Company back in business after roof collapse

East Windsor, Conn. (WTNH) - An East Windsor company is back in business, after it was forced to close due to a massive roof collapse caused by heavy snow.

Exactly one year ago Saturday, the roof on the family-owned business, Infoshred, collapsed. At that moment, the DiPiazza family thought everything they worked for was gone. Now, they look back and smile and appreciate what they have even more.

Seeing the mess for the first time was a moment Jack DiPiazza would like to forget.

"It was definitely emotional," DiPiazza said, "something my wife and I had built. It's even hard for me to talk about it now."

However, once he starts talking about the hard work put in by his entire staff over the last year he is overcome by a different emotion.

"I can put a smile on my face and say, 'We did it, we're back,'" DiPiazza said.

Infoshred is a document and storage shredding company, so DiPiazza and his wife Stacey had to immediately put aside their emotions. Taking care of all of the personal, private documents was their first priority.

The couple feel fortunate that no one was inside the building at the time and that they had a comprehensive disaster recovery plan.

"Our step-by-step procedures were first of all, 'how do we secure the space,'" DiPiazza said. "The building was open, the records were exposed and we hired security guards and cameras, 24-hour surveillance, and the next thing was to safely remove the documents from the building and be able to still service the customers."

The duo even took things a step further by making structural changes, as this is New England and the weather is unpredictable.

"We've increased the roof load," DiPiazza said. "The roof snow load is what failed and the requirements were 30 pounds per square foot per building code in Connecticut. We've upped it to 40."

They also made the roof more accessible for workers.

"No, we have ladder access," said DiPiazza. "We can get up onto the roof if we ever have to get up there again...we were able to pull together as a team and take our business to the next level.

DiPiazza's advice, of course, is to make sure you have good insurance. Most importantly, make sure you have dedicated workers who will stick by you in tough times.