No home or business owner wants to deal with the effects of water damage to their structure. Yet, according to statistics cited by waterdamagedefense.com, “14,000 people in the U.S. experience a water damage emergency at home or work each day.”
The sources of these water damage emergencies can vary, but common sources include:
- Leaking/burst pipes
- Floods/severe storms
- Clogged drains
- Appliance leaks
- Snow melt
Each of these water intrusion sources affect the severity and pattern of water damage in a structure, presenting unique challenges for water damage restoration companies to overcome.
No matter the source and severity of the water damage, home and business owners expect high-quality, verifiable work from restoration professionals. Being able to guarantee high work quality, and track the necessity of every dollar spent on the restoration job, is critical for modern water damage restoration companies to function.
This is where restoration moisture meters come into play. These helpful devices help restoration companies track down excess moisture in a structure, helping to guide restoration dry-out efforts.
How can restoration professionals use moisture meters for restoration jobs? Here are a few examples:
1: Identifying Pockets of Moisture
On most major restoration jobs, the origin point of moisture intrusion is pretty easy to spot, especially in grey or black water damage jobs resulting from appliance or toilet leaks. However, finding the exact extent of the damage is difficult in many cases.
Restoration moisture meters make it easy to identify moisture-compromised building materials. Even when the moisture is buried deep in said materials, making it invisible to the naked eye, moisture meters can help spot the moisture pocket.
A common practice is to use a pinless meter to quickly scan a large area for moisture pockets, and then use a pin meter with insulated probes to assess the distribution of moisture throughout building materials.
2: Recording Moisture Levels Throughout a Structure
In many restoration jobs, it’s necessary to provide documentation of the extent of the moisture damage for insurance purposes. With moisture meters, it’s possible to record the %MC of wood and other building materials, guiding the decisions you make for your dry-out activities.
For those rare jobs where a source of moisture intrusion cannot be easily established, tracking %MC values in different rooms and checking moisture distribution can help pinpoint the origin of the excess moisture.
Documentation is often helpful for overcoming insurance company objections to paying for restoration work, which is not only good for your business, it's helpful to clients as well.
3: Verifying That Dry-Out is Complete
When you’ve completed dry-out operations, moisture meters are a necessary tool for verifying that building materials are free of excess moisture. With the data you collect after a job is done, you can reassure home and business owners that their structures are safe from further moisture damage.
If a pocket of moisture was missed on the initial dry-out, moisture meters can help you spot it so you can remediate it ASAP. This helps you prevent quality complaints and callbacks later on.
Overall, moisture meters for restoration are indispensable quality control tools for restoration companies all across America. Just be sure to get the right meter for the job!
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