Questions for you WDR Guys

[Hoody]

As long as the ceiling isn't hanging and a safety issue, how often are you able to save them ?

Drywall around a window framing, do you use direct heat to dry, or do you not have good results trying to dry.

Drywall that is flush with wood, can you dry it, or do you need to have a gap to get hot dry air between to two to dry out ?

I will start with these.

 

[Desk Jockey]

1. Most of the time, but sometimes the contractor will tear it out after it's dry. :x No reason to do so, other than he makes more to rip out and put back than to repaint.

2. Depends where the water came from and severity. Did it just run down the exterior or did it affect the interior? Drywall around the frame is tough, we have used injectidry, but many times if it has trouble drying we will remove the drywall.

3. In general if there is no air movement then it won't dry. However energy (heat) to the moisture can do some amazing things, but I would make no promises, just test and see.

 

[topnotchman]

I've seen guys dry a room out that the water came from above and just dried it with dehumidification and air movement. How is this working, what about the insulation above, etc? How are you testing is, drilling some holes to verify with a penetrating meter? Relying on the non penetrating? I haven't done too many ceilings, the ones I did were bad enough to have to tear out. I thought I read in the S500 that if its too saturated to just tear it down.

 

[Hoody]

I've only been able to save a few ceiling.... and I think the effort I put into it, it would have been cheaper to just remove the saturated part, but the insurance didn't mind.

I had to remove the wet insulation by access of an attic. And then a staples visqueen to the rafters to create a barrier, but put a 1 foot 2x4 to create a tent. I used an E-Tes, and some plastic and moved the hot air into the barrier I created, and then pulled it out with the input of the dehu. It ended up drying.

I thought it was just me that was having issues drying drywall that is flush with the wood and window frames. But I see now that it is hit and miss even when theres heat involved.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I've only been able to save a few ceiling.... and I think the effort I put into it, it would have been cheaper to just remove the saturated part, but the insurance didn't mind.

Again it depends on how wet we are talking, saturation with insulation, pull it all down or at least enough to get out the wet materials.

The tricky part about ceilings is you don't always see signs of water, no rings or dripping. Without a Thermal to point you towards cooler areas that shouldn't be there you can get fooled as to what is really dry.

I thought it was just me that was having issues drying drywall that is flush with the wood and window frames. But I see now that it is hit and miss even when theres heat involved.

Not as easy as it seems it should be, those are difficult areas to dry, as is the area around a door frame when saturated. We usually won't pull it the first day but it is definitely a consideration from then on if we don't see improvement. Same deal if you can't pass dry air in and out of there then it's going to be difficult to dry. Those are areas designed NOT to allow air to pass in and out of, so it only makes sense it will be a problem.

Cost effective has to always be at the back of your mind too. You can dry a lot of materials without need for removal but if it's going to cost more to do so then it will be hard to defend to the homeowner and adjuster as to why you did so.

 

[steve g]

one of the tuff things to dry is exterior walls if water ran down them from the top, because you usually have a visqueen moisture barrier right next to the drywall and then fire blocking which prevents getting air through holes at the bottom. IMO this is a rip out scenerio. headers above windows are also a difficult area, since its a window its likely to have insulation up there, the best bet is to make and opening above the window are tear it totally out so air can get up there. if its an interior wall that has OSB or stacked framing right behind the drywall and you are confident no insulation is behind it, I usually break out the perforation roller.

insulated ceilings really should just be pulled I have many times seen them test dry only to find spots of wet insulation above, believe me I HATE demoing anything, its time consuming, dirty and doesn't pay for shit. I have good luck drying non insulated ceilings, I have also used lay flat duct and taped it around an air mover put into the ceiling via a square hole and forced air up there, that works great too, not only does demo not pay very well, replacing the sheetrock doesn't pay either, I break even on sheetrock replacement.

the etes is a great tool however I only feel good using it in situations where it would suck replacing the item, case in point a sparkled popcorn ceiling area, that was furred down with 60's paneling on the sides that matched the entire basement, conventional drying I would have had to tear that stuff out, dealt with asbestos ceiling, and paneling that was long since out of production, again had to match what was in the entire basement. instead the etes dried it all out.

sometimes if I am not sure how something will dry I do what I think will dry it and if its still wet after 4 days of my best efforts it gets yanked, I also think the injectidry does not dry as good as just putting 1" holes behind where the base was and placing an air mover every 12 feet of wall space.

 

[Desk Jockey]

sometimes if I am not sure how something will dry I do what I think will dry it and if its still wet after 4 days of my best efforts it gets yanked, I also think the injectidry does not dry as good as just putting 1" holes behind where the base was and placing an air mover every 12 feet of wall space.

The Injectidry is slow, the injector size won't compare to the 1-inch hole, that why the airmovers dry faster. However there are times around cabinets and difficult to dry areas that you can suck the moisture out without being very intrusive.

 

[Hoody]

one of the tuff things to dry is exterior walls if water ran down them from the top, because you usually have a visqueen moisture barrier right next to the drywall and then fire blocking which prevents getting air through holes at the bottom. IMO this is a rip out scenerio. headers above windows are also a difficult area, since its a window its likely to have insulation up there, the best bet is to make and opening above the window are tear it totally out so air can get up there. if its an interior wall that has OSB or stacked framing right behind the drywall and you are confident no insulation is behind it, I usually break out the perforation roller.

insulated ceilings really should just be pulled I have many times seen them test dry only to find spots of wet insulation above, believe me I HATE demoing anything, its time consuming, dirty and doesn't pay for shit. I have good luck drying non insulated ceilings, I have also used lay flat duct and taped it around an air mover put into the ceiling via a square hole and forced air up there, that works great too, not only does demo not pay very well, replacing the sheetrock doesn't pay either, I break even on sheetrock replacement.

the etes is a great tool however I only feel good using it in situations where it would suck replacing the item, case in point a sparkled popcorn ceiling area, that was furred down with 60's paneling on the sides that matched the entire basement, conventional drying I would have had to tear that stuff out, dealt with asbestos ceiling, and paneling that was long since out of production, again had to match what was in the entire basement. instead the etes dried it all out.

sometimes if I am not sure how something will dry I do what I think will dry it and if its still wet after 4 days of my best efforts it gets yanked, I also think the injectidry does not dry as good as just putting 1" holes behind where the base was and placing an air mover every 12 feet of wall space.

Steve,

I've had similar experiences. The strange thing is I've found a lot of adjusters requesting more demo, than trying to dry. I've only had one issue with an adjuster here, and that is when I was dealing with a plaster ceiling. I was able to dry it by forcing hot air from a few E-Tes's and it did take 4 days. The age of the plaster would have required an asbestos abatement company to pull the ceiling.

I got quotes from a few companies and showed the adjuster the cost of removal and replacement. He quickly changed his attitude and paid our drying bill with no problems. He is also referring us now.