Facing challenges at an altitude

An idyllic log cabin with several small surrounding buildings is beautifully situated on a mountain top in Jämtland, Sweden, close to the Norwegian border. Polygon is called there to clean the buildings, both internally and externally, in order to get rid of a mould infestation. Considering how the cabin is situated in a hard-to-reach location, with uncertain weather conditions and uncertain access to materials and tools, it is evident that this could be a challenge. However, the Swedish Polygon team sees it as an exciting project and happily accepts the challenge. We are Always By Your Side, no matter the location.

Polygon Sweden was assigned to this project which required creativity, patience and planning. In order to plan the decontamination, the insurance company, house builders and clean-up crews concluded that a trial cleaning must be carried out.

A successful trial run

“Without having personally inspected the buildings, two sanitation technicians travelled to the little village at the foot of the mountain where the cabin was located”, says Kristoffer Frantzich, Decontamination Manager at Polygon Sweden. “With snow scooters and snowcat vehicles, they made their way up to the project site, with all the needed tools and materials to perform the job. All the sanitation of the unique log building material had to be done by hand, since the timber was too delicate to be cleaned mechanically”, he explains. “After one and a half week, the sanitation of the internal structure was finished. To follow up, an evaluation was then made by the customer, to determine if the team was to continue with the external decontamination as well.”

Creativity because of a limited access

The trial run was a success, and the second phase of the project went to Polygon as well. This time there were four technicians traveling on scooters up the desolate mountain, where nothing else exists except snow, a beautiful view and a chilling wind. "Considering how difficult it was to access the log cabin we had to be more creative and foreseeing than ever ", says Kristoffer.

He continues, “For example, we added an order for cleaning materials for this part of the project, based on the cleaning of the inside of the buildings. Although we added material for a more weathered and dry surface outdoors, it was not enough. Instead, we had to send for more materials, which arrived by plane at an airport four hours away from the resort, because very few delivered to the area we found ourselves in. One and a half week later, the external structures had been sanitized and cleaned from mould as well”, he states.

The importance of communication and courage

“What we took with us from this project is how important it is to say yes, even though it's a project that initially sounds tricky. We have had excellent contact and communication with the customer from the start, which is, of course, essential in all assignments," says Kristoffer. "It has been a big challenge, but what an experience it is been for everyone involved! Even if it was stressful at times, it felt amazing when everything was ready and in order to hand over to a satisfied customer”, he concludes.

To learn more about how to avoid these types of issues in your property, click HERE