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Water damage repairs in York
Just dropped in onsite to see how our teams are getting on as Andy, Mat and Steve are working on a water damaged property in York today. The property is a Victorian terraced house in the Groves, York, where damage had been caused by a neighbouring roof which abuts the gable elevation. The flashings between the roof covering and gable wall had failed thus resulting in water cascading down the wall and eventually migrating internally. The roof defect has now been repaired although the interior plaster finishes have been badly affected and have spoiled. Skirting boards and the stringer (carrige) of the stair case both have high moisture levels in excess of 24% WMC (Wood Moisture Content)placing them at risk and without assistance the solid masonry walls would take months to dry out resulting in further damage prior to any internal decorative or plaster repairs being considered.
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Luckily we're here to help, and In this property after removing the existing spoilt plaster which provided an additional unnecessary barrier to drying our team have installed a sophisticated drying system using a series of intelligent humidity controlled desiccant dehumidifiers and refrigerant dehumidifiers. Unlike normal refrigerant dehumidifiers, desiccants produce high temperature air with extremely low humidity which draws moisture from the wall. The process of drying a wet wall involves changing water from its liquid phase to a vapour which requires lots of energy and if standard refrigerant dehumidifiers were used the walls would require large heaters and air movers to encourage evaporation for a refrigerant dehumidifier to collect the airborne moisture. This can make the whole process of drying the wall lengthy, expensive and also potentially dangerous using heaters. Therefore in this scenario we specified the use of desiccant dehumidifiers as a safer, more cost effective approach.
To reduce drying times further the affected walls have been tented with plastic sheeting to which extremely warm and desiccated dry air is been forced within the tent creating a micro climate with ideal conditions for drying, this allows the drying system to specifically concentrate on the affected area. This system will effectively dry the walls within a matter of days not months allowing the walls to be re-plastered and decorated quickly returning the property into former condition. The moisture content of the walls and timbers will be analysed and monitored over the forthcoming two weeks until they have dried completely.
Once the drying and reinstatement works have been completed our client will receive a drying certificate for the work which is also available as an insurance certificate backed by an FSA regulated insurance company, had I mentioned we were the first company in the UK to offer this level of insurance protection to our clients for water damage repairs - read our blog
Dryfix are an IICRC (Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification) certified company specialising is flood/water damage and drying of buildings. Our surveyors are fully qualified in damp diagnosis through examination by our leading industry and carry all the latest diagnosis and inspection equipment including fibre optical cameras, moisture analysis equipment and thermal imaging cameras.All of our technicians are National Flood School trained and IICRC qualified in water restoration, mould remediation and structural drying.
Many thanks
Russell Rafton
C.S.R.T / I.S.S.E
Dryfix Preservation Surveyor
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