Tools

 

Hammer, cats claw nail puller, pry bar (wonder bar), flat head and Phillips screwdrivers, 6” putty knife, 5 in one paint tool, small 4” razor blade floor scraper, Razor knife, pliers, wire brush, stapler, drywall hand saw, hand saw for wood, hack saw, tape measure, chalk line, metal sheers, small mirror with handle, 2’ level, flashlight, battery powered drill, mouse style sander with coarse grit paper, reciprocating saw, jig saw.

 

Meters

 

Destructive & non-destructive – Protimeter Survey master

Carpet padding & sub-floor

Infrared thermometer

Thermal imaging camera

Ryobi Snake

 

Equipment

 

Extraction machine & tools capable of subsurface, carpet, and hard floor extraction

Shop Vac 20 gallon with yellow pre-bag & 50’ of 2” vacuum hose - Lowes

55 gallon insulation vacuum with plastic bag inserts

Electric wall saw with vacuum hookup - Abatix

Gas powered generator

Gas powered compressor

Small sandblaster (garnet #80 media)

Air movers (fans)

Low grain, high heat dehumidifier –

Small electric heaters – K&J 1-877– 432-8601

 

Thermal Energy Drying System - Thermobile 1-877– 432-8601

Wall & wood floor drying system – Stand alone & using air movers – Inject-A-Dry

 

Supplies

 

Garbage bags – Black 4mil minimum (Abatix)

Plastic rolls (10’ x 100’ x 4mil) containment & flooring

Plastic rolls (42” x 200’ x 2mil) walkways

Zippers for plastic containment

Walk in Tack Mat

3” blue painters tape            

2” sticky tape for plastic (Abatix)

Roofing nails with large plastic head

Wood 1” x 2” x 2’

Mold Control- kills mold and eliminates re-growth

Sanidate – use on every water loss

Odor Hunter or Odorcide – immediately neutralizes odors

 

Categories of Water

 

Category I:

 

Water that comes from a fresh water pipe and has not yet been contaminated with bacteria, molds, dirt, oils, pesticides, etc… High likelihood you will run across few or none of these type losses in your lifetime. Water is contaminated with pathogens, etc… the second it touches the walls, flooring and such because building are not normally clean. Category I implies the pathogens now in the originally clean water have not had time to amplify significantly.

 

Category II:

 

The most common water loss scenario you will deal with is a water loss from clean water source that is less than 3 days old. Water source’s that are from the toilet overflowing, yet the water did not come from below the trap and water did not contain feces or urine or clothes washing machine, etc… are also considered Category II losses if normally handled within 2 days.

 

Category III:

 

Common cause is water originating from below the plumbing trap of toilets or drains. Surface or ground water from outside the home is another. Mainly this is for flooding or irrigation type scenarios and not for rain that hits your windows and comes in the home, etc… Another is water not dealt with quickly enough and has amplified with bacteria or mold.

 

Temperature also plays a factor the in Category of water. Cold temperatures inhibit bacteria and mold growth and take longer for water to change categories. Where as temperatures from 70 degrees can cause water to change categories more quickly.

 

Common sense plays a huge factor in determining category of water you are dealing with. A fresh clean water leak, found immediately, that smells foul may actually be a category II or III from the start. Nothing is absolute.

 

What to do

 

 

Communicate to the customer that you are on your way. Very important, otherwise the customer will start to look for someone else who can get there immediately.

 

Inspect and determine if you can handle job. If yes, get the customer to sign an authorization form immediately. Collect deductible if applicable.

 

You need to determine what kind of loss you are really dealing with. Cat I, II, III, mold.

 

Spray disinfectant. Then if applicable block or move furniture that may become damaged by water as quickly as possible, then start extracting. You may have to spray disinfectant again after extracting.

 

Lower humidity if possible. This is best accomplished by venting inside air to the outside of the building. This removes the humid air from inside the home and replaces the air with dryer outside air. If the air is warm and humid outside, you should run the buildings air conditioner system until the drying system is setup and operating.

 

Thorough inspection is now necessary to determine true scope of work and develop a plan that insures for sanitizing and drying the structure.

 

Extraction (removal) of Water

 

Removal of water through a variety of extraction processes is the faster than evaporating water. Take the extra time to extract or remove the maximum water through mechanical processes. It’s worth it.

