Assessing Water Damage

7/29/2019 (Permalink)

By: Layton C. 

Whenever a homeowner has a water loss, it is important to understand the damage the water can do, and how to asses it properly. One of the first things that SERVPRO does after meeting the homeowner is to inspect all affected materials in all affected areas. This allows us to gauge what is wet and how wet the material actually is. SERVPRO technicians use moisture meters and thermal cameras to map out the wet area. Most homeowners don’t own this equipment so they may not be able to see the full damage, but it is possible to get a general idea if one knows what to look for and understands how water travels.

Having the appropriate equipment and tools are essential for the quality of work performed. We see many homeowners extract water with a wet vac and place office fan’s around the wet area. This is a great start to prevent further damage, but the equipment used will not have the same efficiency as ours. When SERVPRO needs to remove a material we are trained on removing it in a specific way. We want to make the repair as easy and as quick as possible. 

Depending on what material we are trying to dry and the saturation level of the material could call for a specialized drying plan with more equipment than the traditional box fan and dehumidifier. Our goal is to get all 10’s with the customer satisfaction survey. Assessing the damage correctly and having the correct equipment is a must.  Meeting the expectations makes the mitigation process faster and cheaper.