The news are full of reports about the flood that already has Southern and Eastern Germany as well as parts of Switzerland, Austria and of the Czech Republic under tight control. For all persons concerned Trotec wants to provide competent know how to make your homes dry and free from any damages as quickly as possible. We are – after the flood of the river Elbe in 2002 and the flood in Denmark in 2011 – flood-tested even beyond the German borders.
Furthermore – and that is really important – we want to explain you what you can do by yourself and when it is besser to ask for an experts advice.
When the worst seems to be over our work just begins. Because even when the water is pumped out of your cellar, carpets and other floor coverings are dry and the moisture damages in the house are not visible anymore long-term damages can become visible by and by. A particularly serious scourge is mould. Even when your walls seem to be dry again they can still be wet in the inside and the carpeted floor can hold the moisture on the bottom side for a quite long time even when it is dry on the top side.
Therefore, react quickly in case of a flood damage because the time factor enormously influences the amount of damage. Even when you have to wait until the water-level in your cellar is fallen and the water is pumped out in the rooms above you should act quickly because especially there the evaporating water causes an exceptionally high humidity that can cause additional, avoidable damages. When the high humidity lasts longer the building structure absorbs it from the air and diverse damages can occur:
- Loss of strength of gypsum based building materials
- Irreversible damages to furniture and inventory
- Loss of the heat and impact-noise insulating characteristics of insulation matials
- Moisture damages to wood (swelling up, discoloration, deformations)
- Mould formation
Proceed professionally!
Only with ventilating you cannot reach a sufficient drying effect because through the flood the humidity lies over 80 per cent. With a fast and targeted use of condensation dryers you can work against the humidity at an early stage. The machines are easy to use, remove moisture and, thus, reduce the humidity to a normal level of about 40 to 60 per cent to protect the building structure against damages through a very high humidity. Furthermore, the room air now is dry enough remove moisture from the masonry to continue the drying of the building structure.
Of course, the same damages can occur in the directly water-affected rooms. Therefore, the water has to be pumped out of those rooms as quickly as possible, too, before you remove sand, mud and clay. You should remove that as long as it is wet because while drying it partially becomes as hard as concrete. In the next step you remove loose objects which saturated themselves with water (carpets, furniture etc.). Also remove loose laid floor coverings quickly to enable the drying of soaked floor constructions. The same applies to wet wallpapers to enable the drying of underlying walls. In the last step the humidity here has to be reduced by using condensation dryers. Then the dry air can remove the moisture from the building structure by and by.
Get professional help if necessary
At this point at the latest you have to consider whether you want to dry your flat or house by yourself or if you need help of an expert. With the condensation dryers you can manage many things alone if only massive structural parts without insulating and hollow layers are affected. But if insulating or hollow layers are soaked the necessary drying process needs to be done by an expert.
Which machines can be used for the dehumidification?
For not directly affected areas small devices with a low power consumption are sufficient. These machines are optimized and very efficient for the use between 15 °C and 20 °C. Some of them are the TTK 30 S and MD 01-10 for room sizes up to 10 m², the MD 02-16, TTK 40 E and TTK 50 E up to 25/30 m², TTK 70 S/TTK 75 S up to 50m² and the MD 05-30 as well as the TTK 100 S for rooms up to a maximum size of 90m².
A little bit different it is in rooms where the water stands, mostly cellars, where the temperature in that season lies under 15 °C and below. There is also the fact, that often the floor, the walls and the ceiling are soaked with water. That means that the surfaces which give water to the room air are much bigger why you need more powerful machines, especially designed for such ambient conditions. The TTK 100 S and the MD 05-30 are, under these circumstances, powerful enough for areas up to about 45 m², the TTK 125 S up to 55m² and the TTK 175 S for rooms up to about 70m².
Trotec Flood Info: To keep you informed in case of damage!
During the next days and weeks we will in detail inform you about the following topics:
- Trotec assists flood victims with expertise
- How long does a dehumidification take?
- Should I rent or buy a drying unit?
- Trotec Flood Info: The right moisture measurement after flood damages
- Trotec Flood Info: When do I need an expert?
- Trotec Flood Info: What to do when mould attacks?
- Trotec Flood Info: How to dry floor insulations
- Trotec Flood Info: What to do against the smell after the flood damage?
- Trotec Flood Info: The main facts about drying units
