How to Deal With Water Damage and Prevent Mold Growth

Water damage is a huge problem that can be caused by many things, from storms to leaking pipes. Not drying can lead to extreme foundational damage, collapsing walls, and mold growth. A professional water damage restoration company can help with structural drying. Using four fundamental principles, they can quickly remove excess water and prevent mold growth.

Dehumidification

Moisture can damage soft surfaces, including carpets, wood and ceiling tiles. It can also lead to water stains and rot on joists in your house's structure. A dehumidifier can take moisture out of the air and make it drier, helping to keep your home's furnishings, fabrics, and electronics in good condition. It can even help to keep the air in your home free from allergens, like dust mites and mold. Another critical benefit of dehumidification is that it can help reduce bacteria and other microscopic organisms that irritate your respiratory system. These allergens can be especially harmful to people with asthma or allergies, so removing the extra moisture in your home is a great way to keep them at bay.

A professional dehumidification company like Pure Restore Restoration Denver will use various techniques to remove excess moisture from your property and protect the materials inside. It is a crucial step to ensure that your building can be repaired and returned to its original, safe state.

Extraction

Extraction is a critical step in structural drying, as it can remove excess water and reduce the likelihood of secondary damage to surfaces, wood rot, and mold growth. Additionally, it is crucial to guarantee that the building's structure can resist additional water damage. It can be accomplished using a Sep Funnel, a pear-shaped glass device with a stopcock at the bottom and a stopper to close the top opening. It is used to mix, shake, and vent the extracted liquid.

Alternatively, it can be performed with a pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) column. This technique uses high pressures to facilitate extraction while increasing temperature to promote solubility and mass transfer. Liquid-liquid extraction is another standard extraction method, transferring an organic compound from one aqueous phase to another or separating unreacted reactants, salts, and other water-soluble impurities from an organic solution of interest. It is commonly used for organic chemistry research, particularly in the food industry.

Ventilation

Air ventilation is a crucial step to structural drying, but setting up a system that works well can be difficult. The size and configuration of openings must be designed to harness the forces determining air movements, such as the stack effect and wind pressure.

The ventilation rate must also be based on the pollution loads, moisture generation and use of the space. It is also necessary to control other aspects of the indoor environment that can affect health, such as thermal conditions, humidity, draught and noise.

Various types of ventilation are used, including mechanical and natural systems. The latter usually does not use fans, as it relies on the driving forces (pressure differences) that determine air movement. It allows the building design to be flexible but sometimes results in inadequate ventilation. In some cases, the combination of mechanical and natural ventilation is called mixed-mode ventilation. It is a hybrid ventilation form suitable for many different buildings and uses.

Cleaning

During structural drying, it's crucial to remove visible water and dry the area thoroughly to prevent mold and mildew growth. Professional flood damage restorers use various techniques to clean and dry the area. They also take measures to prevent moisture from seeping into essential building materials such as wood, drywall and other surfaces. These steps help preserve the integrity of these critical materials so they can be restored as soon as possible.

Structural drying professionals provide careful documentation of moisture measurements throughout the drying process to give you the proof you need when submitting a claim to your insurance company for restoration services. It will give you more confidence in your claim and save you money in the long run.

During structural drying, experts use advanced equipment to remove the maximum amount of water from the structure. These machines work by extracting standing water, then promoting evaporation through airflow. It enables the design to dry faster than usual.