A dehumidifier is the most critical piece of equipment when drying buildings after floods.

Properly installed and properly used a dehumidifier will dry out the building materials in a few days. If no dehumidifiers are used normal wood framing and drywall may take several months and up to one or two years to dry out depending on the amount of water that leaked. When the conditions are right mold growth may start in a couple of days so it is critical that the drying can start in a day or so.

The dehumidifier will remove the moisture in the air and increase the evaporation rate of the moisture that absorbed into the building materials, moisture will be pulled out from walls, floor and ceiling. If applied early the drywall can most of the time be saved. If the drying process start many days after the flood or leak, the drywall may have become so mold infested or saturated that the materials would have to be completely removed resulting in costly reconstruction.

Dehumidifiers used with blowers are the quickest way to dry out water damaged building materials. The placement of the equipment is important. Typically a drying job is monitored to check the Relative Humidity, Temperature, etc., to ensure that the moisture level goes down over time.

The most common reason to find mold problems in homes in our experience is due to insufficient drying after floods. If you cant locate pockets of water how can you get rid of the water? Use Infrared Thermal camera to locate hidden pockets of moisture. The Thermal Infrared Camera can quickly locate water in the building. A large hotel, apartment or office building can be scanned in a few hours or days depending on the extent of the flood. In larger flood events this tool is a must since there is no other way to quickly locate water damage on a large project. Use a moisture meter for smaller localized jobs.

Ask your drying professional what criteria they use to ensure that the room is sufficiently dry after a flood. That is a good way to gauge the competence. If he tells you that they leave equipment for 2-3 day on most jobs, he may only be directed by the flood insurance company that instructs him to do so. That is not the responsible way to leave a job.

Contact us today for a free initial consultation.
Call 800-606-8007.