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- Behind the Scenes at Canstar (Part 1 of 2)
Behind the Scenes at Canstar (Part 1 of 2)
- By ILS corp
- Published 04/27/2009
- ILSTV Stories
- Unrated
Narrator: Founded in 1985, Canstar Restorations is a unique full service restoration company in British Columbia. Today the company has grown to four locations covering more than 50,000 square feet. President Jay Dargatz talks about the reasons for the company's growth.
Jay Dargatz: As a company we've grown, you work for more companies, you develop more relationships with more companies, you become an approved vendor so the amount of work you get from individual companies increases. The population has grown, the amount of buildings and homes in the whole entire Lower Mainland has increased dramatically in ten years so we've grown due to various reasons. We'd like to think a lot of that is because we've provided the level of service that they appreciate and they see the value in.
Operations:
Art Johnson - Operations Manager: On an average day the claims come in and they go to the receptionist which is then assigned to a project manager to their PC and they're assigned to someone like Greg. At any given time Greg has a number of claims on the go. Probably at this particular time anywhere around 100 to 140 claims. On any given day we can see to three, to five, to ten - sometimes up to forty floods come in on one day, so this is the nerve centre of the Emergency Services Department. As you can see they're a busy group. Approximately 150 claims on the go with water damage just alone right now that this division looks after.
So what happens when the contents come into this location is they're either binned and stored inside the bins or on pallets and go into storage. So when a claim first comes into our warehouse we have to make sure that it's dry. We have a drying chamber right there if things come in wet. When the items come in here to be processed they are first of all sorted between electronics, soft goods, furniture, normal kitchen or household items and then they go to the proper locations to be processed.
Electronics Processing:
Part of the process will involve, first of all, drying and deodorizing items that come in. This is both a humidity control area and also the horizon chamber - it's set up with heaters, ozone machines, heaters, UV lights- things that take away the odor that some of this goes through. The most important thing of any item that comes in here is that it has to be dried quickly. Upon drying the electronics, they then would come into Electronics Department where they would go through some analysis. Peter would actually do some diagnostics on the electronics that come in here and determine whether it was valuable enough to actually repair. And then upon evaluation either mark it as a non-restorable or determine whether it's going to be restored. This is our Electronics Processing Department, again upon assessment, establishing whether an item can be restored then we go toward the cleaning of it. Unique aspect of this machinery is that we use deionized water so it can effectively clean electronics. Deionized water does not carry a charge and it allows us to clean items we normally wouldn't be able to clean. Once the item is cleaned and rinsed and air washed it then goes into an oven that it can be dried then with a temperature of about 120 degrees and thus allowing us to dry the item very quickly. So in about half an hour that TV will be dry. When are confronted with having to clean large electronics we have the same type of device that we have in the other room but in a larger fashion. We actually have a deionized water pressure washing station here that can actually clean large appliances. It allows us to restore appliances that we normally would have been unable to clean in the past because it would have been so time consuming and so meticulous so we can just pressure wash these items now using deionized water.
Fireline System:
Narrator: When items arrive, employees sort through the boxes and determine whether the items can be restored. If the answer is yes, an appropriate course of action specific to each item is chosen. For example, some items are cleaned in one of the standard wet cleaning stations but others, especially those damaged by sewer, fire or a flood are put through a special process.
Art Johnson: One of things that are unique to the cleaning industry now, especially the restoration industry is the use of ultrasonics cleaning. A process that we call the Fireline system is very effective in cleaning boxed items coming out of a house that is covered in smoke or even just water damage.
Narrator: During the prewash phase, items are placed in presoaked solution for about two minutes. It's important that employees wear gloves at this point as the water temperature is about 144 degrees. The ultrasonic cleaner is similar to what jewelry cleaners use but on a commercial scale. Items are subjected to the process for a couple minutes before being removed. And of course the ultrasonic process is fully automated. Once thoroughly cleaned, the items are carefully rinsed and are now ready to be dried.
Art Johnson: At this point, then the tray is either hand dried or it's brought into the drying room. It's usually maintained about 100 to 120 degrees. Within a couple of minutes the items are usually dried. If we need to do any deodorization we can use either an ozone generator or we can use an ultraviolet light system and it'll give everything a nice fresh smell.
