Drilling to the Root Cause: Why SERVPRO Uses Drills to Help Your Water Damaged Tallahassee Home Dry

1/31/2019 (Permalink)

This ceiling has water damage. Call SERVPRO to safely remove the water and restore the ceiling.

Why SERVPRO Uses a Drill during Water Damage Mitigation and Restoration in Tallahassee

Just like the fire department's habit of making holes in a burning Tallahassee home's exterior makes little sense at first, some of SERVPRO's techniques might seem excessively aggressive. However, we do precisely what industry standards require.  

So, why does SERVPRO use a drill when mitigating water damage in Tallahassee? We do this for two reasons. Water can drain from small weep holes made in the area behind baseboards once we remove them, and also from ceilings that hold water. The other reason is to allow our air movers to push air into wall cavities and other enclosed spaces and then exit out another hole. Unless we drill small holes to allow for air movement that would otherwise remain stagnant, mold can begin growing while wallboard continues to deteriorate.  

When we drill holes into different places of your home, we always use the smallest sized bit possible. For weep holes in ceilings, we use very tiny bits that make almost imperceptible holes. We keep this series of holes in a line, so it becomes unlikely to miss individual ones when sealing them. Once dry, they might seem more significant because swelling diminishes, but patching them is something still very quickly done.  

Allowing water to drain out of walls requires a series of holes, also, and we drill these slightly above the floor, and when possible, behind recently removed baseboards. To keep from marring the wall, we use a thin board, so our tools do not damage anything as we pry the baseboard loose and away from the wall's lower portion. Once drained of excess water, we replace the baseboard, making it “Like it never even happened.”  

More massive holes get drilled to let forced air into enclosed spaces where trapped water has mostly drained away, but moisture remains. We can detect hidden moisture with our moisture meters and then tackle these areas. We want to remove all the lost water before it can cause water damage to your home. Drills become an essential tool for our work, and without them, many damp areas of your home would remain inaccessible to us.

SERVPRO of North Leon County uses drills and other tools to mitigate water damage from homes in Centerville and Killearn, as well as those around FSU and Lake Lamonia. Call us at (850) 536-6599, and we can help get your home restored to its preloss condition.

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