Client: Doubletree HotelHouston, TX

Type of job: Catastrophe, emergency response, contents restoration, specialty drying, mold remediation

SituationHurricane Ike blew the roof off the elevator pits of

The Doubletree Hotel. This caused flooding and damage to the elevators, pits, and adjacent waiting areas, hallwaysand guest rooms on every floor of the hotel. Hurricane-force winds also ripped gaskets off of the hotel windowsresulting in additional water damage to 70% of the guestrooms in the facility.

ATI Services• Scope of work included all 350 guest rooms, 2 restaurants,

18,000 square feet of meeting facilities, common areas,suites and service areas within the 20 story structure.

• Dried out a complicated structural system in the elevator shafts using desiccant technology.

• Installed air filtration devices at the tops of the elevators to promote air circulation and prevent future microbial growth.

• Worked alongside Otis elevator technicians to ride on top of each elevator to clean the doors, exposed drywall, metal tracking and door tracking.

• Installed special drying equipment to remove moisture from the air and dry out building materials.

• Performed mold remediation on impacted surfaces throughout the facility.

The ATI AdvantageFrom the initial walk through until the end of

the project, ATI was instructed by the independentinsurance adjuster, consultant and the owner toconduct a full survey of the entire facility usingstate of the art thermography equipment and moisture meters. Over the course of the project,each area was monitored to track the initial moisture content, the progress of the drying and the final moisture content when we turnedthe building over to the General Contractor. We

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had two dedicated teams – one for thermography and another trackingmoisture readings.

• Using desiccant drying in the elevator shafts alleviated the need to removedrywall in the shafts that could have potentially resulted in closing down the hotel for several months.

• Significantly reduced the potential of microbial contamina-tion inside the elevator shafts by cleaning 100% of the surfaces inside the pits.

• Provided sufficient electricity to power the drying equipment for this large loss by shipping in three 275-kw generators.

• Brought in two full-time electricians to install power junctions on each floor of the 20-story building in order to ensure that all ATI equipment functioned properly andto keep the hotel operating in a limited capacity.

• Supplied over 800 separate pieces of drying equipment to handle the massive job in a timely manner.

• Provided technical expertise through our in-house water restoration andstructural drying advisor to ensure the damaged building materials could be successfully dried in place, alleviating the need for removing materials and significantly reducing the hotel’s down-time.

• Executed all necessary recovery steps under the estimated budget andwithin the hotel’s required completion date despite an increase in the scope of work during the first two weeks.

ResultsBecause ATI management routinely tracks severe weather systems, we

had our Catastrophe Responce Team on the ground in Houston ahead of Ike’s landfall. Our crew was equipped and ready to respond immediately after the hurricane and before other restoration contractors were set up inthe area. Within 30 minutes of receiving the initial call, we were on-sitewalking the hotel property.

Initially, the industrial hygienist on this job recommended removing all of the interior elevator shaft drywall which would have required the complete disassembly of the elevator pits and would have closed down the hotel. By using desiccant drying in the elevator shafts, we alleviated the need to remove drywall and saved the hotel literally months of business disruption.

With ATI’s extensive equipment resources, fully-staffed recovery crew and technical expertise, we successfully completed this massive and complicated water loss for about $150,000 under the estimated budget, bringing the hotel back into service well ahead of its

scheduled reopening.

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