How Do I Dry-out My House After Water Damage?
Have you ever experienced water damage in your home or business? If you have, you know that it can be a major pain to deal with. Water damage to your home is like an unwanted house guest; they always show up at the worst time and are hard to get rid of.
When a professional water damage restoration company help dryout your property you’ll see a lot of unique methods and equipment being used. There is a (scientific) method to the madness, or at least there should be. Whether you’re using a professional water restoration company or trying to dry the property yourself, we’ve created a simple acronym to help you remember the steps to follow. Just remember the phrase, “I H.A.T.E. water damage”.
Humidity Control During Water Damage
Relative humidity (Rh) inside your property plays a major role in the dry-out process. In simple terms, relative humidity is the concentration of moisture in the air. When you have a lot of standing water in your home the Rh will rise, there are two problems with this.
As the Rh nears 60% the conditions are right for microbial growth. Further, if the Rh is too high, it becomes more difficult to dry the building structure (walls, floors, ect); this is due to the second law of thermodynamics, high pressure flows towards low pressure (high humidity -> low humidity). If Rh is high, moisture stored in the building materials cannot be “released” into the air and will stay “wet”. Think of it like going for a run on a really humid day. As you start to sweat, your sweat cannot evaporate and cool you off because the Rh is too high.
The primary method of controlling humidity levels after a water damage event is the use of dehumidifiers. “Dehu’s” are the MVP of structural drying. They collect moisture and pump it out into a drain, effectively removing it from the structure. As dehu’s lower the Rh, more moisture is able to be released from the building materials. They can also be used to “stabilize” environmental conditions if full mitigation cannot begin immediately.
Airflow and the Use of Fans to Dry a House
When it comes to drying out your home or business after water damage most people think they need to get some fans to dry out the building. Those people would be correct. As a water damage restoration company, we prefer to think of fans as “air movers”. Air movers aid in the drying process in two primary ways.
First, airflow across wet materials, like walls and floors, increases surface tension and allows the moisture to be released into the air. Once the moisture is released into the air, the dehumidifiers can capture it and remove it from the building. Typically, the higher the air speed is across a material, the faster moisture will be released.
Second, airflow can be specifically directed to increase drying efficiency. While we want direct airflow across wet materials we also want the air to flow in a specific direction. Generally speaking, we want air to flow towards the dehumidifier. In situations where the whole room is wet, we like to setup air movers in a circular pattern around the perimeter of the room with a dehu in the middle. This creates a vortex and makes for a very efficient process to dry a house.
Temperature Control During a Water Damage Event
Temperature control is the next major variable when trying to dry-out your house. Temperature and a direct impact on the Rh levels in your home. Without going into all of the details of how and why, just know that “cool” air holds less moisture than “warm” air. Temperature needs to be manipulated in specific ways in order to achieve the best drying results. If managed incorrectly or at the wrong time, you can make the situation worse.
When you have water damage in your home, initially, it may be best to keep the air cool. This can help keep humidity levels low and delay microbial growth; mold typically likes hot and humid conditions. Once a water damage restoration company arrives they can assess the situation and start increasing the temperature as needed.
It is important to manage temperature correctly. Conditions that are too hot or cold can limit the effectiveness of the dry-out process. In addition to the points made above, it is important to note that there are different types of dehumidifiers and they each operate most efficiently in different temperature ranges.
Water Extraction
This is perhaps the most obvious step and somehow if often gets overlooked. Extracting as much standing water as possible, in the beginning, will greatly reduce the time it take to dry-out your house. A commercial dehumidifier will typically remove 10-15gal of water per day. While that is an impressive number, water can be removed at a much faster rate with simple extraction methods.
Water damage restoration companies have water extraction machines that are capable of removing large amounts of water from various surfaces. However, you’re more likely to have shop/wet vac at home and can use it until the professionals arrive. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is get a push-broom or squeegee and push the water outside. The most important thing is to get the water out. Every gallon of water you get out is one less gallon the dehumidifier has to remove.
Final Thoughts on Drying Out Your Home After Water Damage
When your home has water damage just remember the four steps above: Humidity, Airflow, Temperature, and Extraction (H.A.T.E.). Skipping one of these steps would be just like having a car with a flat tire. Sure, you may get to your destination but it will take longer and you may cause more damage by the time you get there.
If you’re going to try and dry-out your house on your own, please consider the steps above. Of course, we recommend calling a water damage restoration company like Rewind Restoration so you can be assured the house is dry and the water damage is completely remediated.