Once water mitigation has been completed, the process of restoring water-damaged materials to their original state may begin.
Controlled Demolition
During the water mitigation process, our IICRC certified technician may have needed to remove certain building materials (such as the bottom of walls, flooring, carpet pads) to take precise moisture readings. In addition, before drying begins, any unsalvageable, water-damaged building materials will be removed and properly disposed of. The restoration process may now begin.
Restoration includes drying salvageable building materials, dehumidifying the air, and cleaning the air of any contaminants (such as mold). Once your home/business is dry, clean, and safe, rebuilding may begin.
Rebuilding involves replacing building materials that were unsalvageable due to water damage. For example, if water soaked into the sub-floor, during the drying process the floor would usually be torn up to dry out the sub-floor. During the rebuilding process, a new floor would be installed.
Finally, when a home/business is being rebuilt, some owners may take the opportunity to remodel and update their property. When rebuilding is complete, your home/business will have been restored to its original condition!
For our full water damage restoration timeline, see Water Mitigation Timeline
Learn more about Water Damage Restoration and how it differs from Water Mitigation [link to ‘Water Mitigation vs Water Damage Restoration’ post]
Steps in the Water Damage Restoration Process
Structural Drying
This is the first and most crucial step in restoring your home/business to its original state. If building materials in your home/business remain wet, the water could continue to spread, causing further structural damage and/or dangerous mold growth. Therefore, reaching the ‘dry standard’ is our number one priority when restoring your property!
We use professional air movers to dry building materials in your home/business. These air movers heat the air, then blow it along the surface of the target materials (for example: the floor or wall). The heated air causes water in the building materials to evaporate into the air. This pulls water out of the wet materials, effectively drying them. Blowing the air along the surface of the target materials ensures even and continuous drying of the materials.
Dehumidification
Once water has evaporated from the wet materials, the air becomes full of that water. If the air remains full of water, it could cause further damage to the home/business AND continued drying of the wet materials would not be possible. The drier the air is in relation to a wet material, the faster the evaporation of water (hence the drying of the material) will be. Therefore, dehumidification of the air must happen. When our professional dehumidifiers pull the water from the air, the resulting dry air is continually warmed and distributed by our air movers, facilitating a continual drying process.
Air Scrubbing
With water damage, there are two ways your home could become contaminated:
- water from a contaminated source, such as the sewer or outside ground water
- water from a clean source that sits in or flows through dirty materials
Because mold spores are common and travel freely through the air, there is a strong likelihood that surfaces in your home have the potential to breed dangerous mold when soaked with water. To prevent the growth and/or spread of mold and other contaminants, we use professional air scrubbers to clean the air in your home/business. Our air scrubbers use HEPA filters that filter out particles 0.01 micron or larger in size. HEPA filters are highly effective, filtering out these contaminants with 99.97% effectiveness.