Moisture readings, air movers and dehumidifiers that dry walls, subfloors and insulation in Augusta homes.
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Structural drying removes moisture from the materials of a building, such as framing, subfloor and drywall, using air movers and dehumidifiers. Augusta Water Damage Restoration answers at any hour for Augusta and nearby towns, and a technician confirms dryness with moisture readings rather than by touch.
Once the standing water is gone, most of the remaining water is inside the building. It sits in the wood of the subfloor, in the paper on the back of drywall, in the insulation batts and along the bottom of the studs. None of it shows on the surface, and most of it will not evaporate on its own in a closed house. Structural drying is the process that moves that water out of the materials and into the air, and then out of the air through a dehumidifier.
The method is simple in principle. Air movers blow across wet surfaces to speed evaporation at the surface. Dehumidifiers pull water vapor out of the air so that the moisture leaving the materials has somewhere to go. Together they lower the moisture held in the building until the readings match dry reference points. What differs between jobs is the layout, the materials and how long the water was in them.
A drying job is measured from start to finish. Readings are taken at the beginning, repeated on a set schedule and compared with dry reference materials in the same building. The equipment is moved where the readings are still high and taken away from the places that have reached dry. The reader gets a log of those readings, so every decision about the job can be checked against numbers rather than appearance.
Do not run a portable fan or a space heater on a damp floor, near a wet cord or in a room with standing water, and do not seal a room up with a wet carpet inside. Leave the cavity openings for the technician to close after the readings confirm dry, because an open cavity left alone can take up water again.
When the materials can be dried without removal, the crew leaves them in place and works the air around them. This suits many finished walls and solid subfloors. Drying in place depends on the readings coming down steadily, and the technician shows the trend so you can see the job moving toward dry.
Water inside a wall cavity can be reached through small openings made at the bottom plate and at a few points up the wall. Air is moved into the cavity and out through the openings. This method keeps the finished surfaces intact, and the openings are patched after the readings confirm the cavity is dry.
Water under a floor or in a crawl space needs air moved across the joists and the underside of the subfloor. Access is often tight, and the layout is planned around the lowest points, where the water collects and stays longest.
When water has spread across an entire floor of the house, the crew plans the drying one room at a time and keeps the readings for each. Doors and vents are arranged so the air moves in one direction, and the equipment is shifted as rooms reach dry.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent structural drying and dehumidification, send the form and we'll call you back.
Feel and appearance miss water held inside materials. A moisture reading compares the material against a dry reference, which shows whether it is still holding water and whether the trend is going in the right direction.
A hand on a wall can tell a technician that the surface is cool, but it cannot tell whether the moisture is three inches back inside the cavity. Materials that look dry often hold a reserve that keeps rising to the surface for a while after the equipment has been running. A reading shows what is actually there.
The technician uses pin-type and pinless meters and records each reading against a location in the house. The log is the same record a second technician would use, so the job can be followed and checked by anyone reading it, including an insurance adjuster.
Air movers speed evaporation from the surface of wet materials, and dehumidifiers remove the water vapor that the moving air carries. Used together, they keep the moisture leaving the materials from simply moving back into them.
An air mover is a fan that is aimed to skim across a wet surface. It increases the rate at which water leaves the surface, but it does not remove the moisture from the room. Without a dehumidifier, that moisture would settle back onto cool surfaces or into the materials that are still drying.
A dehumidifier cools air to condense water vapor and collects the water it produces. Its effect depends on the room being closed up, so doors and vents are set to keep the air where the equipment can work on it.
The length depends on the materials, how much water was held, how deep it reached and how the building was closed up while it dried. The readings, not the calendar, decide when a room is dry.
A room that held water on the surface and in a thin layer of drywall can dry much faster than one with water in a subfloor or a wall cavity. Solid wood and thick insulation hold water longer, and a closed house with the air already humid takes more time than one that is aired out.
The technician gives an honest estimate of how the readings are expected to fall, and that estimate is updated as the readings come in. No arrival time or completion date is promised on the phone, because the job depends on what the crew finds once the walls and floors are open.
Drying removes the moisture that mold needs, which makes growth less likely. It does not remove mold that has already started, and a surface that has grown mold needs its own assessment before it is cleaned or covered.
