Hi Folks, I have had a pin hole in the rising main in the attic, which has soaked through the house and was discovered this weekend upon the return home after three weeks away. All soggy items have been removed and three dehumidifiers installed. There is bowing of the floor boards. Should I heat the house to vapourise the moisture and help drying or just dehumidify? TIA Andy.
I would be inclined to get intouch with the insurrance company pretty pronto and ask their surveryors to give advice. Pressumably you will want to make a claim...!
On 10 Sep, 00:34, snipped-for-privacy@breathe.com wrote:
Dear Andy There is a considerable body of literature on the subject of flooded buildings from the BRE and DOE. It is worth reading. I am on site so cannot at once cite the titles but will look for them next weekend if you so wish and send me a personal email reminder. De-humidification REQUIRES heat to replace the latent heat of evaporation which cools down the building making the dehumidification less efficient. It is a matter of balance. FWIIW my advice is to dehumidify at night and dry "naturally" during the day in good weather. Dehumidification requires you to seal all the rooms being dried so the opposite of the day time procedure! What I would advise is that when you are requested to "sign off" by the insurance company that you do not sign "in full and final settlement" but allow for the contingency of latent dry rot. I have many many times come across flooded buildings where the unwitting owner has been paid for getting work done to dry out and 18 months later out comes the dry rot and it is not covered! Better is to dry out those interstices that are at risk that most builders can't reach (just like the lager!) by doing the drying job properly. This means a proper assessment of the location and quantum of the water in the masonry and eliminating timber/masonry contact where possible and where not (such as timber lintels) ensuring all the water is out. I recommend to my clients some accurate mensuration of the volume of water taken out per day, the temperature and the ~RH.
tip - when you think you are done leave it all for a week and then start again and see if you get another large volume of water. If so you are getting migration of water from parts that the dehumidifer has not reached and need to carry on.... Chris
Having gone through the summer flood myself, believe me I understand your situation. In fact, the builders are due to start the renovation work this morning.
Anyway, in answer to your question no. We were advised to let the house dry out naturally (with the aid of fans & dehumidifiers). Apparantly, if you put any heating in/on the house will dry out too quickly & it would create even more problems.
Don.
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