After the Storm

9/4/2018 (Permalink)

Permeance is one of the critical factors that our SERVPRO of Bowling Green and West Lucas County technicians look at when restoring materials after a flood damage following a storm. The property determines the amount of moisture which can pass through a material. Items such as upholstery and carpets are highly porous, which means their permeance is so high. Materials such as vinyl, glass, and plastics have low permeance and absorb little or no water vapor. 
 
Our SERVPRO team also determines whether materials are hygroscopic - whether they can readily absorb and hold moisture from the surrounding air. The good with such materials is that they easily release the vapor when dried properly. Since they have a high permeance factor, they are quickly damaged when exposed to moisture for a long time. We can conclude that materials which easily absorb and release water are more straightforward to dry when compared to those that moisture finds it hard to penetrate. 
 
During the restoration process, our SERVPRO of Bowling Green and West Lucas County technicians dry your items until we reach a condition known as EMC (Equilibrium moisture content). At this condition, there is no moisture moving from wet items to the dry air. To fasten the rate of evaporation, we use air movers to sweep the saturated air from surfaces and replace it with drier air. If the air becomes highly saturated with moisture, we use dehumidifiers to absorb the water vapor. The number of dehumidifiers set up must be in a position to absorb the moisture content that air movers sweep into the surrounding air. We do calculations to achieve that balance. 
 
At SERVPRO of Bowling Green and West Lucas County, we're faster to any size disaster whether it is mold, fire, water, or storm damage related. Call us at 419-353-2300 at any time of the day for a stress-free restoration process.