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Disaster Restoration Systems
| Hardwood Floor Drying
The Nebraska weather can create numerous moisture problems for hardwood
floors. DryHero has the specialized training and experience
to dry your cupped and water damaged hardwood floors. Hardwood flooring is one of the
most challenging materials to dry...don't trust your water damaged
hardwood flooring restoration to
just anybody. In the Omaha/Lincoln Nebraska metro area, restore with
confidence. Restore with DryHero! |
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Lincoln/Omaha Metro
Call
1.888.DRYHERO
(888-379-4376)
In Lincoln call 438-2379 |
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My hardwood floor is starting
to cup or crown. What can I do?
Cupping or crowning are indications of abnormal
moisture content in hardwoods. It also tells you the location of
the majority of the moisture. Cupping occurs when there is
surplus moisture on the bottom of the wood. Crowning occurs when
there is more moisture on top.
If you notice cupping or crowing, you should
begin drying the floor as soon as possible. By reducing the
moisture content of wood materials quickly and early you can
reverse the cupping or crowning process. |
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HARDWOOD FLOOR
DRYING AND INDOOR AIR QUALITY
Hardwood flooring is
slow to react to moisture. By the time hardwood starts
cupping or warping, it's already been wet for 24 hours or longer. The
longer wood flooring sits wet, the greater the damage, both
visible and hidden. Additionally, when exposed to moisture, the dense hardwood can maintain elevated
moisture levels for weeks or even months.
In Nebraska, we NEVER recommend
naturally or air-drying
water damaged wood flooring. It simply isn't fast enough. Instead,
we advise our clients
to professionally dry their flooring systems to best control and
manage the possibility of fungal growth. |
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HARDWOOD FLOOR
DRYING IS A SCIENCE
Due to the
ultra-low porosity the wood floor's finish, it's virtually
impossible to dry the floor from the top with just fans and
dehumidifiers. The only way to
quickly dry hardwood flooring is by moving high volumes of warm,
dry air
through the flutes on the underside of the plank. A high
pressure vacuum mat system is the only way to do this.
These specialty drying systems can dry most wood floors in a
matter of days instead of weeks or even months.
It is not possible
to dry hardwood flooring by simply using air movers and
dehumidifiers. Call us for a free analysis and inspection
of your hardwood flooring system. |
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WHAT LIES BENEATH YOUR WATER DAMAGED WOOD FLOOR?
It
wasn’t that long ago that water damaged wood floors were left to
dry on their own. The training and equipment didn’t exist
to effectively dry them. As a result, it took the flooring
anywhere from two to five months to return to a normal moisture
level. Refinishing the floors usually completed the
process. That was before we all got hit with the panic and
expense of mold remediation. The pendulum swung the other way
and restorers started tearing out anything that got wet.
After extensive industry research and product development,
quickly and thoroughly drying hardwood flooring became a reality.
But is the expense of drying a wood floor instead of letting it
dry naturally really worth it? Let’s look beneath the surface.
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THE BIO-LAYER
If
you’ve ever had the pleasure of removing wood plank flooring,
you know that it can be pretty dusty underneath. The subfloor
was usually dirty before the flooring was even installed. Add to
that years or decades of extremely fine dust filtering its way
through the flooring and you have what’s known as a "bio-layer".
This is a layer of all things organic. Skin cells, pet
dander, dust mites (and their feces), mold spores, pollen, hair,
bacteria, aphids, cellulose, insect feces, lint, carbon
particles and yeast. In fact, it’s estimated that up to 70% of
household dust is made of discarded skin cells (all yours, I’m
sure)!
Wood can hold close to 40% of it’s weight in moisture (i.e. 40%
moisture content). Wood is dense and absorbs moisture very
slowly. Good news, right? Unfortunately, it releases it
even more slowly. Add to that a layer of finish on the top
and subflooring with felt paper beneath and wood floors can
remain wet for a long, long time.
Can
you see where this is going? You have an organic food source.
Moisture content above 16% for weeks or months. Warm
temperature. Minimal air flow. That’s right! You’ve got
ideal growing conditions for mold beneath your wood flooring. Does this mean that every
wood floor that gets wet will have mold growth? Absolutely not.
But these conditions are about as good as it gets for microbial
growth.
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MANAGING THE RISK
In
the end, it comes down to managing the risk. Restoration
professionals have a duty to preserve the structure and minimize
the potential for mold growth. Floor drying systems may or may
not save the wood flooring, but they will quickly return the
structure to a safe moisture level. The cost of quickly drying
water damaged flooring is a fraction of the cost of mold
remediation and flooring replacement. Something that benefits
all interested parties. |
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HydroLab Trained & Certified | IICRC Certified
| Dewald Drying Institute Certified |
Vortex Drying Certified |
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