To view Part 2, please click here: http://www.ilslearningcorporation.ca/articles/articles/775/1/Behind-the-Scenes-at-Canstar-Part-2-of-2/Page1.html
Jay Dargatz: As a company we've grown, you work for more companies, you develop more relationships with more companies, you become an approved vendor so the amount of work you get from individual companies increases. The population has grown, the amount of buildings and homes in the whole entire Lower Mainland has increased dramatically in ten years so we've grown due to various reasons. We'd like to think a lot of that is because we've provided the level of service that they appreciate and they see the value in.
Operations:
Art Johnson - Operations Manager: On an average day the claims come in and they go to the receptionist which is then assigned to a project manager to their PC and they're assigned to someone like Greg. At any given time Greg has a number of claims on the go. Probably at this particular time anywhere around 100 to 140 claims. On any given day we can see to three, to five, to ten - sometimes up to forty floods come in on one day, so this is the nerve centre of the Emergency Services Department. As you can see they're a busy group. Approximately 150 claims on the go with water damage just alone right now that this division looks after.
Water Out System:
One of things we take pride in is that we're Western Canada's licensed operator of the Water Out drying system. When it comes to serious drying, this machine right here will handle a 4,000 to 6,000 square foot house utilizing an air exchange system and a heating system that will handle a tremendous amount of moisture. Instead of collecting it on coils like the other machines do, this particular machine will actually take the moisture and generate heat, cause evaporation and then extract the water from the house with an exchange system. It's very common that this unit, put into practice, has the ability to dry a normal house that has experienced a fresh water claim in approximately three to five days.
Claims Processing Centre:So what happens when the contents come into this location is they're either binned and stored inside the bins or on pallets and go into storage. So when a claim first comes into our warehouse we have to make sure that it's dry. We have a drying chamber right there if things come in wet. When the items come in here to be processed they are first of all sorted between electronics, soft goods, furniture, normal kitchen or household items and then they go to the proper locations to be processed.
Electronics Processing:
Part of the process will involve, first of all, drying and deodorizing items that come in. This is both a humidity control area and also the horizon chamber - it's set up with heaters, ozone machines, heaters, UV lights- things that take away the odor that some of this goes through. The most important thing of any item that comes in here is that it has to be dried quickly. Upon drying the electronics, they then would come into Electronics Department where they would go through some analysis. Peter would actually do some diagnostics on the electronics that come in here and determine whether it was valuable enough to actually repair. And then upon evaluation either mark it as a non-restorable or determine whether it's going to be restored. This is our Electronics Processing Department, again upon assessment, establishing whether an item can be restored then we go toward the cleaning of it. Unique aspect of this machinery is that we use deionized water so it can effectively clean electronics. Deionized water does not carry a charge and it allows us to clean items we normally wouldn't be able to clean. Once the item is cleaned and rinsed and air washed it then goes into an oven that it can be dried then with a temperature of about 120 degrees and thus allowing us to dry the item very quickly. So in about half an hour that TV will be dry. When are confronted with having to clean large electronics we have the same type of device that we have in the other room but in a larger fashion. We actually have a deionized water pressure washing station here that can actually clean large appliances. It allows us to restore appliances that we normally would have been unable to clean in the past because it would have been so time consuming and so meticulous so we can just pressure wash these items now using deionized water.
Fireline System:
Narrator: When items arrive, employees sort through the boxes and determine whether the items can be restored. If the answer is yes, an appropriate course of action specific to each item is chosen. For example, some items are cleaned in one of the standard wet cleaning stations but others, especially those damaged by sewer, fire or a flood are put through a special process.
Art Johnson: One of things that are unique to the cleaning industry now, especially the restoration industry is the use of ultrasonics cleaning. A process that we call the Fireline system is very effective in cleaning boxed items coming out of a house that is covered in smoke or even just water damage.
Narrator: During the prewash phase, items are placed in presoaked solution for about two minutes. It's important that employees wear gloves at this point as the water temperature is about 144 degrees. The ultrasonic cleaner is similar to what jewelry cleaners use but on a commercial scale. Items are subjected to the process for a couple minutes before being removed. And of course the ultrasonic process is fully automated. Once thoroughly cleaned, the items are carefully rinsed and are now ready to be dried.
Art Johnson: At this point, then the tray is either hand dried or it's brought into the drying room. It's usually maintained about 100 to 120 degrees. Within a couple of minutes the items are usually dried. If we need to do any deodorization we can use either an ozone generator or we can use an ultraviolet light system and it'll give everything a nice fresh smell.
To view Part 2, please click here: http://www.ilslearningcorporation.ca/articles/articles/775/1/Behind-the-Scenes-at-Canstar-Part-2-of-2/Page1.html