RESPONDING TO WATER LOSSES

To protect your building, the health and safety of its occupants, and your wallet, water losses and flooding events require swift action.  Water loss events will lead to significant bacterial and fungal growth if they are not resolved within 24-48 hours.  Knowing what to do before this type of event occurs is crucial to shortening response time. 

Responding to a burst pipe, a large roof leak, sewage back-up, or other type of flood presents a serious challenge.  In these situations, water will oftentimes flow into wall cavities, between floors, and into ventilating systems, causing damage that is hidden from view.  A specialty contractor with appropriate training and the proper equipment is needed to help recover from such losses.   We’ve found that each dollar spent on proper drying efforts will generally save ten dollars in future expenses cleaning up a potential mold problem.  

To save time in responding to a water loss, research and compare drying contractors before an event occurs.  For large water losses in commercial, institutional, healthcare, or multi-family buildings, a water damage/microbial consultant should also be retained to guide and oversee the activities of the drying contractor.   

You can interview drying contractors using the following questions:

QUESTIONS:

1. What are your qualifications for performing this work?

2. How many large projects in our type of building have you successfully resolved? 

3. What moisture measurement instruments do you own?

4. Can you define “specific humidity”, and describe how it is used in structural drying? 

5. How often do you monitor the drying process?

6. What type of calculations do you perform for selecting dehumidification equipment and air movers?  What references do you use as the basis for these calculations?

7. What documentation will you provide during, and at the end of, the drying effort?

ANSWERS:

1. Look for credentials awarded by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), and/or the Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration (ASCR).

2. A minimum of five large projects in your type of facility over the last 3 years. 

3. Moisture meters (pin-probe and radio frequency styles), hygrometers, and thermal imaging cameras are needed to do the job properly.

4. Specific humidity is the weight of water vapor per unit weight of air, typically expressed as grains of water per pound of air (“grains per pound”).  This measurement is determined with a hygrometer, and is used to monitor the effectiveness of the drying process.  A qualified contractor should know this definition – even if you don’t!

5. Large projects must be monitored several times per day.  Small projects must be monitored once per day.

6. The contractor must perform appropriate calculations to determine the size and number of dehumidifiers and air movers (high-volume fans) needed. 

7. The contractor must provide documentation of their activities.  To minimize your future liability, the process must be documented.  Remind them that if it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen.

After a water loss occurs, if the drying contractor is unable to respond within 48 hours, secure the services of a water damage/microbial consultant right away to avoid having a drying contractor potentially distribute microbes throughout the structure.  Again, pre-select such experts prior to an event.  A qualified consultant must have formal education and experience in both microbiology and building physics.

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Question from a past IAQ Brief:

(see: http://www.michaelsengineering.com/Briefs/IAQ5.htm)

My bathroom exhaust fan was vented into the attic, resulting in a dark area of about 15 ft² in size.  The dark areas are fairly light and look nothing like the picture in your article.  Can I clean this myself?  How would I do this?

            - Diane, Oconomowoc

Diane:  Many consultants would refer to guidance by the U.S. EPA entitled “Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings”, and insist that any project over 10 ft² requires a professional remediation company.  However, in our experience, mold growth on attic decking is usually not very dense, nor does it typically produce massive numbers of spores.  As such, our general recommendation is that discolored areas less than 20 ft² can be addressed by many homeowners using detergent water, and following the recommendations for personal protective equipment provided in the same U.S. EPA document.  However, if you feel uncomfortable about performing the work, or if the discoloration is heavy or colors other than black (colors of white and/or green may indicate mold types that exhibit very dense growth patterns), you should contact a water damage/microbial consultant prior to disturbing the area.