[pianotech] Water damaged piano

[Tom Gorley]

To extend Jer's comment a little further . . .I have found that when a piano has been thru a fire, the damper felt which seemed fine at first, develops a noisy crustiness after about a year, as the invisible oily smoke residue hardens. I concur with Jer.  Wait to see what develops. 

>    Tom Gorley
> Registered Piano Technician     
>       





On Oct 12, 2011, at 4:56 AM, Gerald Groot wrote:

> I've found that rust in particular, will not necessarily show up for a full
> year afterward.  That can take quite a while to show its brutal head.  I
> generally recommend not to settle with the insurance company for a good
> year. You will know for sure by that time, the full extent of the damage
> caused.
> 
> Jer Groot
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
> Of David Doremus
> Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 9:39 PM
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Water damaged piano
> 
> This is absolutely spot on. Besides the obvious, like dampers stuck to 
> strings with rust, the whole thing seems to come down to the glue 
> choices used in manufacture. I can tell you from experience that 
> Baldwins seem to come apart, while some cheaper pianos hold together. I 
> have a customer who still has pictures of her piano floating in 3 ft of 
> water after hurricane Betsy with her birthday presents piled on top. It 
> still works, according to her it had some leg and lyre repair and that 
> was it, and as far as I can tell she's right. Let it set and dry as long 
> as possible before passing judgement, things will change. Swollen parts 
> will shrink, other parts that looked ok will warp, veneer will peel off. 
> Before you set it up make sure the legs are not coming apart, most of 
> them are made from glued up blocks and the joints can fail after getting 
> wet. Hopefully they have the proper insurance, and enough of it.
> 
> --Dave
> New Orleans
> 
> On 10/11/11 6:07 PM, Delwin D Fandrich wrote:
>> 
>> Start by insisting that the piano be up on its feet. But, before it 
>> goes up inspect the bottom of the piano; check the soundboard to rim 
>> joint, make sure the ribs are solidly glued. Usually you will be able 
>> to see a "waterline" which will tell you how high the water has been. 
>> (Assuming it was in a flood-type situation.) Determine how old the 
>> piano is. Is it old enough to worry about animal hide glue joints? If 
>> it is a more modern piano-one using a thermal-setting water-proof 
>> adhesive-you probably won't have structural problems. Pull the action 
>> and examine the action parts. Even if you don't see evidence of direct 
>> water damage make sure the centers are free (not rusted stiff) and not 
>> loose. Listen to the piano-assuming it is playable-how are the 
>> hammers? Check the pinblock to make sure there is no delaminating 
>> going on. Tune through the bass (the piano was on its side, right?) 
>> and see how the pins feel. How do the metal parts look? How much rust 
>> can you see? How are the dampers? The damper levers? The damper guide 
>> rail?
>> 
>> After you've given your initial inspection, explain that before you 
>> are willing to put anything about the pianos condition in writing 
>> you'll want to check the piano again after it has been dry for a 
>> couple of months-when I check a piano that has actually been in a 
>> flood I want it to be dried out for about four to six months before I 
>> render any final decision on salvageability and the costs involved. It 
>> doesn't sound like this has actually been in a flood but you don't yet 
>> know how high the water might have gone. I've found decently built old 
>> pianos falling apart after a flood that came only six inches up on the 
>> walls and I've found other pianos that were literally floating in four 
>> or five feet of water that cleaned up reasonably well with only 
>> hammers and dampers and a few assorted bits and pieces.
>> 
>> ddf
>> 
>> Delwin D Fandrich
>> 
>> Piano Design & Fabrication
>> 
>> 6939 Foothill Court SW, Olympia, Washington 98512 USA
>> 
>> Phone 360.515.0119 - Cell 360.388.6525
>> 
>> del at fandrichpiano.com <mailto:del at fandrichpiano.com>- 
>> ddfandrich at gmail.com <mailto:ddfandrich at gmail.com>
>> 
>> 
> 
> -- 
> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20111012/843a54a5/attachment-0001.htm>