Structural Drying in Sun City West, AZ
Structural drying is the work of getting a house dry after water has got into it: the slab, the walls, the floors and the ceilings. It is not wiping up water. It is drying the structure itself, all the way through, until the moisture readings say it is dry.
Our promise is simple: we take moisture readings every day, we write them down, and we share them with you and your adjuster, so you can see the numbers fall day by day until the house reaches the dry standard.
The work is measured against the IICRC S500, the industry standard for water damage restoration. That standard is the yardstick. Our readings are the proof.
Dry is a measurement: the dry standard
Dry is a measurement, not a feeling. When we say a house is dry, we mean the moisture readings have reached the dry standard. The dry standard is a reading taken from a dry part of the same house, or from the same material in a dry room. That reading is the target, and the drying is done when the wet readings match it.
A carpet can feel dry while the pad below it is still wet. You can walk across the room and feel nothing, and the pad under the carpet can still be soaked. A wall can feel dry on the surface while the inside is still damp. Touch tells you what the surface feels like. It does not tell you what is wet underneath.
That is why we measure. A moisture meter reads how wet the slab, the drywall and the flooring are, and it reads them in numbers, not in feelings. The numbers decide when the drying is done. If the numbers have not reached the dry standard, the drying is not done, however dry the house feels.
The work is measured against the IICRC S500, the industry standard for water damage restoration. It is the standard that says how water damage should be dried, and how the drying should be checked. We do not claim IICRC certification, and we do not list any certificate numbers. The standard is the yardstick. The readings are the proof.
Our drying plan: air movers, dehumidifiers, containment
Our drying plan starts with the readings. We measure first, then we place the equipment where the readings say it is needed. Fans, which we call air movers, and dehumidifiers go where the wet is, not where they look right. A fan in the wrong room does nothing. A fan in the right place, aimed at the wet wall or the wet floor, does the work.
The science is plain. Warm dry air pulls moisture out of wet materials. The air mover blows warm dry air across the wet wall or the wet floor, and the moisture comes out of the material and into the air. The dehumidifier takes that moisture out of the air, so the air stays dry and keeps pulling. That is the whole drying plan: dry air in, wet air out, day after day, until the readings reach the dry standard.
Containment is used when a room needs to be closed off so the drying air stays where the wet is. We close the doors, and we seal the opening, so the warm dry air works on the wet room and not on the whole house. It is a simple step, and it makes the drying faster, because the dry air is not wasted on rooms that are already dry.
Call SunWest Restoration
Is your house still wet after a leak? Call now and we will talk you through the first steps.
Daily readings and the log you and your insurer see
We take moisture readings every day while the drying runs. The readings are written down, room by room, so there is a log of how wet the house was on the first day, and how wet it is on each day after. The log is the record of the drying, and it is yours to see.
We share the readings with you and your adjuster. The numbers fall day by day, and you can see them fall. The adjuster sees them too, so the claim is built on measurements and photos, not on memory. The log is written in plain words and plain numbers, so you do not need to be a specialist to read it.
The log lists the date, the room, and the reading for each place we measure. It shows the first reading, when the house was at its wettest, and each reading after, so you can see the numbers fall. It also lists the equipment in each room, and the day each room reached the dry standard. The log is yours, and your adjuster’s, and it stays with the job from the first day to the last.
The drying is done when the readings reach the dry standard. That is the rule, and it does not change. A room is not dry because it feels dry, or because the fans have run for a week. It is dry when the readings say it is dry, and the log shows the day it happened.
How long drying takes
It depends on how much is wet and how long it sat. A small area found the same day can dry in a few days. A large area, or a leak that sat for weeks, takes longer, because more of the house is wet, and the wet has had time to soak deep into the slab, the drywall and the flooring. If the leak is a slab leak, our slab leak page explains how it is found and fixed.
The readings decide, not the calendar. We take moisture readings every day, and we dry to a reading against a dry standard. No one can tell you how many days a job will take before the house has been measured. The readings on the first day tell us how wet it is, and the readings on each day after tell us how fast it is drying.
A job that needs three days of drying costs less than a job that needs ten, and a job that needs ten costs less than a job that needs three weeks. That is why the readings matter, and why the log matters. They are the proof of how long the drying took, and they are the proof that it is done.
When walls and insulation must open
Sometimes wet drywall or wet insulation cannot be dried in place and has to come out. Drywall that has soaked through, or insulation that has stayed wet, will not dry to the dry standard, however long the fans run. When that happens, the wet material has to come out, and the wall has to be opened.
We measure first and open only what has to come out. The moisture readings tell us which walls are wet inside and which are dry, so we open the wet ones and leave the dry ones alone. We do not tear out walls on a guess, and we do not open a wall because it looks wet. The readings decide.
What comes out is rebuilt. The drywall, the insulation and the baseboards that had to come out are replaced once the structure is dry, and the rebuild is in the written scope before work starts. Nothing is torn out without a reason, and nothing is rebuilt without being written down first. To read about the full service, from extraction to rebuild, see our water damage restoration page.
Frequently asked questions
These are the three questions we are asked most about structural drying.
How long does structural drying take?
It depends on how much is wet and how long it sat. A small area found the same day can dry in a few days. A large area, or a leak that sat for weeks, takes longer. The readings decide, not the calendar.
How do you know it is dry?
We take moisture readings every day, and we dry to a reading against a dry standard. The job is done when the readings reach the dry standard, and the log shows the day it happened. Dry is a measurement, not a feeling.
Do walls always have to come out?
No. We measure first, and we open only what has to come out. Walls and insulation come out only when they cannot be dried in place. We do not tear out walls on a guess.
Call SunWest Restoration now
Is your house still wet after a leak? Do not wait. Call now and we will talk you through the first steps while we are on our way.