What are the Key Factors for Drying a Home?

10/13/2021 (Permalink)

Did a burst pipe cause water damage to your home? SERVPRO knows how to dry and restore your home.

Four Key Factors Go into Drying out the Premises in Wilmington, and SERVPRO Understands How to Put Them All Together for Proper Drying

Home of the USS North Carolina battleship Wilmington is a beautiful city full of historical sites, flowering gardens, and beaches. It is a coastal town that visitors flock to during tourist season. Many of the homes in Wilmington are older homes that are architectural beauties. Nevertheless, older homes often have older plumbing, leading to water intrusion and a professional water restoration company like SERVPRO. 

What is the Time Frame for Drying a House?

When a water spill happens from something like a burst pipe, immediate mitigation is vital. Water removal in the Wilmington home needs to happen as quickly as possible to prevent the water from migrating to unaffected areas. It is necessary to prevent secondary damage, such as mold, as well. Water extraction figures significantly into the drying time. There are four key factors that impact how long it takes to dry both the building and content. They are:

• Temperature
• Air movement
• Humidity
• Amount of water to be evaporated

These all need to be considered during the drying process. Our SERVPRO technicians understand the "wet goes to dry" rule, meaning that the moisture in wet materials seeks to move to drier materials. To balance out wet air seeks drier air. Two scenarios happen with this rule:

• Dry air absorbs moisture from wet surfaces.
• Dry surfaces absorb moisture from wet air.

Conclusion: a delicate balance is needed to make sure the proper drying methods and time get used to dry out your home. Because everyone's situation is different, the time necessary to dry and restore the house and the belongings differ.

Temperature

Hot air can possess more moisture than cold air, so the best temperature for drying is 70° to 90°. SERVPRO technicians can use portable heaters to increase the temperature of the area if heat is not available. The technicians need to ensure the drying process does not put too much moisture in the air without the proper dehumidifiers in use.

 Air Movement

When a room has experienced water damage in Wilmington, it can often be damp and humid. Air movement involves blowing warm, dry air in and blowing the moist air out. Industrial strength air movers are used to accomplish this. As the drying process proceeds, the techs position the air movers to promote even thorough drying. 

Humidity

The measure of moisture the air is currently retaining at a given temperature is relative humidity (RH). It is determined by the ratio of water vapor in the air compared to the amount of water vapor the air can contain. It's not something that a homeowner would typically think of, but most people's comfort level is between 30% and 50% RH.

If the RH is over 60%, drying time becomes slower due to the air's saturation. The moisture in the air needs removing at this point. Dehumidifiers are the most effective at lowering the relative humidity. SERVPRO techs use dehumidifiers with air movers in the correct ratio to provide optimum drying power.

Amount of Water Needing Evaporating

The more liquid water removal there is, the less water vapor needs to be removed by dehumidifiers. Physically extracting as much water as possible from the scene is 1200 times more effective than using dehumidifiers. SERVPRO extracts water with:

• Submersible pumps in standing water over 2".
• Truck-mounted pumps that can extract 36,000 gallons per day.
• Portable pumps for hard to reach or lesser amounts of water.
• Rovers for water removal from carpet
• Squeegees for hard surfaces.

Drying Your Home in the Right Amount of Time

While SERVPRO certainly wants to quickly return your home to preloss condition, the proper drying time needs to be utilized. Successful drying equals the right humidity levels, the correct temperature, precise water extraction, and air movement. All of these things differ, depending on the circumstances of the water damage. 

Our Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) certified technicians understand how it all works together and are pros at water extraction and drying your home and the content. They apply their knowledge and experience to bring about the best results. They strive to ensure your home looks, "Like it never even happened."

We know the significance of getting your home back in order after any water intrusion. Having your home disrupted is no fun. That's why our teams arrive on the job quickly and work as fast as possible to get the job done.

Contact SERVPRO of New Hanover at (910) 762-8180 for expert water removal service. We're Faster To Any Size Disaster.