When we are called out to a water loss, we don’t know what we will encounter. There are variables that will affect how we go about bringing the property back to a pre-loss condition. We have many different ways to dry a structure. When we begin to manipulate an environment to speed the drying process, we need to consider the indoor air quality. Think: if I do this procedure, what will that do to the indoor air quality, and what can I do to manage the change? What will the effect be on the technicians’ and occupants’ health and safety, as well as the final clean-up upon completion? Even though this article is about wall and cavity drying, the focus is on the impact on indoor air quality.
There are different ways to dry a wall or wall cavity. Depending on the category and class of water, we will determine how we dry a wall or wall cavity. Is there insulation, and if so, what type is It? Has it compacted and lost its R-value? Did the water come from above or from below? Can it be dried without losing its R-value? Is it keeping the rest of the wall cavity from drying? Or can the wall cavity be dried with the insulation left in place, without the threat of microbial growth? If we open the wall, can we isolate the area past the wall to prevent contaminants from coming in from a different part of the structure? We have to take a lot into account when we triage a water-damaged property. We can drill holes in the wall and put it under positive or negative pressure. We can heat the walls and allow the water vapor to come out without opening the walls. We can perforate the paint on the wall to speed the movement of the water vapor out of the wall material.