DIY Mild Water Damage Restoration

Posted by Robert on the 3rd of March, 2005 at 2:33 AM GMT0. Permalink.
Tags: Home Improvement

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Interlude

Our water heater developed a leak several weeks ago. It first manifested itself as a small wet spot in front of the bathroom door. I thought someone had dried off too close to the door, or maybe stood there wet for some reason. After a few days of it being wet, I figured that unnatural amount of rain we were getting was causing the wet spot. That theory seemed confirmed when the wet spot started to dry up when the rain quit for a week. Then, a few days ago, the wet spot quickly took over the hallway and part of the living room. We called the landlord, and the landlord sent a plumber. The plumber said our water heater was leaking. So, we got a new water heater this morning to replace the busted one.

The following DIY is based on observation of my personal condition. I am not offering professional advice. I am not a water damage restoration professional, and do not take responsibility for how you use this information! It's always a good idea to hire a professional if the situation warrants.

How to Clean up Mild Water Damage / DIY Mild Water Damage Restoration

The conditions of our problem were probably optimal. The leak had only been really bad for a few days. The water was clean water from a water heater, not sewage water. We had done a pretty good job about keeping the standing water to a minimum with a wet dry vac (pulling well over 5 gallons of water a day out of the carpet). So, the damage was pretty minimal. There was no wood rot! The water was only down 3 - 4 days. The carpet sits on a concrete foundation, so no wood flooring would be wet. All in all, we were pretty lucky.

The restoration people quoted us somewhere between 800 and 900 dollars. My landlord talked them down to $650. Either way, still pretty expensive for the work done.

What you'll need:

1. At least one Air Mover (henceforth called a fan), which can be had for less than $300 (I can't find a rental price). You may need more if the water covered a large area.
2. A high power dehumidifier, which can be had for $2,200, or rented for a week for less than $50.
3. Nondestructive Drywall Moisture Meter, which costs about $350.
4. A drill and drill bit capable of penetrating drywall, and knowledge of how to use it.
5. A Stud-finder, which starts at around $20.
6. Box cutter.
7. Claw Hammer.
8. Replacement carpet mat if damage occurred on carpeted floor.
9. Spackle and related tools.
10. Misc replacement nails / staples and tools.
11. A decent wet / dry vac.
12. Trash bags.
13. An utter lack or regard for your house.

First, survey the damage. This is pretty easy. You'll first need to determine the area of the floor that is wet. Any area that the is wet has wet floor mats. The wet floor mats will need to be removed to dry the carpet. For the second part, you need to measure the walls for moisture. This is an easy process if you have the moisture meter from above. You simply place the meter on the wall around the affected area. The meter will alert you if there is moisture in the walls.

Once you know the area of damage, it's time to start tearing things apart. First, you'll need to remove your base boards to help with the removal of the carpet. Once that is done, you should find either existing seams in the carpet or create your own in convenient places (such as door ways) with the box cutter. Once that is done, roll the wet carpet off of the wet mats. If the area is large enough, you will be able to remove entire carpet mat sheets. If you have the room to remove entire sheets, this will make the job easier. If not, cut them with the box cutter and remove the sections. Throw the wet mats into a trash bag.

Once the wet mats are out, roll the carpet back and turn a fan on. It will take about 72 hours to dry the carpet. You'll need to move the fan around once areas dry. Use the wet / dry vac to pull and excess water out of the carpet.

After the fans are in place, drill 2 inch holes in between studs about 6 inches from the ground in the walls were moisture was detected. It may help to position your fan such that air blows into these holes. The drilled holes will allow moisture to escape, ensuring that mold does not grow in the walls.

Next, you'll need to position the dehumidifier. In our case, the most moisture was in the closet where the water heater sat. If the damage was mainly in one room, leave the dehumidifier in that room. Follow the directions on the dehumidifier for proper operation.

At this point, you can start cleaning up and disposing of trash. Over the next 72 hours, you'll need to check the carpet and adjust the fans accordingly for best drying.

In 72 hours, run through the same checks as you did to survey the damage. If signs of moisture are still present, keep the setup running for another few days. If the signs don't seem to change, you may have a bigger problem and should find a specialist.

If the signs are gone, you can put up the fans and humidifier and begin the repair work.

Fill the holes in the wall, sand them, and paint them. Replace the carpet mats (this may or may not be easy, depending on if you removed mat sections or cut out the wet areas), and tack the carpet back down. Finally, replace the base boards.

If all went well, the restoration is successful. A healthy tip would be to call a mold detection guy before fixing the holes in the walls just to be safe.

If you play your cards right (i.e. rent as much as possible), you could do this yourself for 1/2 of what it costs to pay someone.

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Comments:

1. Untitled

   by Jeremy on the 3rd of March, 2005 at 7:27 AM GMT0. Permalink.

   yeah... you want to really make sure you don't develop any mold or mildew... that can cause some pretty serious health problems for some people

   I'm pretty sure you can get a dehumidifier a lot cheaper than that. the lady I'm working for has one that she runs constantly in her basement and I'd be throughly surprised if it cost more then $300-500.

   anyhow... here's my summary of your write-up: replace all the damaged stuff and get all the water out.

2. Untitled

   by Paul on the 3rd of March, 2005 at 8:20 PM GMT0. Permalink.

   You're working? What are you doing for this lady?

3. Dehumidifier

   by Stephen on the 7th of March, 2005 at 11:09 AM GMT0. Permalink.

   Had the same thing happen to us not to long ago. Followed somewhat the same steps, save drilling in the walls and checking for mold. Guess we should do that now. As for the dehumidifier, we had a window unit AC in the basement that we took out, placed in the damaged room, and connected a hose that lead to a large bucket to the drain of the AC. The way a dehumidifier works is almost identical to an AC unit. So, if you have an AC unit, you could temp use it for a dehumidifier. It worked great.

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