Water Heater Flooded basement.

[fitz19d]

Dehumidifier a couple days likely with the 30g/day dehumidifiers or plan on like a week of running them?

[fitz19d]

Thanks, think I've got stuff on have except for the fancy dehumidifier and specially fans.

[Wulf202]

I also got this advice.

You can actually use the cold outside air to your advantage. If you open the window and pump the room full of the cold dry air, then close the windows and heat the area with a space heater, the cold dry air become even dryer. So you may have to do a few cycles like that to exchange the air, heat it up, then swap it out for fresh air again. Warm air holds more moisture than cold air.


Any good? I have a large window overlooking flooded carpet. Will be getting an extra home Depot fan and dehumidifier but well-versed if that strategy night be good for dinner a good chunk of ambient humidity quick before buttoning up and letting the tools so their work.

The current humidity is listed at 50%. With typical 'dry' humidity being 15% so as of this time it's absolutely the wrong thing to do.

I'm not trying to be a jerk but, follow my advice from many years experience or pay someone lots of money to do exactly what I've listed or risk a moldy basement. At one time I ran crews doing multiple floods and trained many of them myself.

I should have some time tomorrow to stop by if you want me to.

[Wulf202]

Dehumidifier a couple days likely with the 30g/day dehumidifiers or plan on like a week of running them?

You should plan on 3 days if you don't have hygrometers. Continually check with a moisture meter and move fans to the area also reduce the square footage to only the effected areas even tent it off it it's one wall of a big room. Electric heaters or forced air. Do not use fuel based heaters, their byproducts are humidity.

After three days there's no point and you're into mold remediation where dehumidifier will spread spores.

You're on the clock...

[Irving]

If you get a moisture meter, use the reading on a dry wall in the basement that is as far from the water as possible as a baseline to see what your moisture goal will be.

Wulf is giving you good advice for mitigation.

[Great-Kazoo]

Should I space heater the room for warmth and the fans. Or am I better off despite the cold opening basement windows w/ fans to allow the cold but dry outside air in/out?


Awesome part is I have to report to work in greeley for like 15mins until relief arrives then come back home. Irks me I can get an emergency call and be somewhere with 10 mins prep + travel vs others seem to need like 3 hours to get their asses in gear.

Dehumidifier and Fans, high volume ones. Space heater creates condensation

[fitz19d]

When I mentioned a heater, it's a higher amp big 5 foot like floor heater. So not fuel based. So I'll run that(?) and crank the heat up and then what just cycle the a/c down to 60 and run it cycles of that back and forth since mine isn't fancy enough to do both?

Wulf, I knew you had the best laid out reply and always in other threads had some of the best info, and I'm aiming to stick to that as best I can. Just some of these smaller questions pop up from not understanding some of the underlying science etc. I'm not sure you really want to come down to hwy 52 and i25 or not from Greeley. I get off work in Greeley early tommorow at 330 and home at 430 ish.

[thedave1164]

ewwww, Hwy 52 is the debil

[Irving]

Removing as much wet material as possible will help as well. For example, the carpet pad is done, so get it all the way out of the basement, and not just in another room. If you can tell that the bottom of your drywall has wicked up enough water to be beyond repair, might as well flood cut the affected area asap. All that is just less and less that you have to dry out in the end.

[buffalobo]

As Wulf says, time is critical. Our disaster restoration crew is all hands on deck the first 24 hours to get water out and drying started. They keep adding equipment until absolutely sure will be "dry" before 72hrs.

If you're unarmed, you are a victim