Cinder Block

[Desk Jockey]

I have a large cinder block room that has had 6ft of water in it.

The water was pumped out yesterday and we plan on setting a TES unit on it today once we get the debris cleaned up.

What kind of things should we expect?

Will the block retain the water?

Should the paint be stripped off to allow moisture to pass through?

or Will we need to dill the mortar?

The interior block definitely has water, it came from an adjacent crawl space also needs to be dried and we have 2-more TES units to dry it.

Any help would be appreciated. My guys say it will dry fine, but this is a wet one and just looking ahead.

 

[J Scott W]

I don't have your level of experience, Richard, but I will offer comments based on drying a few block walls.

Block walls will hold a lot of moisture. Fortunately, block does not warp, swell or otherwise get dmaged by water. If it takes several days to dry that may not be an issue. Depends on what else is in the surrounding environment.

The paint is often meant to be a mositure barrier, especially in finished basements. So, you may need to perforate or remove the paint if it is a vapor barrier type.

With no vapor barrier, they dry relatively quickly. Much like carpet and pad, they hold a lot of water but also give it up easily - if there is a way for the water to get out.

Scott Warrington

 

[Desk Jockey]

In the past when we've had trouble with drying block walls it's usually non permeable paint that caused us problems!

Once the water was removed, the walls were peeing out streams of water. So we we hoping we could just dry it through the cracks.

But I'm afraid to waste time and money attempting pull it through the block, if it's going to drag the job down.

I think we will have to soda blast it?????

 

[Craig Lindquist]

I would definitley soda blast it to ensure the vapor barrier was removed first. After that, this is an ideal situation for TES.
Install hygro sticks in the concrete to monitor humidity levels.

 

[prodrying]

Richard,

I agree with the above comments. It should dry pretty easily with the moistur barrier removed and the heat from the TES.

 

[Desk Jockey]

A mud bath!
They started out in tyveks, but it's hot and humid here.

Restoration work it's always interesting! :mrgreen:

 

[KeithCo]

Wow!

Post some pics after the dryout.

Thanks.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Keith
They are still there pressure washing tonight, this one may take several days to week to get back together. 8)

 

["The" Al Bradham]

That looks like what we were doing in Iowa. Great money BUT not a lot of fun.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Steve,
There was mud there and I might get dirty! :shock:

I'm here at Chaos Central , we also have 2-fires, one a packout and 2-residential WDR losses today.

Throw in some commercial carpet at the university and sprinkle in a few residential carpet jobs and you're got a Zoo here!

OK, so I ran to Sam's and got them water, Harbor freight for gloves and ran them out lunch.

Dude.......I have to take it easy, it was beginning to feel a lot like work and you know how I hate work! :roll:

 

[Desk Jockey]

The said approx 175,000 gallons of water.

Because the water was removed so quickly, the wall leading to the crawl space now has some structural issues.

Their is actually only 1-painted wall.

At the time I posted I thought all of it was. The rest is ceramic tile.

Monday they will evaluate and see if they want to clean the tile or replace it. It's old but in good shape.

The crawl space was mud but we have 2-TES units drying it and it's actually doing very well after 2-days.

 

[hogjowl]

All I noticed was white and black people in those pictures. No Mexicans.

You got something against your own people? :shock:

 

[Desk Jockey]

Here, Nick Chavez (Dan's son) & Steve Ortega
discuss how to keep Pigs out of the mud!


Happy now?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Yea, most do, plus bonuses, time & half and double time.

You can easliy double your pay in a week like this.

Actually I think we only had 7-of our guys there, the other 15-were temps.

No point killing my people doing grunt work. 8)

 

["The" Al Bradham]

Richard

What kind of floor are you working with here?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Al
It's Concrete.

I do have a question for you, when it has had that much water, now estimated at 250,000 gallons.

How deep would you suggest we dry the dirt to?

3-4 inches? 1-ft?

I don't want to pull out too soon but I also don't want to over charge for drying dirt that would not be an issue for them.

 

["The" Al Bradham]

Richard

We do very little below grade drying here in South Carolina, no basements. In the crawl space you referred to I would dry to about 6” below ground level and install a heavy vapor barrier. Insurance Co. has no problem with that here, cheaper than drying and the customer has something in return, win win. I think my concern would be how much water is behind the block wall and how long it takes to go down.

Stay in touch.

Al Bradham
Carpet Care Services & DisasterCare
843-693-1300

 

[Desk Jockey]

Only one wall is cinder block, it has the crawl space behind it, the rest is actually ceramic tile. It used to be a pool up until 4-years ago....and then this week it temporarily reverted back. ! :mrgreen:

They are going to have an engineer look at it next week, but the feeling is they just want it dry behind, it not removed.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Desk Jockey]

I was going to ask their IH to spec the depth so then no one can claim we kept our equipment there too long.

I wanted to know what everyone one else does.

In most crawl spaces we usually only dry down 3-4 inches but this had far more water that what we normally see.

 

["The" Al Bradham]

Most insurance companies don't like drying dirt. You have to make them understand why you are doing this or have them sign off, if they make you stop. They don't like to sign either.

 

[Desk Jockey]

In this case it's a school district, fortunately they understand the risks involved in not properly drying.

They have already said do what ever it takes, just leave it dry.

But since we have their trust (which took several years to get), we don't want to damage our relationship by trying to take advantage of the situation. Just enough to resolve the issue and I'd be happy.

 

[Curtis Pennington]

Wow...what an intresting sceniro...keep us updated!

 

[harryhides]

If you look carefully at all of those pics, there was only ONE guy that was not covered in mud - pretty sure that was Richard or his Bro.

:mrgreen:

 

[Desk Jockey]

Wrong that was Steve. Dan's had a cold and hasn't been in all week. I haven't been there, just took the pictures off their cameras. Dan's son was there the whole time and my son Gabe went Saturday for the final wash down.

We have good people in place, so I don't have to get dirty, unless I want to. :wink:

 

[Desk Jockey]

He's back today, but now I have his cold....that bastard!

I'll try you remedy tonight Steve!

 

[Desk Jockey]

Today's photo's

 

[lesterj2]

well damm thats a great job...