care of because that's what SERVPRO does."

On inspecting the loss site, we established that the roof leak had affected approximately 12,000 square feet in the church damaging the acoustic ceiling, tiles, the chapel, and the basement. We prioritized water extraction in all affected areas then set air movers throughout the structure to reverse the adverse effect of moisture, "Like it never even happened."

The damage to the sanctuary was tragic, but Rev. John was confident that the SERVPRO could handle everything. What amazed him was the speedy arrival and restoration. "What I didn't realize is just how quick they can get there and for us it was, even less than an hour after we made the call.

In case of water loss, call SERVPRO of South Colorado Springs at (719) 574-2789. We're Faster To Any Size Disaster.