Damage from a broken water pipe in the Pembina Lodge expansion on May 25 could cost the Westlock Foundation up to $1 million.
The final tally of the damage has not been determined yet, said foundation interim CEO Brian Coleman, as insurance adjusters are still exploring the building more than a month later.
“Until they evaluate I can only guess,” he said. “But I would guess the top end of this could be as high as $1 million.”
Coleman said external assessors told him that a three-quarter-inch pipe broke and leaked water for about 20 minutes. It wasn’t a high volume of water, but it did manage to damage five floors of the unit.
“It’s a very well built building,” he explained. “There’s a vapour barrier and insulation between every floor so the water didn’t just run down — it wicked sideways because of the vapour barrier and the insulation. A lot of the damage was caused by the water wicking sideways as well as vertically, so it ran right from the fourth floor to the basement, but then wicked sideways through each floor.”
The broken pipe and leaking water meant roughly 20 seniors were moved out of the west wing of Pembina Lodge at around 9 a.m. on May 25.
“The entire west wing was impacted,” Coleman said. “There was 20 people that we had to move. Some of them we moved because of the activity in the hallways.”
He said firefighters were called to the building to remove water from a total of 27 rooms — roughly seven rooms were vacant.
It remains unclear when residents can return to those units, as the timeline of the project is unknown. One life lease suite was damaged while work crews started moving out materials.
“We have one life lease suite that was involved in the damages and they have granite countertops and tile,” said Dennis Lefebvre, Westlock Foundation director of operations. “During the dismantling of that, in order to get rid of the damages, the counter top was broken. So, that will have to be repaired as well.”
Nobody was hurt during the flood as the residents were attending a piano recital in the lobby when the fire alarm went off, according to Lefebvre.
Coleman said seniors from the west wing have been relocated to the east wing while the damage is being assessed. He is optimistic the lodge will be restored exactly the way it was when the Westlock Foundation took possession of the new facility a mere seven months ago.
The damage will likely be covered by insurance in full with the exception of air quality testing for mould, he said.
“It is our intent to try to recoup that money through a lawsuit if necessary,” said Coleman. “The water happened because of a defective plumbing installation. There’s a three-quarter-inch line on the fourth floor that was not crimped and came apart.”
