Documented restoration projects

King tide over a low seawall

1. 01Safety and category assessment first: canal and street water is treated as contaminated, not clean, which changes what can be dried in place and what has to go.
2. 02Moisture map the perimeter with pinless meters and thermal imaging to find the true wet line, which is almost always higher than the visible tide line.
3. 03Extract residual water, then remove the porous materials that cannot be decontaminated — carpet and pad, saturated insulation, particleboard cabinet bases and the lower band of drywall.
4. 04Rinse and flush salvageable assemblies rather than simply drying them, because drying alone leaves chloride behind.
5. 05Apply an EPA-registered antimicrobial and establish a controlled drying environment with LGR dehumidification sized to the space, not to the truck.
6. 06Log psychrometric readings daily until every monitored point holds its dry standard, then re-check for corrosion at fasteners, hardware and equipment terminations.

AC condensate line backs up in a tower unit

1. 01Stop the source, isolate power to affected circuits, and photograph arrival conditions in both units before anything is moved.
2. 02Identify the point of failure clearly, because in a stacked building the source determines whose responsibility the loss is under the declaration.
3. 03Map moisture in both units and in the shared cavity between them — corridor and party-wall wicking is the part people miss.
4. 04Coordinate access, elevator protection, work hours and equipment staging with building management before crews mobilise.
5. 05Dry both units under one documented plan with daily readings, so neither owner is left arguing from a different set of numbers.
6. 06Deliver separate, unit-specific documentation packages so each owner can submit to the right policy.

Cast-iron drain line fails under the slab

1. 01Treat it as black water from the first minute: containment, PPE, and no foot traffic tracking contamination through the rest of the house.
2. 02Bring in a licensed plumber to camera-scope and locate the failure — the pipe repair is their scope, the contamination and drying is ours.
3. 03Remove contaminated porous materials as regulated waste and handle contaminated soil at the slab break-out properly.
4. 04Set negative-air HEPA filtration and full containment so the rest of the home stays clean while the slab is open.
5. 05Apply antimicrobial treatment, then dry the slab, wall bases and cavities under monitored conditions.
6. 06Verify before reconstruction, and treat any growth found under S520 rather than closing the wall over it.

A seasonal home left at 78°F with no dehumidification

1. 01Assess before touching anything: humidity and dew point readings, surface moisture, and where the vapour drive is coming from.
2. 02Set S520 containment with negative air and HEPA filtration around affected areas before any disturbance.
3. 03Remove colonised porous material, HEPA-vacuum and detail-clean the remaining surfaces rather than fogging over the problem.
4. 04Address contents separately — cleaning what can be saved and documenting what cannot.
5. 05Fix the actual cause: dehumidification strategy, AC sizing and run-time behaviour, and any impermeable finish trapping moisture in an exterior masonry wall.
6. 06Recommend independent post-remediation verification by a third-party indoor environmental professional.

Wind-driven rain finds the roof-to-wall joint

1. 01Make the building weather-tight first — tarping and board-up so the next band of rain does not undo the drying.
2. 02Trace the water path with thermal imaging rather than assuming the stain marks the source.
3. 03Document the intrusion point clearly, because wind-driven rain and flood water are handled very differently on the coverage side.
4. 04Open only what has to be opened, dry the wall and ceiling cavities under controlled conditions, and monitor daily.
5. 05Watch insulation and cavity readings specifically — those hold water long after the visible surfaces read dry.
6. 06Photograph the repair path end to end so the file shows cause, scope and completion.

Clean-water break caught in the first hours

1. 01Shut off, extract immediately, and get contents up off wet flooring before they wick.
2. 02Because this is Category 1 clean water caught early, most of the assembly can be dried in place rather than removed.
3. 03Map the full spread — water travels much further under tile and along the slab than the visible edge suggests.
4. 04Set an in-place drying system with LGR dehumidification and targeted air movement, including under-floor drying where the assembly allows.
5. 05Monitor daily and adjust equipment as the readings drop rather than leaving a fixed set for a fixed number of days.
6. 06Close only when every monitored point holds its documented dry standard.