Necessary Technologies That Help Raleigh Homes with Water Damage

4/17/2023 (Permalink)

After a water intrusion occurs, you can trust that your Raleigh home is in good hands with our experienced technicians at SERVPRO.

SERVPRO Helps When Raleigh Homes Need Water Restoration

Moisture intrusion may not seem like a severe issue since leaks often happen. Depending on the amount of water involved and the lead time before discovery, wetness can trigger severe structural deterioration at your Raleigh property. The best way to respond to severe incidents is to involve a professional water damage restorer who can use advanced technologies to counter the problems.

When someone mentions technology usage in Raleigh homes with water damage, it is easy to imagine big machines that may require special operation and transportation to your property. However, restoration technologies can be pocket-sized and still pack a significant punch that changes the course of water remediation processes. The trick is to know them and understand how to utilize them in the restoration process. Our SERVPRO crews are well equipped and fully trained on how to handle the tools to deliver quality outcomes.

Moisture location and management resources:

• Infrared cameras
• Moisture meters
• Dehumidifiers

Locating moisture is a crucial weapon in fighting structural deterioration after water leaks. You may need to find a hidden leak source or moisture migration patterns since absorption, wicking, and evaporation transport moisture far after the initial exposure. Such movement means you might take significant action to extract and dry the visible water, only to face challenges because of the hidden moisture traces.

When the moisture is hidden or absorbed by materials, there is no easy way to make observations and derive conclusions. However, technology eases things by using other metrics for such evaluations. Electrical conductivity is one such metric and requires equipment with two penetrative probes. After driving the probes into a material, the conductivity rate between the probes helps establish the moisture content. Our SERVPRO technicians use penetrative moisture meters driven into wood, drywall, and other materials to take readings. The probes are insulated, leaving only the tips bare, thus allowing the meter to take readings of different layers separately. The second option relies on temperature differences since wet areas tend to be colder. Thermal cameras rely on this metric.

How Reliable are Water Restoration Technologies

Technology is only as adequate as the mastery level of the operator. Knowing where to use a specific tool and how to interpret the readings it produces is a basic skill. For example, our SERVPRO IICRC-Certified technicians know that natural wood contains some moisture content, so we do not expect a moisture meter to return a zero reading. We also check the material to ensure the chosen tool is appropriate and thus not likely to cause physical damage. For example, we can opt for non-penetrative moisture meters to evaluate vulnerable or hard materials such as tiles.

Preparing the equipment before use is essential for maximum effectiveness. Checking whether the tool is calibrated for the material you want to evaluate is vital. Moisture meters can be calibrated for wood or drywall, affecting the readings. Taking readings of known dry areas before proceeding to the wet areas can help you confirm the tools are functional. Finally, you should know that a fully functioning device can present false readings if extraneous factors interfere. Thermal cameras are particularly vulnerable to such interference.

Likely sources of interference:

• Warm and cold air movement
• Shadows and sunlight
• Indoor air conditioning

SERVPRO of East Raleigh / Zebulon ensures you reap maximum benefits from various water restoration technologies by providing tools and trained technicians to operate them. You can reach us at (919) 250-0455 for timely assistance. We're Faster To Any Size Disaster.