Water Damage to Practice Room U1s

[william ballard]

Dear Lists,

On Monday at a local private school, the valves on fire sprinkler  
systems failed in two practice rooms failed, and two Yamaha U1s (2 y- 
o, both) got rained on. Preliminary inspection after a day of sitting  
in a dry room with case panels off revealed (and compared to T116s  
down the hall which escaped damage) only loose plate bolts (a sign of  
expanding then shrinking backframes), tight balance rail holes on the  
keys (possibly transitory as the keys return to normal moisture  
content), and in one piano (the worst hit) what appears to be  
swelling of bass bichord and treble trichord damper felts. These are  
all easy matters to deal with.

The other concern for which I'm writing the two lists is the long  
range on. The water level at the follor in these twos rooms was high  
enough (6" according to reports), that after the rooms' accumulated  
water had exited through opened doors, there was water draining out  
of the bottom of the insides of the two pianos. Once the situation  
was known, students went to work immediately drying off anything in  
the piano which they didn't feel scared to touch with towels. When I  
inspected the pianos the next day, all seemed fine. But that still  
leaves maybe two possible three hours during which the insides and  
outsides of the floor levels of these piano were immersed in water.

I'm planning next week to put each of these pianos on its back and  
inspect the joinery of the backposts and the spacers. Any warning  
signs to look out for?

More generally, has anyone nursed new pianos (presumably with resin  
core panels) back from such a disaster and can offer the long view,  
say six months to a year?

Thanks in advance for your replies

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.
wbps@vermontel.net

"Lydia thinks she knows everything, and Lyle thinks he owns the place"
     ...........The outgoing staff technician to the new guy,  
concerning the resident artiste/pianist and the Chief Custodian
+++++++++++++++++++++