We have been working diligently with our insurance providers to get the lower hallway and cardio room back to 100%. Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating with 4 major rainfalls hitting Mississauga over the past 3 weeks since the initial damage occurred on Wednesday, August 8.

Our first order of business was to clean up the mess from the water which included the removal of all the carpeting in the lower hallway, the removal of the sprung wood floor in the cardio room, removal of drywall in two corners of the health room and removal of drywall from the floor to about 12 inches anywhere where the water had touched to eliminate the possibility of mold. We found some surface mold in the wall between the cardio room and the electrical room and on the lower wall behind the drywall which has been removed, treated and eliminated.

Dehumidifiers, fans and water extraction units are working overtime to get all the moisture out. We also removed all of our supplies that were in the storage area at the receiving dock area of the Clubhouse (the lower basement level down where the squash courts used to be) as it had approximately 2 1/2 feet of water throughout. Unfortunately, the backup destroyed some accounts receivable records, archived pictures and general supplies as well as our maintenance manager Scott Corriea’s desk, computer, phones/walkie-talkies and a number of tools in his workshop that were all located in the basement.

So what caused all this and why do we appear to be on hold with the fix?!

Water is a very powerful force and the pressure in the basement actually buckled the 4 inch concrete floor, raising it more than 12 inches. The engineer’s best guess is that the heavy rain (2.5 inches in less than 30 minutes) backed up the weeping tiles and storm drains in the lower level, essentially encapsulating the entire basement and foundation of the clubhouse in water. When it had nowhere to go it backed up the downspouts and weepers around the second level which is why we had water coming up from the floor in the fitness room, the cardio room and lower hallway. When the pressure became extreme the floor buckled which allowed the water to release into the basement. The best guess is that a pipe ruptured or collapsed, or a tree root had grown into the pipe or weeping tile which blocked the water flow, especially under these extreme conditions. With each storm over the past 3 weeks, we are getting water in the sub-basement, so no doubt something significant has happened. Until the issue is fixed, there is no point on doing any more repairs as it could happen all over again.

The insurance adjuster and I are working hard to get the necessary people in to scope the weeping tile and downspouts to see if we can find the blockage. In addition, we are scheduling a crew to jackhammer the basement floor for removal so that we can then determine if there is a void underneath the basement floor; which is likely. At this juncture it appears as though the foundations are fine, but we really won’t know until the floor is removed. Our insurance policy does provide coverage for the damage caused by the flooding but we are not certain at this time if coverage is applicable to the fix. To complicate things, the insurance industry is also dealing with other flooded areas in the region such as the downtown Toronto area which was affected that same day.

We will keep you posted and hopefully we can have this well underway in the next few days. Thank you for your patience and trust that we are doing the best we can to get this remedied as soon as possible.