Drying & Restoring Floating Floors
When you are faced with a water damage repair and have engaged the services of a building restoration company, or one has been selected by the insurance company following the receipt of insurance repair quotes, you may find that the dampness in buildings has penetrated into inaccessible areas such as underneath floating floors.
Your insurance reinstatement policy will likely be able to cover the costs of thorough drying of floating floors using specialised equipment specifically designed to dry out inaccessible floors an other areas.
To work out how many specialised drying systems will be needed, restoration companies assess this by measuring moisture content and assessing the range of materials that requires flood restoration or water damage repair. These floating floors may be made of concrete, wood or most likely be a combination of materials that include concrete and wood.
Turbine Drying Equipment
Turbine driven drying equipment will dry both concrete and wooden types of floors very efficiently. These turbine units usually need to be connected to a desiccant dehumidifier to provide the dry air which is introduced to the damp areas to aid the process.
If the floor has under floor heating then a thermal camera would usually be used to find where it is safe to drill holes to apply the dry air using the turbine equipment. When the hot pipes are marked out a qualified plumber should switch over the hot and cold feed pipes. This will then indicate the locations of any cold feed pipes in the floor as well.
Once the hot and cold pipes (and any other pipes) have been located, the under floor heating needs to be switched off as this could affect the efficiency of the turbine drying systems about to be applied.
Drying Methods
The restoration company will need to drill approximately 20 x 28mm holes through the concrete or wood staying clear of the walls by about 1.5 feet. The holes need to be vacuumed as much as possible to ensure there is no debris remaining that would affect the drying process. An inspection camera is then used to visually inspect the holes to make sure all debris has gone and to ensure there is no standing water. At the end of the job, some builder’s silicone can be injected into the holes to seal any punctures in the insulating material.
The turbine drying pipes are then installed neatly and tightly into holes to ensure a good seal and an even distribution of the dry air. The turbine can then be connected and turned on. Air should not be coming out of the holes if the pipes are fitted in properly. So if air is escaping, the pipes need refitted with better seals. The drying systems must be vented to the exterior of the property and the reinstatement contractor will stay on site for 30 to45 minutes to ensure all is working well before leaving them in place for the required length of time, usually checking every couple of days and taking moisture readings to assess progress.
As the air being applied is under pressure, it generates heat. Leaving some windows open will allow the heat to escape however, of course, security of the building restoration site also needs to be considered. Turbine drying machines need to run 24/7 and should not be turned off until the drying process is complete.
These turbine drying systems are specially designed to be as efficient as possible when drying out floating floors. Building restoration companies will have invested in these systems and they will also have expert training in their deployment and use.
We Can Help With Water Damage Repairs
Based in Central Scotland, Paradigm Reinstatements is one of the leading specialist building restoration companies in the UK regularly appointed by several of the UK’s leading insurance companies to deal with drying out flood and water damaged buildings of all types and sizes. They own and deploy a wide range of state of the art water damage repair and drying equipment.