Mold grows on damp organic material, such as paper, wood, dust and some paints. The sooner the material reaches dry, the less chance it has to support growth. That is why drying starts as soon as the free water is removed and why the readings are watched closely in the first days.
If the technician sees growth on a surface, the drying plan notes it and stops short of covering it. Work on mold has its own steps and its own questions, and the separate page on mold after water damage sets out what to ask before that work begins.
The size of the wet area, the number of materials that have to be opened, the access to the cavities and the length of time the equipment runs all shape the job. No price is given on the phone, and the figure is explained and approved on site before drying begins.
A small room with wet drywall and a dry subfloor is a different job from a whole level with a wet subfloor and wet cavities behind several walls. Every additional opening, every extra piece of equipment and every extra day the readings take to fall adds to the total, so the technician explains each part of the plan as it is set.
The records from the job, including the readings, the photographs and the equipment log, are part of what you receive. They show why the work was needed and how it was carried out, which is useful for your own file and for any claim.
Before any equipment is set, the technician takes readings in the wet areas and in dry reference areas nearby. The dry readings show what dry looks like in that particular house, which varies from one building to the next.
Where readings are high inside a wall or under a floor, a small opening is made so the cavity can be checked and dried. The openings are kept as small as the readings allow, and each one is photographed.
Air movers are set to blow across the wet surfaces, and dehumidifiers are placed to pull moisture out of the room air. The layout follows the readings, so the equipment does the most work where the water is still held.
Readings are repeated on a set schedule. Areas that have reached dry come off the drying plan, and the equipment moves to the places that remain wet. The log records each reading and each move.
Once the materials match the dry reference readings, the crew confirms that the job is complete. Any opened materials are then covered or replaced, and the final log goes to you for your records.
Whatever the foundation, water that gets under a floor has more places to hide than water that stays above it. A technician checks the subfloor and the bottom of the walls on those calls rather than drying only the visible floor.
Richmond County has a consolidated government, and a repair that opens walls or floors in a building may need a permit from the office that covers the address. Drying itself is a separate matter from repair, and the technician will note any open cavity so that the repair plan can be made with the right office.
Moisture in the air matters as well as moisture in the materials. A house that stays closed up holds its humidity, so drying is slower than in a house that can be aired out, and the readings are the best guide to whether the house is moving toward dry.
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Standing water pumped out of floors, carpet and crawl spaces in Augusta and nearby towns, answered 24/7.
Drying to stop mold growth, and a written scope and checklist before any mold removal work begins.
Reading, opening and drying ceilings and drywall that have taken water from a leak above.
Water and moisture under a house, read with meters and dried from below before the floor is closed.
The cost of water damage restoration in Augusta depends on how much water there was, how far it spread, which materials it reached, how hard they are to reach and how long drying takes.
The Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner takes homeowner insurance complaints, including claims that have been denied, delayed or underpaid, through its online complaint portal.
Mold after a water loss is usually a drying problem first and a removal problem second.
Before you hire a water damage contractor in Georgia, ask for a written estimate that separates extraction, drying and replacement, and ask for proof of the company's own insurance.
The Augusta-Richmond County consolidated government issues building permits for its consolidated area, which it formed with one government on 1 January 1996.
In the first hour after a supply line bursts, shut off the water at the valve that serves the broken line, or at the main if that valve cannot be found.
A ceiling stain usually appears after the water has already travelled through insulation and framing, so it lags the leak.
The technician compares the wet materials with dry reference readings from the same house. When the wet readings match the dry ones, and stay there over more than one check, the drying is complete. You get the readings in writing.
Equipment usually runs around the clock while readings are high, because the water keeps moving out of the materials. The crew explains the schedule, including any noise or power needs, before the equipment is set.
Air needs a way into a wall cavity to dry it, and the holes are the smallest openings the readings allow. They are photographed and patched after the cavity is confirmed dry.
Yes. A finished basement has more materials to check, including the back of paneling, carpet over pad and the wall behind any built-in storage. The technician plans the job around the readings in each area.
The price depends on the equipment, the time it runs and the materials that are opened. Each change to the plan is explained and approved before it is carried out, so the cost does not rise without the reason being given.
The technician checks the readings at each visit and at the end of the job, and you receive the log. That record can also be shared with your insurer or your own contractor if you choose.