Your company’s building is your most important asset. Building restoration services extend the longevity of your building along with helping it increase in value. Natural disasters, accidents, or neglect can result in a building that is in need of serious repair. After a flood, fire, or other type of disaster restoration is the solution to get your business functioning normally again.
Any interruption to business represents a challenge, but restoration ensures that your business won’t suffer further damage or deterioration by restoring the affected areas to like-new conditions.
What is Building Restoration?
Restoration is the process of restoring a building back to its original state. Restoration is often used with regard to restoring historically-significant buildings, but it’s also used to describe deteriorating buildings that need to be restored. Broken walls, destroyed masonry, leaks, and other types of damage can result in a building that doesn’t simply need to be repaired, it needs to be restored.
Different types of building restoration services can restore the functionality of a building, the structural integrity of the building, or the interior and exterior aesthetics.
Signs a Building Needs Restoration
When a building is in need of restoration the signs will be obvious. Flaking concrete, cracks in the foundation, water stains, and sagging ceilings are all symptoms that a building is in dire need of restoration. A normal walkthrough of a commercial building where you spot mold, uneven floors, cracked or peeling paint make it clear that it’s time for restoration.
Importance of Building Restoration
There are several reasons why repairing and restoring a damaged building is important. When left to decay, the cost of repair increases until the building could be considered a financial loss. Restoration prevents further damage, extends the buildings lifespan, ensures safety and legal compliance, along with improving energy efficiency and increasing the property value.
Restoring a commercial or industrial building can be expensive and reduce productivity, but the benefits exceed the costs. Let’s break down all of the reasons why restoration is so important.
Prevents Further Damage
When a structure becomes damaged, restoration services prevent the building from deteriorating further. Specialty coatings like protective paint can become chipped, allowing dirt and moisture to damage the surface it was previously protecting. By repainting this chipped or cracked area you cover up the exposed surface and prevent corrosion from spreading.
On a larger scale, if a building becomes flooded with rainwater, restoration services will remove the standing water, preventing mold. By contacting a restoration services company quickly, you can avoid additional damage and expenses.
Restores Functionality
When a building becomes damaged, parts of it may not function the way they used to. Issues like broken doors, cracked or drafty windows, inoperable plumbing or electricity, or broken exterior elements leave a commercial building looking run down, and a challenge to work in. While there are aesthetic considerations to building restoration, the focus is often on getting all of the interior elements in working order again. After a natural disaster or fire, restoring a building’s functional aspects is important to regain your company’s productivity.
Restores Exterior Aesthetics
Over time the weather, sun damage, and wear and tear can leave a building looking run down and outdated. Restoration services can include touching up faded paint, replacing broken signage, and fixing cracks in walls. A building’s exterior says a lot about a company, and restoring the outward-facing aesthetics of a building is important.
Reduces Maintenance Costs
Stopgap solutions like putting a tarp over a broken window can make sense in the short-term, but eventually the root issue needs to be properly addressed. Performing maintenance on a building that requires restoration can be more costly than if the underlying problem was solved with restoration. You may need to perform frequent maintenance to fix a leaky roof, but you wouldn’t need to perform the maintenance if the roof was completely patched and sealed. Restoration is a larger effort and more expensive at the outset, but saves you money on frequent maintenance down the line.
Ensures Safety and Compliance
When a building needs restoration it can become a hazardous place to work. Issues like damaged flooring, standing water, and the presence of mold can create an unsafe working environment that may violate building codes. By fixing or removing workplace hazards you ensure that your commercial building is both safe to work in and compliant with the law.
Extends the Building’s Lifespan
Restoration helps extend a building’s lifespan by taking steps to eliminate structural issues. Fixing a cracked foundation or removing mold quickly prevents them from growing into larger problems. Given enough time, a leaky roof will completely destroy a building. Restoration services that resolve minor issues extend the longevity of a building by preventing small issues from becoming increasingly serious over time.
