Kansas City Property Owner and Water Loss--What To Do? Why Call SERVPRO, of Course!

11/19/2019 (Permalink)

The Forms of Moisture Damage We Combat in Kansas City Homes

Many sciences are essential to the recovery of Kansas City homes after water and moisture damages. From vaporizing moisture from saturated surfaces by our centrifugal air movers to the condensation of humidity into collection trays of refrigerant dehumidifiers, much of the work that we do in the recovery of damaged homes involves changing the state of water damage into a manageable form. To do this, our SERVPRO professionals must understand the nature of water or moisture and the infiltration into a given material.

The types of water damage Kansas City homes experience in and around construction materials and contents affect the chosen approaches to dry up these effects. Each of the three forms of moisture damage our technicians expect to encounter in restoration tasks has specific approaches to overcome and eliminate. These forms often vary by the length of time that materials remain exposed to water damage and the porosity of exposed contents and surfaces.
 
Surface water is what our restorers and our customers can immediately see when water loss incidents take place. These damages utilize some of the widest arrays of our recovery tools, including our extractors, pumps, mops, air movers, and other equipment. Surface water is among the easiest to treat and restore, as evaporation can happen quickly along with direct drying methods.
 
Free water is moisture that has initially become absorbed by material like flooring, drywall, or other exposed surfaces. Free water is a more significant challenge to remove from these materials, but effectively doing so can often protect the installed construction elements. This form of moisture has not bonded on a molecular level with the damaged material, allowing it to get drawn back out more readily.
 
Bound water has gotten absorbed into the wood and porous materials and perhaps chemically bonds with the cells and molecules. Once this occurs, restoration and removal of the moisture damage become far more challenging. Even still, specialty drying equipment like drying mats, injecti-dry devices, and positive pressure systems can have a chance at restoring the material.

 Understanding what we are up against is part of the scoping process that occurs before mostly every restoration project we undertake. Let our SERVPRO of Kansas City Midtown team show you how we can help. Give us a call at (816) 895-8890.