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As an IICRC Approved Instructor, one of the courses I most enjoy teaching is Water Damage Restoration Technician (WRT). During this 3-day class I start with the basic principles of drying water damaged structures. The 4 basic principles are as follows:

1. Removal: The first job is to remove as much water as possible. We employ extraction, mopping, pumping, wiping, use of squeegees, etc to accomplish this part of the project. Meticulous water removal is critical to decrease overall drying time. It is estimated that proper detailed extraction can decrease the time it will take to dry a structure by as much as 20 to 30 percent.
2. Evaporation: Since the rate of evaporation determines the time it will take to dry, our goal is to maximize evaporation of trapped moisture out of structural materials. Generally, we assist evaporation using airflow with air movers. Additionally, specialized equipment may be employed to provide airflow into wall cavities, under flooring, behind and under cabinets and into other hard-to-reach areas.
3. Dehumidification: Evaporated moisture from wet materials must to be removed from the air in order to allow for continued evaporation and to reduce the potential for secondary damage. The most common way to do this is with dehumidifiers. There are a variety of types and sizes of dehumidifiers. All are designed to remove water vapor from the air.
   
   Another less common method of dehumidification is called "open drying". As the name suggests, the structure is opened, and drier outdoor air is used to replace humid indoor air. This method is quite effective, but is used less frequently due to security issues, outdoor temperature and humidity extremes, concerns of energy loss and comfort of workers and occupants.
4. Temperature Control: This may be the most misunderstood and underappreciated aspect of structural drying. Historically, our primary concern is centered on maintaining the air temperature at 72-78 degrees to encourage evaporation and avoid condensation. Since 80 degrees is optimal for microbial growth, we generally try to stay below that temperature. Most often, we use the heating/cooling system of the structure to control air temperature. Where this is not feasible, portable heating/cooling equipment may be utilized.

Temperature plays a critical role in drying for several reasons. First, as you increase the temperature of air, you also increase its capacity to hold moisture. For example, air can hold about twice as much water vapor if you heat it from 60 to 80 degrees. This allows it to absorb more evaporated moisture from building materials.

In addition, heating the air increases the temperature of wet structural materials. Heat the material, and you heat the water trapped within it. By heating the trapped moisture, you increase its rate of evaporation, thus accelerating the drying process.

Everyone knows that heat makes water evaporate quickly. Although obvious, this principle is rarely put to use when discussing conventional drying systems. The following example demonstrates the sheer evaporative power of heat. On a hot sunny day, the temperature of the sidewalk is 125 degrees or more. If you pour a cup of water on the concrete, it will evaporate in minutes. Pour a cup of water on the same concrete at night, and it could take hours to dry, even if the air temperature is the same. Why? It's because the high temperature of the concrete has much more of an effect on the water than air temperature does.

So how can you take advantage of this principle in a structural drying job? First you have to find a way to get the heat directly to the water that is trapped in the materials. Just as a hot sidewalk causes rapid drying, heating structural materials accelerates evaporation of trapped water.

Heating the air in the structure is one way to do this. You could employ a large heating system and increase the air temperature to over 120 degrees. But this requires massive amounts of energy, and the environment would be unbearable for workers and occupants.

Then there is the problem of getting the heat to the materials that are wet. Since hot air rises and water tends to flow downward, the hottest air is at the ceiling but the wettest materials are usually at or near the floor.

You could use air movers and fans to circulate the heat downward, but you are still wasting a great deal of energy and effort to get hot air to the wettest materials. Much of the heat energy is wasted in areas where it is usually not needed such as the ceiling and upper portions of walls.

But what if you concentrate the hot air directly on the wettest materials such as the bottom portions of walls, flooring materials, baseboards, sill plates and even subfloors? Raising the temperature of these structural components would dramatically increase the rate of evaporation and decrease overall drying time. The key then, is to direct the hot air and contain it where it is needed most to increase the temperature of the wettest materials.

How can you do this?

TES (Thermal Energy System) from Bridgepoint Systems is one answer.

TES is designed to direct hot airflow directly to the wettest building materials using exclusive patented technology and design. Whether the floor is carpet, carpet over pad, hardwood, tile or even concrete, E-TES meets the demand of delivering heat and airflow I to the trapped water.

But floors are not all. E-TES, properly applied, works on walls, baseboards, cabinets, crawlspaces, and other difficult to dry areas. The result is your jobs are "Desert Dry in Record Time." What makes it even more amazing is that properly applied, E-TES drastically reduces the amount of equipment need to achieve drying in record time. Yet, because of how it is categorized in restoration software, you make the same amount of money as you would using more equipment for a longer period. Everybody wins. Insurer, Insured and YOU...

Bruce DeLoatch is an IICRC Approved Instructor, Master Textile Cleaner, Master Water Restorer and Master Fire and Smoke Restorer. He is President of The Cleaner's Coach, an education and consulting firm dedicated to the cleaning and restoration industry. You can email him at bruce@cleanerscoach.com or you can also email John Otero - Director of TES Sales at john.otero@tesdryingsystem.com or call him at 727-657-1567 or 800-948-1754.

To view the complete calendar of events, visit us online at
http://www.tesdryingsystem.com/events.html

You may also contact the tes hotline at (800) 948-1754.