 

Truck-mounted or portable extraction units

 

These extraction machines are used to remove standing water or water that is in the carpet or padding.

 

Ride on extraction units

 

These units are self-propelled and you stand on them. They come with their own vacuum system or you can connect them to Truck-mount or portable extraction units.

 

 

Water Claw Tool

 

This tool attaches to the hose of Truck-mounted or portable extraction units. You stand on it and manually move to the next spot and continue.

 

Wood floor dying systems

 

These mats lie on the wood floor and attach to portable extraction units. Over a period of time (can be 45 minutes) the water is suctioned up from under the wood floor. This is for direct glue down wood floors. By eliminating the standing water between the concrete and the wood you stop the continuing of water being absorbed by the wood and creating additional damage.

 

Make a Plan to dry

 

Create a drying chamber

 

We can be more efficient and effective by drying the wet areas only. This is accomplished by separating the wet from dry areas of the building. Sealing vents will help greatly in not allowing heated air to escape to other parts of the home or attic.

 

Plastic Containment:  6-10 mil plastic sheeting is used to seal off doors, HVAC vents, widow pass through, etc… Use Zip poles to hold plastic in place as needed. Be careful to use tape on painted walls that will not damage the wall. An example is to put blue painters tape on the wall and to attach the plastic to the blue tape with stickier tape. Heat will make the tape lose its stick. So depend more on the poles for physical strength of the containment.

 

 

Blanket Containment: Use a moving blanket or the like in place of plastic sheeting. This provides better heat containment that is necessary when the non-wet areas of the home will be lived in while you dry the wet areas. Again Zip poles work great.

 

Tenting: Place a plastic sheet on the floor covering the wet area. Put sand bags or weights spaced around the edges, yet on, the plastic. Blow air underneath the plastic rearranging the sand bags or weights until the plastic is evenly expanded like a bubble. This will focus the air on the wet area without blowing around in the room.

 

Tenting floor & blanket containment at door in center

 

 

 

Plastic containment with poles

 

 

2 Story House: Interesting to note that 2^nd story dry outs can be quite easy. Setup your drying chamber for the lower floor. Make 1-3 access holes (approx. 10” square) in the ceiling from the lower floor. Affix lay flat plastic ducting to a squirrel cage style air-mover and vent the hot air into the cavity between the lower and upper floor. Another method is to exhaust adequate air from the upstairs allowing the hot air to move quickly upstairs. This will dry the upstairs without cutting holes in the ceiling downstairs.

 

 

2 Story House: Interesting to note that 2^nd story dry outs can be quite easy. Setup your drying chamber for the lower floor. Make 1-3 access holes (approx. 10” square) in the ceiling from the lower floor. Affix lay flat plastic ducting to a squirrel cage style air-mover and vent the hot air into the cavity between the lower and upper floor. Another method is to exhaust adequate air from the upstairs allowing the hot air to move quickly upstairs. This will dry the upstairs without cutting holes in the ceiling downstairs.

 

 

 

Evaluate materials to dry

 

Not all materials allow for easy drying and sometimes the way multiple materials are used in construction creates drying issues that are not obvious. Wallpaper, semi-gloss paint (especially rooms adjacent), insulation (rolled, blown-in, and sprayed), carpet backings & pad scrim, etc… Different materials or construction methods may change the drying techniques or equipment on a job.

 

Cost of and what is secondary damage

 

Secondary damage is damage not directly caused by the initial water loss. This can be damage from condensation, migration, wicking, hygroscopic principles and of course lets not forget the #1 cause of secondary backing, you!!! This typically occurs when we remove baseboard, disengage carpet, etc… Easy to damage carpet when the backing is wet and easy to damage the wall above the paint caulks line of the baseboard when removing baseboard. This damage is unnecessary and makes for additional repair costs that can be viewed by the Insurance Industry as your fault. Not a fun situation.

 

Setup Thermal Drying System

 

Machine Placement

 

Determine placement of system based on living conditions, size of area to dry, security and access. On larger jobs it may be better to Tee into the home in 2 places rather than one. You can trailer mount the systems and run hose into the building or you can roll the systems into the back yard onto the patio or porch. Depends on the layout and where the water loss is within the building. Machine always sits outside the building and heated air is ducted into the building.

