What does Water Damage Restoration Equipment Do?

The world of water damage restoration   can be pretty confusing sometimes. Water damage specialists use a lot of complex and expensive tools and each tool has a purpose. This article will help you understand what these tools are, and why the experts use them.

            The desiccant dehumidifier is one of the most important tools water damage specialists use. It is comprised of four major components: the component that holds the desiccant material, a fan to move air through the desiccant holder (to be dehumidified), a heater to heat air that will dry the desiccant material, and another fan to move the air that is to dry the desiccant through the desiccant holder. When you have a flood, there is water, and a desiccant dehumidifier gets rid of that water. A dehumidifier is used to remove water from cement floors, insulation, carpets, interior paints, drywall, basements, and plaster. Say, for example, your sink springs a leak and floods the entire kitchen. Yes, you can pump all of that water out fairly easily; however, any porous surface (wood, drywall, cement, insulation, carpet, etc.) that the water was touching has now soaked up that water and has become saturated with it. There is no way to completely get rid of that water damage unless you use a dehumidifier.

            An infrared moisture meter is another very important tool that allows specialists to assess the severity of the problem. An infrared moisture meter determines the moisture content in bulk solids by using infrared light. This is crucial because often times water damage repair is not just as easy as fixing the visible damage. You often have hidden complications that need to be taken care of as well.

            Another tool that is crucial is the air mover. Air movers (often called “carpet dryers” or “blowers”) are designed to speed up the carpet drying process. They are placed incrementally around the carpet and lift the carpet off of the ground to where it is resting on a bed of air. They dry the carpet a lot quicker than if you just let the carpet air dry. This is important to ensure timely water removal.

            And last but not least, repair technicians may use a heavy (80-100 lb.) roller. The roller is used to press the carpet and squeeze it out removing any remaining water after the pump. This process is done before the air movers are utilized to dry the carpet out as much as possible. It is a crucial step to having dry carpets because in order to dry the carpet out with the air movers, the carpet must be near-dry so that it is not too heavy for air to lift.

            You now have a better understanding of what tools the technicians use to remove water damage  and how they work. Yes, it is very complicated, but specialists use this equipment everyday; so you can sit back, relax, and wait for your water damage to be remediated!