how long is it taking for you to dry hardwood floors??

[steve g]

here is a pic of a job I did a couple months back, this floor was barely cupped and had some dark water staining toward the ends of each plank, 3 days later the floor looked like it did before the water loss.

a job I just finished however the floor was much more severely cupped I would guess the water had been on it at least a day before I got there, I had a similar setup to the job in the picture however I ran the exhaust of the driforce machine back under the tent as it had about a 120degree exhaust, the house was vacant so I could do what I wanted, I ran the inside of the house from 90-100 degrees during the drying, the containment was about 110 degrees inside it, anyways it took 8 days to get the floor looking decent again, is this normal?? and if so are you guys billing the insurance for all 8 days of the equipment rental? I was running grain readings most of the time in the mid 30's, should it have taken this long.

 

["The" Al Bradham]

The main problem was with the exhaust. You put the moist air that the machine was pulling out of the wood floors and put it back into the tent. Heat is not a bad thing IF used properly but don't use the exhaust. You used hot wet air you need hot dry air.

Another issue could be the temp of the house. If that dehu is not a max HT then at 100 degrees it stopped working.

 

[steve g]

yeah I know what you are saying however keep in mind the dehu was blowing fresh dry air under the tent on the other side, so it was still circulating dry air, I checked the exhaust of the driforce, and I was still in the low to mid 40's with grain readings on it, mix that in with some mid 30 grain dehu output air along with temps in the 110 area and you should have one hell of a drying recipe,

 

["The" Al Bradham]

What find of wood floor? Was it a TRUE wood 3/4" nail down or some type of engineered wood? What was under them?

It is hard to tell in the picture, did you have the panels taped down?

I always dry my wood floors with a desiccant dehu. Plenty of hot DRY air.

Al Bradham
Carpet Care Services & DisasterCare
Called To Care...
843-693-1300 Mobile

 

[steve g]

the pic was of another job, just showing the layout, it was a plain ole oak 3/4 naildown floor over OSB subfloor

 

[Craig Lindquist]

Throw grains out the window. The only use for grains in modern restoration is to determine dehumidifier performance, and with GPP readings in the 30's you are going to have dew points in the 30's which mean the even the best LGR will be operating at minimal performance at best.

The most determining factor in drying is vapor pressure differential. Hot Dry Airflow to the moisture.
What was the substrate?
What was the spacing of the mats?
What was the temperature of the affected surface?
What was the temperature of the air above the surface in the direct containment and in the regional containment?
What was the RH% in the drierct and regional containment areas.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Some dry in a couple of days but most are in the 3-4 days range for completion. Do you have enough panels?

Did you check for suction on each panel? If the aren't pulling down then you're not getting enough suction to do the job.

Maybe the Dryforce doesn't have as much suction as the injectidry unit?

On the original question, 8-days is a little long. What's the adjuster like, if it's some one you have a relationship with you can explain how soaked this one was in comparison to most others, Then you could give him a small break.

If it seems like it's too much to you, then you know it will seem like to much to them.

I personally would be happy with 4-5 days and might waive the rest??? Depends on how much work I had in it.

"You can shear a sheep many times, but only skin him once."

 

[steve g]

Some dry in a couple of days but most are in the 3-4 days range for completion. Do you have enough panels?

Did you check for suction on each panel? If the aren't pulling down then you're not getting enough suction to do the job.

Maybe the Dryforce doesn't have as much suction as the injectidry unit?

On the original question, 8-days is a little long. What's the adjuster like, if it's some one you have a relationship with you can explain how soaked this one was in comparison to most others, Then you could give him a small break.

If it seems like it's too much to you, then you know it will seem like to much to them.

I personally would be happy with 4-5 days and might waive the rest??? Depends on how much work I had in it.

"You can shear a sheep many times, but only skin him once."

I am thinking of just going with 5 days on the equipment, yes the driforce has less power than the injectidry, I was using all the panels that came with the kit, and it doesn't seem like there is much suck going to each one, I also taped down the panels however I don't think they needed it. come to think of it on the job in the picture I didn't use all the panels, maybe I am just not getting enough suck to the panels

 

[Desk Jockey]

I think 5-days still sounds reasonable to me.

If you've got suction and heat it may cut half the time off your drying.

 

[steve g]

you guys that are using desicants, I see drieaz has the dritec 150 that looks like it would be great for the jobs I have done, however it only puts out 85 CFM this doesn't sound like enough to inflate the containment, if you end up using an air mover to do it, then you are diluting the dry air in the containment, so what is the best way to use a small dessicant like this??

 

[Desk Jockey]

I think desiccants are slow, unless you have the big iron that Al has.

We had 6-Dritec 325's years ago, we slowly sold them off and kept a few just case we ever need one. Haven't had a desiccant on the job for several years.

I would think it would still get it done with 85CFM.