 

Air Distribution inside building

 

Ensure that all area’s are getting the adequate air flow in order to ensure the proper temperature rise and flushing out effect of the moist air. Use air-movers to distribute air in all areas of the home. Air movers with lay flat ducting attached can move large quantities of heated air to hard to reach places. Temperature & relative humidity readings can help to determine if areas within the drying chamber are getting adequate air exchange.

 

 

Removal of moist air

 

Setup exhausts air so that no areas of the building have stagnant or whirl pooling air. This can be accomplished using 1 or more exhausts. It is sometimes as easy as partially opening windows in different areas of the building or using several smaller fans with lay flat ducting vented to different or the same exhaust port.

 

 

 

 

Air Temperature

 

Match a thermal system or systems with the cubic feet, ambient air temperature and layout of the building. It is imperative that temperatures reach 125F – 135F within the drying chamber. Very important to remember that it is better to dry with 2 machines, in 2 days, and in target temperatures than to dry with 1 machine for 4 days below target temperatures.

 

Temperature entering the building should be at least 25F higher than the target temperature. Example: If you want 130F air in the building, you should have a minimum of 155F air entering the building. Building materials need a constant supply of energy to maintain their increased temperature and to offset the cooling effect of evaporation.

 

Don’t worry, nylon face yarn, which is on most carpeting, melts around 410F. Laying the ducting on the carpet won’t hurt anything. A towel or blanket can be used if you are concerned or for wood flooring, vinyl flooring, etc…

 

 

Air Temperature in colder times or climates

 

It may be necessary to use 1 system to preheat air for the systems that are heating the building. Example; ITA 45 is used to preheat air for an ITA 75.

 

ITA 75 has an average temperature rise of 122F. If the temperature is 0F you will have 122F entering the building. It is unreasonable and impossible to think you can reach a target air temperature in the building of 135F. Remembering you must overcome evaporation and the transfer of heat to the building materials to maintain the temperature increase of building materials. Reality is it takes more heat in the winter and costs to dry should be higher in the winter than summer. Don’t be afraid to use additional equipment to do the job right.

 

Placing an ITA 45 approximately 5’ behind the ITA 75 will preheat the air coming into the ITA 75. This will allow the ITA 75 to quickly and efficiently heat the building to 130F, drying will occur rapidly and secondary damage will be reduced or eliminated.

 

Using Wall drying equipment in Thermal drying

 

 

Small hole (5/16” or less) systems – Example below

 

Sometimes you need to vent a wall, insulated walls, around a fireplace, adjacent rooms with semi-gloss paint, etc… It is not absolutely necessary to remove baseboard to setup this kind of system. Removing baseboard is the leading cause of wall damage. Ripping up on paint, impressions in the wet drywall, etc… cause expensive damage and are unnecessary in most drying situations.

 

Inter-wall drying units have small nozzles in which the air is forced into the wall cavity. This can be accomplished by drilling an appropriate size hole through the baseboard and the drywall just above the bottom plate. Sometimes the wall drying holes can be filled and repainted without ever removing the baseboard. Other times the baseboard may have to be replaced, however, this is accomplished damage free after everything is dry and materials are firm.

 

Systems that attach to air-movers

 

These systems typically have larger holes, generally around 11/16”. Best use for these systems is venting cabinets. Make your holes near the top of the toe kick. Normally this will hide the hole from view after you are finished drying. Venting heat into the cabinets usually dries the wall behind the cabinets. Remember exterior walls and some interior walls will be insulated. Drying insulated walls in which water wicks upward is easy and drying insulation in which water came down vertically is difficult and may require more extreme procedures.

 

 

Determine if you need to vent walls early in the drying process. Setting up a wall drying system 2 days into the job prolongs drying unnecessarily.

 

How to calculate Equipment vs size of job

Single story structure

It is important to match the capabilities of the equipment with the job size. A good measure is a minimum of 6 air exchanges per hour of the drying chamber. An ITA 75 is rated at 2,350 cfm.

 

Calculation

 

Calculate the total cubic feet of air space within the drying chamber. Length x width x height = cubic feet of air space.

 

Divide the cubic feet of air space by the cfm rating of the Thermobile system.