Improves Energy Efficiency
A building’s “envelope” is the barrier made up of the roof, windows, walls, and doors that keeps the climate-controlled air in, regulating the temperature inside. Holes in the envelope can be caused by cracks in walls, holes in ceilings, or improperly sealed doorways. These cracks and gaps allow moisture to enter the building, and for the interior air to leak out. Just like leaving a door or window open when the air conditioning is on, an incomplete envelope means that heating and air conditioning is allowed to seep out, increasing energy costs. Restoration increases the energy efficiency by patching holes and gaps which maintains the building’s protective envelope.
Improves Indoor Air Quality
In addition to fixing the structure of a building, restoration services can also improve the indoor air quality. Restoration can remove mold and mildew, which hang in the air and give a building’s interior a musty, unhealthy smell. This can result in employee illness or allergic reactions. Removing contaminants, lingering moisture, and cleaning or enhancing ventilation will all result in improving the indoor air quality for your business.
Can Lower Insurance Premiums
A well-maintained building is considered less of a risk by an insurance company. A neglected building that’s in a state of disrepair can be considered a high risk for fires, flooding, or structural collapse. Broken windows, exposed wiring, and visible cracks are symptomatic of an unsafe building. Regular maintenance of a commercial or industrial building makes it less of a risk and can result in lower premiums from your insurance company.
Improves Accessibility
Cracked concrete walkways, uneven floors, and loose or missing tiles can make a building difficult to navigate. Restoration improves accessibility by ensuring that a building is easy and safe to walk around in without the risk of tripping and falling.
Types of Building Restoration
There are several different types of building restoration, each of which focuses on a single problem. Restoration options include water damage, fire damage, piles of debris, mold, and other issues that impact a commercial building.
Water Damage Restoration
When a business becomes flooded due to heavy rains or burst pipes a two-step process is performed: water remediation and then water damage restoration. Water remediation is the process of removing the standing water, typically by pumping it out of the building. Dehumidifiers, fans, and blowers are then used to remove any remaining moisture in the air. After the area is completely dry, restoration can begin.
Water damage restoration is the process of cleaning or replacing water-damaged furniture, equipment, and materials. Carpets and rugs can be cleaned or replaced and steps can be taken to sanitize affected surfaces, eliminate lingering odors, and prevent the development of mold.
Damaged Building Reconstruction
When a building suffers structural damage from a natural disaster, building reconstruction is required. Structural damage is when any walls and support beams have been damaged or completely destroyed leaving the building at risk of a collapse. The reconstruction process includes repairs to the building’s electrical wiring, plumbing, HVAC, the building’s exterior and interior, along with any structural repairs. By the end of building reconstruction, the building should be restored to look and function the way it was before damage occurred.
Roof Restoration
When the roof on a commercial building develops holes and leaks, it’s time for roof restoration. Roof restoration is the process of restoring or improving a deteriorated roof. The roof can be repaired and even waterproofed with specialty coatings. The benefits of roof restoration are increased energy efficiency and the elimination of leaks.
Window Restoration
Window restoration is the process of repairing and replacing broken windows. This can include replacing individual window panes, replacing damaged frames, and adding sealant to ensure the restored window is weatherproof. Neglected buildings may have broken windows for months or years, so any debris that has entered through the broken windows will need to be removed.
Painting and Coating Restoration
Painting and specialty coatings can be reapplied as part of general maintenance, or after a commercial building has been damaged. If a surface that had previously been covered with a specialty coating was destroyed, the restored surface needs to be painted with the specialty coating as well.
Contact Alpine Painting & Restoration
Does your business require restoration services? Your building is your most important asset, and it’s vital to preserve it. Don’t put off restoration services when the problem will likely only get worse with time. Contact the restoration professionals at Alpine Painting & Restoration. We’ll make an assessment of your building and provide you with a free quote. Unlike other building restoration companies, we’ve proudly served the greater Philadelphia area for more than three decades. We’re able to minimize downtime for your business and get your business running again. Call Alpine today or contact us online to schedule a consultation.
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