The RF Code main office renovation was supposed to be minor: a little paint, some reconfigured cubicles, a few new pieces of equipment. Nothing disruptive. The work taking place in the offices next door was rather more substantial—and some of that spilled over into our space.
Pun very much intended, as someone hit a water main.
If we'd needed a reminder that it's a good idea to monitor our own environments, we got one, an inch deep and spreading. In just a few minutes after the strange noise came through the walls, we had squishy carpets and slippery floors, and by the start of the next work-week there was mold growing behind the baseboards despite the admirably speedy response of the property managers and their selected crew.
It's been a week now, and we're still navigating around the industrial dehumidifiers and trying to ignore the contractors tromping around with various and sundry bits of equipment. Presumably our baseboards will be replaced once the mold has been removed, and our new paint refreshed again, and we can get back to work.
A small flood with no equipment lost doesn't seem like much to complain about, especially when you consider that we, as tenants, didn't even have to arrange for the repairs. But, as tenants, our control of our space is limited. We couldn't insist that the contractors next door work during our less-busy hours or use any sort of noise-reduction techniques, far less that they take extraordinary precautions to protect our vulnerable assets. Nor could we monitor the space they were working in, so we had no advance warning, no time to unplug the electronics before the water started spewing out of their space and into ours.
These things happen. That's why databases are backed up and servers have UPS, why individuals and businesses have insurance. And it's why we sell environmental sensors that can be let clients know when fluid suddenly appears where it doesn't belong. As well as fluid detection sensors, there are humidity sensors that can alert folks before the flood begins, not to mention letting us know when those dehumidifiers and other machines can finally be wheeled off to their next job. Though, as tenants, we're not so worried about that part. After a week, we're pretty used to them. Might even miss them when they're gone.
No, probably not.
Though...one of them is kind of cute, like a giant blowdryer missing its handle.
How do you protect your property when it's housed in a space you don't control?