 

Example:  2500 sf home with 9 feet average ceiling. 2500 x 9 =  22,500 cubic feet

 

                                  22,500 cf divided by the Drying system cfm rating of 2350 =  9.6

 

Now divide 1 hour or 60 minutes by 9.6 =  6.25 air exchanges per hour

 

                                 

The ITA 75 can efficiently dry a 23,500 cf drying chamber in a normally insulated building.

 

2 Story Structure

In most cases you can dry 1.5 times the square footage if drying 2 story residential homes if 50% - 50% up to down is wet. The reason you can do this is because you are not heating up the entire upstairs. By taking the heat from the downstairs and venting it into the space between the 1^st and 2^nd floor you dry the upstairs without doubling the need for energy (heat). Generally you are only adding 3’ of ceiling height to the drying equation.

 

Example:  2500 sf home x (9’ ceiling + 3’) additional ceiling height is 30,000 cf

 

Now divide 30,000 cf by 2350 cfm system rating =  12.76

 

Now divide 60 minutes by 12.76 =  4.7 air exchanges per hour

 

This area is larger than optimal system design and may require additional equipment or a larger drying system.

 

Another way

 

You need to setup the air exhausts upstairs adequately so that the hot air from downstairs moves quickly upstairs. This allows you to dry up & down without cutting holes in the downstairs ceiling. Drawback is the square footage of drying must be calculated by including the downstairs, space between the 1^st & 2^nd floor and the upstairs. Less area can be dried per machine this way.

 

You must make sure to vent your exhaust air appropriately so you don’t have stagnant air downstairs or upstairs.

 

Commercial

 

Usually better insulated and therefore larger areas can be dried. Be careful to check for fire sprinklers and the temperature setting for activation. Generally you want to keep the ceiling temperature under 135F. ITA 75 can dry up to 6,000 sf on commercial jobs. Look at the conditions, insulation, windows, layout, etc… and make a reasonable judgment. You can adjust if necessary. Don’t forget to check the HVAC setting. The air conditioner may turn on as you start to heat the building and that is counter productive as well as making you look like an idiot.

When is dry?

 

Moisture meters:

 

Because of the rapid nature of Heat Drying, it is recommended to use physical metering devices to determine moisture content and dryness of the structure. Grains per pound, relative humidity, etc… can help to determine proper airflow within the drying chamber but is of little value to determining if the structure is fully dry. Where you are not getting proper air flow to an area you will see significant differences in RH & Temperature readings. This will alert you to make changes to correct airflow.

 

Most dehumidifiers process less than 300 cfm. An ITA 75 air exchanges or processes 2,350 cfm. Basically processes like 7 or 8 large dehumidifiers.

 

You can have seemingly little moisture in the air exiting the drying chamber but due to the large quantity of air processed it really adds up to a lot of moisture. So the structural materials may still be holding excess water even though the air exiting the drying chamber seems within acceptable levels. This is why physical metering is so important.

 

If water has been setting or pooling in areas for an extended period of time you may have to use screws to check the core moisture levels of the framing.

 

Do not over dry

 

Over drying the structure can cosmetically damage cabinet. It is better to vent certain areas and insure drying within 2 days than to heat dry for 4 days and try to dry everything with no venting.

 

Most areas dry easily in 2 days. However,

 

Evaluate materials to dry

 

Not all materials allow for easy drying and sometimes the way multiple materials are used in construction creates drying issues that are not obvious. Wallpaper, semi-gloss paint, insulation (rolled, blown-in, and sprayed), carpet backings & pad scrim, etc… Different materials or construction methods may change the drying techniques or equipment on a job. Venting or drying from the backside should be determined in the early stages of drying and not after 2 days extending the job to 4 days.

For More Information About Thermal Drying Classes,

Please Call Ken Horvath at 602-723-2534

Ken Horvath is a cleaning and restoration veteran of more than 28 years experience with thousands of successfully completed drying projects. He is a representative of Thermobile heat drying systems and founder of K & J Representatives, LLC., a company with the goal of advancing the structural drying industry through innovation.

Ken is Also the Manufacture of All Energedry Products.

 

 

Learn About Heat Drying  and How It Will Help You

With Your Restoration Business

 For Information About Thermal Drying Classes, Please Call Ken Horvath at 602-723-2534

 

 

Breakdown of the Drying Process

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1-877-