Member Article

Wilkinson Maintenance urges businesses to carry out checks

Wilkinson Maintenance, the Durham-based commercial refurbishment and reactive maintenance specialist, is urging business owners to carry out important checks to their premises to ensure they aren’t left with any nasty surprises this winter.

By carrying out routine checks, business owners and managers can help protect themselves from large repair bills from the increased wear and tear brought on by the cold and wet weather.

Stuart Anderson, Managing Director of Wilkinson Maintenance Ltd, said: “As we experienced last year, winter can be very varied. Changes in temperature, moisture and, of course, snowfall can cause serious issues to commercial properties.

“As we have seen with the flooding we’ve been experiencing this year, weather can cause catastrophic damage. Our call outs have increased by 20% over the last six months due to the poor weather.”

Ensuring the general maintenance of a commercial property can be a time consuming task, but Stuart says that by carrying out the following checks businesses can help protect themselves:

• All piping should be well insulated to prevent freezing as the temperatures plunge.
• Structural work should also be inspected to ensure there are no cracks, loose roof tiles etc. These problems could be made dramatically worse by water getting inside and freezing.
• Draughts can be a big problem in the icy chill of winter. Protect your business by using expanding foam filler to banish the draught if outward pipe holes are not fully sealed.

Stuart added: “Winter is a very busy time for us taking calls for weather-related problems that have arisen. Many of these issues could not have been foreseen but some could have been avoided by taking precautions.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Wilkinson Maintenance .