Water Damage Advice
Be Informed And Make Wise Choices
When you have had water or sewer damage your home, you are emotional and vulnerable. You want the damage corrected as quickly as possible and rightly so! But slow down for a moment. You are going to be investing a lot of trust in the company that you have brought in to complete the restorative work in your home. You need to make sure that they are able to work with you in such a way as to help you effectively meet your goals.
The science of restorative drying has been developing exponentially over the last number of years. What was true three years ago may be inapplicable today. Keeping up with the 'best practices' within the profession requires continual upgrading and training. It is critical for you as a homeowner to ask informed questions that will enhance your ability to get the best service possible and reduce the chances of having secondary damage such as mold.
We recognize that you are under time pressure to make a decision and so we hope to use this website as a resource you can depend on to get quick information that will help you choose wisely when calling a restoration company in to respond to the water crisis you are facing.
There are fundamental questions you should ask a restoration company which will potentially come into your home to return it to a pre-loss condition.
- The first should be their training, certification and experience as a Water Restoration Technician, preferably with current certification in Applied Structural Drying.
- If they pass this test, you will need to know how they are going to answer and document the "Four Knows of Drying." What are the "Four Knows of Drying?" Read further.
"The success of each and every decision made during the restorative drying process depends on the information upon which the decision was based. The process of restorative drying involves a continuous cycle of information gathering, interpretation, decision making, validation and adjustment... There are four questions that summarize the information that must be obtained, documented and evaluated throughout the restorative drying process. When left unanswered, these questions are the source of the most common deficiencies in inspection and documentation. The four key questions, or 'knows' of drying are:
- What's Wet?
- How Wet Is It?
- Is It Drying?
- Is It Done?
Inspection, monitoring and documentation answer these four questions. A gap in this process will result in improper drying, additional water damage, and compromised cleanliness and integrity. Proper instruments and tools are a key ingredient to successful completion in the drying process.
Developments in technology, science, education and practice have all changed the landscape of the restoration drying industry. In particular, instrumentation technology has greatly advanced, offering more and better features for evaluating "What's wet" and "How wet it is." Ultimately, this has led to an increase in liability for those who have not kept up to date with current instrumentation technologies and changes in industry standards and procedures. The long-term effects of improper drying have become an area of interest to many attorneys across North America."
(New Guide to Restorative Drying, Dri-Eaz Education Series, pages 18-19)
PLEASE PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT and chose a certified company that can meet the demands of today's restoration industry.
