Water Damage Restoration Techniques Used in Wilmington

4/16/2018 (Permalink)

When hardwood floors get exposed to moisture, buckling, warping, and cupping usually occur.

SERVPRO Professionals Have the Equipment to Dry Out Your Home to its Pre-Loss Condition

After a pipe breaks in your Wilmington home, the restoration process takes many steps. After the area is secure and safe for all occupants, the extraction process occurs. After extraction, the goal of any remediation project is to dry out the structure so that mold growth does not occur.

When drying out structures, air movers and dehumidifiers get placed in the affected area to speed up the evaporation process. SERVPRO's water damage technicians in Wilmington also use specialty drying equipment in specific scenarios. Sometimes specialized techniques and equipment are needed to complete drying of materials such as drywall and hardwood floors.

In most scenarios, our  IICRC certified SERVPRO restoration team sets up air movers that push air in a circular motion so that it replaces dry air with the wet air evaporating off of wet surfaces. The dehumidifier then pulls moisture out of the wet air and dispenses it in liquid form. The dehumidifier also exhausts out hot, dry air so that the air movers can push it around the room.

When dealing with hardwood floors, different techniques get used. Hardwood floors are designed to repel moisture better than softer woods which enhances their ability to be restored. The drying strategy for hardwood floors is to keep buckling, warping, or cupping from becoming permanent.

Buckling, warping, and cupping are natural occurrences to wood when it is exposed to moisture. How bad the effects get depend on how much moisture sat on the wood and how long it stayed wet. In some cases when the hardwood floor has warped the cupping or warping gets sanded down, and the floor gets refinished. Before any sanding can occur, the hardwood material must get dropped to 12% moisture or below so that warping does not occur after sanding.

In other cases, specialty equipment gets used for drying out drywall. The combination of the specialized drying techniques and equipment for specific materials allows us to dry out a structure and building materials within a 48-hour period. For professional assistance with structural drying, call SERVPRO of New Hanover at (910) 762-8180 any day of the week.  

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