flood damage

[Sue Brown]

Hi,

I have a client who's 1905 Steinway B was in a flood in which water leaked from the toilet upstairs overnight and flooded the piano, carpet, etc.  The main areas of water exposure were the webbing and keywell.  The surrounding carpet,ect. was also soaked.  The room was dried out pretty quickly, using a commercial flood cleanup service.  I have waited the recommended one year time since the flood.  The strings still sound good - the lid was down.  There is water staining on the plate and rust on the coils.  There are plate bushings and they are water stained.  The pinblock still feels tight.  I am concerned that since the webbing area was exposed to water, should the pinblock be checked for water damage (by destringing, taking the plate out and looking.)  Also do I need to worry about rust in the plate. 

During the flood several wippens became unglued under the rest rail cushion.  I glued them back together.  The piano got soaked in the key well to the point where about 2/3 of the balance rail puchings got soaked.  There is a hairline crack in the keywell about 10" long.  Does a handful of wippens coming apart warrant a new action?  (My customer doesn't notice anything wrong in the action so she's a bit resistant to having work done)

I also have questions about glue joints coming loose in the keywell area that seem OK now.  Does the piano loose value because it now has a history of having been through a flood?  

Thanks in advance for any ideas, input.

Sue Brown
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