Drying Methods Change Daily

12/1/2020 (Permalink)

Contractors that work on construction projects closely follow blueprints which tell them exactly how a job is to be completed. But with water mitigation, things aren’t as cut and dried. The way one restoration contractor completes a job may be decidedly different from the way you may handle one due to current local weather conditions, although both have similar damage. For instance, while some parts of the country may be deluged with water, drought conditions persist in other areas. So, the manner of restorative dehumidification and drying that are applied in these regions may differ.
SERVPROs goal is to dry a structure as quickly as possible. To do so, we’ll need to dehumidify at a pace that’s equal to or greater than the amount of evaporation. In order to accomplish that, dehumidifiers, air movers and/or an exchange of drier air to replace the humid atmosphere will be needed. That leaves three drying choices:

1. Open Drying: If the outside air is dryer than inside, using this method gets dry air circulating by opening windows and doors that will allow fresh, dryer air inside to assist in drying. We’ll employ air movers to circulate the drier air. This also speeds up the drying process. If the humidity is low enough, dehumidifiers may not even be necessary.
2. Closed Drying: If the outside air has a higher specific humidity, then we’ll probably want to use this system where the windows and doors are closed and we will use dehumidifiers, air movers and dry heat to accelerate evaporation.
3. Combination Drying: With low outside humidity, we will double up our efforts by using both open and closed drying systems together. This system makes use of both natural and mechanical elements that accelerate the drying process, opening and closing the windows and doors as needed.

If there’s low outside humidity but the temperature is below 70° F, then either use a closed system or add heat that'll encourage evaporation. But whatever the case, there are many factors that can affect what we ultimately decide to do, such as major changes in the weather, security issues, customer preferences, etc.

These are just a few techniques our trained and certified technicians learn. Independent franchise owners have a common responsibility to make sure their techs are certified and trained the SERVPRO way.