Describe this restoration project.

As Hurricane Matthew was barreling into the east coast in October 2016, all restoration contractors were watching the weather channel and tracking the storm on radar.

While this was happening the Rainbow International Large Loss Team was getting mobilized. On October 8th a call came into Rainbow International Restoration from a property manager that was concerned about his properties on Hilton Head island and needed help. However, this is about landing a job that wasn’t a direct call. Jason Kitts of Rainbow International of Monroe, Mich., traveled to Hilton Head to help, but while observing other members of the large loss team, he struck up a conversation with a construction manager, Tim, at Sea Pines Golf Course who said there was a little water in the basement.

Due to the destruction on the island Kitts suspected there was more damage than the eye could see. Kitts has been in situations like this before and was prepared with an infrared camera. Jason used the infrared camera to investigate many areas of the building including the walls. He was able to see quite a bit of moisture that couldn’t be seen with the eye alone. He knew he had an equipment vendor on hold waiting. He had access to specialty labor companies and supply & material distributors as well as specialty equipment vendors. Because he had the right tools for the walk through, Jason was able to turn a simple extraction into a full restoration of the property. Having the proper tools to do the task at hand made all the difference.

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As Jason started mapping the facility, he told Tim this was much larger and more extensive project than what was initially thought. Due to his vast knowledge of the S500, Jason was able to identify problem areas right away and he consistently monitored situations immediately as they arose.

Damage was also found by Jason’s drone in the resorts 4-star hotel the Inn at Harbor Town The damage was on the flat roof. The drone was flown over the hotel roof and Jason noticed bubbling on the roof membrane. Jason told Tim there was a problem this was most likely caused during the original storm.

They worked on 7 different properties in six different locations: Golf Course Building, The Inn at Harbor Town, 2 restaurants, 2 store front shops.

By the time they left, they had completed all the mitigation and temporary repairs to both the golf resort and Inn. Three weeks after Rainbow being onsite the Inn & Golf course were 95% back operational.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them? 

One affected area was a historic locker room. Jason came across mold from a previous leak and was able to figure out a solution to dry, mediate and protect the built in wooden lockers. He did this by removing the cabinet locker faces and cleaning them. They were then stored until a custom cabinet maker could restore them and hang the faces. Crews removed base and dried behind the lockers as well.

Another obstacle that came up while working onsite were the walk-in coolers and freezers. During the storm or shortly thereafter, the power went out for over 24 hours. A reefer truck was brought in to store consumables. While crews were putting the food back into coolers and freezers, a bad odor was very apparent. As everyone knows, this is a sign to investigate further. Jason found a gap between the fridge units and sill plates, like a moat. Crews were able to extract the water, but after a few hours the water returned. Something wasn’t right and the crew had to figure out why this was happening. It turned out the units were raised off the floor and there was insulation under the freezer and cooler. Due to hydrostatic pressure, the water that was trapped in the insulation would come loose once water was extracted (by removing pressure). Units were saturated underneath. Crews had to remove drywall around the units. The units had to be taken out, dried and deodorized and some needed replacing.

This project had many hurdles including a tight timeline and very important people walking the affected areas daily. These areas had to look pristine every day. Furniture had to be placed back properly and our equipment had to be placed strategically as well. Stakeholders did not want equipment visible from the roadway. They did not want any negative PR to affect the golf course due to the cleanup efforts.

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