Charleston's Flood Damage Specialists Explain Drying Procedures

5/11/2018 (Permalink)

When your neighborhood floods, it is likely water finds its way into your home ruining materials and contents.

SERVPRO is Here to Help Dry Out and Restore Your Home after Flood Damage

Severe thunderstorms are known to come into Charleston and cause damage to homes and other buildings. When excessive amounts of rain pour down in short periods of time, water can get into a house and ruin materials and contents. If your neighborhood floods it is likely that water gets inside a structure.

In other scenarios, high-speed winds blow objects into the exterior of the building creating a hole for rainwater to leak inside. When mitigating flood damage in Charleston, it is vital to remove all moisture present promptly. If water stays inside your home for long periods of time, it can saturate building materials causing them to lose their structural integrity. If organic materials stay wet for over 48 hours, then mold can develop.

Whenever our SERVPRO technicians attempt to remove moisture, they know that the two main steps are extraction and drying. The extraction process takes place first so that standing flood water and drenched materials no longer exist. After as much water gets extracted as possible, the drying process begins.

When drying out a structure, the goal is to return moisture levels to preloss conditions as quickly as possible. There are four factors that affect how effectively materials get dried. The amount of water to be evaporated, temperature, humidity, and air movement all play roles in the structural drying procedure.

The amount of water present dictates which types of drying equipment gets utilized. The temperature inside the affected area must be between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit for best drying results. If there is no heat in the building, then portable heaters get brought in to heat up the building to desired temperatures.

Water evaporation causes moisture to be present in the air. If the relative humidity is too high, evaporation slows down. Often dehumidifiers get placed to pull moisture out of the air keeping the relative humidity between 30% and 50%. Air movers then get set up to circulate warm air around the affected region, increasing the natural evaporation rate.

Drying equipment stays set up until moisture levels return to what they were before water entered the home. For help with moisture after a storm, call SERVPRO of Downtown Charleston at (843) 577-2470 any time.

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