Dry & Dehumidify
There are five general principles used in the restoration of water damaged structures and materials:
- Providing for the health and safety of workers and occupants
- Documenting conditions and procedures
- Mitigation
- Drying
- Cleaning & Repair.
For any of these principles to be applied effectively, timely response to the water intrusion is a necessity.
The objective of drying is to minimize the amount of time that materials spend in an abnormally wet state, and to return affected materials to an acceptable drying goal as quickly and safely as practical. As restorers, we understand and apply the elements of psychometry when performing water damage restoration services. We also implement the following principles of drying duration a restoration project: Enhancing Evaporation, Removing Water Vapor (Dehumidification/Ventilation), Controlling Temperature.
Once the excess water is collected and removed, evaporation of the remaining water in materials is promoted. To avoid secondary damage, moisture evaporated into the air is exchanged with less humid air from other sources and is collected and removed from the air through dehumidification. Finally, proper temperature control in the drying environment is important to enhance both the evaporation rate and effectiveness of dehumidification. In addition, attention to temperature control is important microbial growth can be temperature related. Thus, temperature application, modification and control are important basic principles that we apply for safe and effective drying.