How Dry I Am....

When we last saw our heroes, they were attempting to get all the water out of their flooded home by using shop-vacs and submersible pumps and mops and towels and fire trucks and bran muffins and, oh wait, sorry.  Pumps and vacs do wonders when it comes to removing water, but try as they might even on their best days they can’t get all of it.  So don’t be surprised when you touch what appears to be a clean carpet and discover to your horror that it still feels wet.

Most any surface is going to retain some measure of moisture after getting wet.  It happens.  So now you have to circulate air, which is pretty much the only thing that will dry it out.  Open all windows and doors.  Bring in fans, preferably the high velocity variety, as well as blowers, air movers (which sounds suspiciously like “fan” but moving right along….).  Crank ‘em up and get ‘em going, and don’t forget to move them around every few hours, just to make sure you cover everything.  This may take the better part of a day to complete, so I would suggest taking the family and going elsewhere to avoid being driven mad by the sound of many fans doing their thing.  Hopefully when you come back, everything will be dry, the sun will be shining, the birds will be singing, and all will be right with the world.

On the other hand, you could find evidence of mold, in which case you might as well call off the whole party.  I mean, there is a reason your parents always told you to dry off thoroughly after your bath……

Suck It Up, Mary....

A wise man once said, when you tell somebody something, it depends on what part of the country you’re standing in that determines just how dumb you are.  Touche’, my friends, and with that out of the way, we will delve headfirst into the fascinating world of water extraction.

As anyone knows, the basic idea behind water damage restoration as a whole is to get the water out, and there are any number of ways to go about it, most of which are defined by the size of the spill.  You don’t show up for disaster relief work following a Category 4 hurricane armed with a couple of hand towels, y’know?

At the risk of insulting someone’s intelligence, most small spills can be dealt with quite handily by use of either a mop or a few well placed towels to soak it all up.  Adding pressure on the towels helps things along, or if you’re like me, you enjoy walking on them, mistakenly believing that it actually has any effect.

If you’re dealing with a more substantial spill, you might want to use a wet-dry vac, more commonly referred to by the masses as a shop-vac (don’t ask me why, I don’t know).   These units look remarkably like vacuum cleaners, but are made for sucking up water, and they will effectively remove most of the water in question.  Once again, at the risk of insulting someone’s intelligence, do not try to use your regular household vacuum cleaner to remove water…you’ll only end up buying a new vacuum cleaner.  (Hey, I know it’s insulting, but even hemorrhoid creams have the warning, “Don’t take orally”, which tells me they got at least one phone call).

If we’re talking considerable depth here, as in rolling waves and the occasional surfer dude, you should probably look into a submersible pump.  I would emphasize gas powered only, but 1) I think it goes without saying, and 2) I’ve insulted folks enough for one day.

Take care when pumping water out.  Believe it or not, it is actually possible to be too good at this and remove the water too quickly.  The end result could be a sudden pressure change which could weaken the walls and make them prone to collapse and it’s all bad.  Pump her out at the rate of about a foot a day.  Slow but steady.  After all it wasn’t the hare who won the race, now was it?

All this in the name of getting the water out of your home….but wait…..you just did all this and your floors still feel wet to the touch?  Well, hey, did I say it would get ALL of it?  No, I didn’t, now did I?

So just go enjoy your weekend and on Monday we’ll talk about how to get ALL the water out….I know you just can’t wait……

I'll Have The Sarcasm, Hold The Sensitivity.....

Okay, is it just me or are we seeing a significant decrease in the number of storms occurring during hurricane season every year?  The now legendary Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans on Labor Day weekend in 2005.  Katrina,  as in “with a K”, as in A B C D E F G H I J K……..as in the 11^th letter of the alphabet translating into the 11^th named storm of that season by the time Labor day rolled around.

So now it’s 2010, we’re headed into Labor Day weekend, and staring as Hurricane Earl, as in “with an E”, as in A B C D E……meaning the 5^th storm of the season, swirls merrily into the sunset.   Meaning we’re a tad behind.

Of course I’m sure there are many that are not going to complain, namely folks that live in Florida or along the Gulf coast, the ones who are at primary risk to get slugged by one of these storms.  However I am going to complain and politely ask Mother Nature to kindly get on with it.  I work for an outfit that makes it’s living off providing water damage related leads, and to be blunt, we need these storms to give us some more work.   We need damage, we need carnage, and we need it now!

Of course we don’t want anybody to get hurt, and we heartily encourage anyone and everyone in the path of these storms to take your loved ones and more to higher ground.  But if you have insurance, do me a favor and paint a big bright target on your house.  Hey, you’re covered, and we need the work.  So just suck it up and let the next hurricane rattle you just a tad.  For me?  What say?

I know how grossly insensitive that must sound, but hey we all have our assigned duties.  Fact is, we don’t work unless somebody gets slammed.

I can also only hope that you reading this will recognize the sarcasm inherent therein…..of course we in no way wish anyone bad luck or loss during one of these storms.  We’re here for you when it happens.

Of course if you find the sarcasm more entertaining, then, hey, you're a wonderful audience, and I’ll be here all week….try the veal…