The Restoration Revolution Podcast

The DIY Disaster: Water Damage Edition

• Chad Mallonee • Episode 21

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Why Is It So Important To Hire A Professional Instead Of The DIY The Solution?

Think your trusty shop vac and a couple of fans are enough to handle water damage in your home? Think again. In this eye-opening episode of Restoration Revolution, host Chad Mallonee pulls back the curtain on why DIY water damage cleanup is one of the riskiest gambles homeowners can take with their biggest investment.

Chad breaks down the dangerous misconception that "feeling dry" equals "being dry" when it comes to water-damaged materials. Without proper equipment and scientific methodology, homeowners leave themselves vulnerable to hidden moisture that creates perfect breeding grounds for harmful microbes. Even clean-looking water can harbor pathogens, and improper cleanup methods can actually aerosolize these contaminants throughout your home, putting your family's health at serious risk.

Diving into the complex science behind professional restoration, Chad explains how principles of thermodynamics, vapor pressure, and dew point calculations are essential for effective drying. Professional restorers don't just bring specialized equipment—they bring expertise in precise equipment placement and scientific monitoring that ensures your home is demonstrably dry, not just dry to the touch. By the time you've researched DIY methods and rented or purchased equipment, you've likely spent as much as professional service would cost—without any of the guarantees or documentation that professionals provide. When it comes to protecting your home and family's health, this is one project that's always best left to the experts.

Ready to learn more about proper water damage restoration? Visit Hazardclean.net or call 772-259-5018 to speak with our professionals about keeping your home truly safe after water damage.

To learn more about Hazard Clean Restoration visit:
https://hazardclean.net/
Hazard Clean Restoration
772-259-5018

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Restoration Revolution podcast, where we help restore hope and put your family on the road to recovery, one episode at a time. Here's your host and owner of Hazard Clean Restoration, chad Melody.

Speaker 2:

Think a shop vac and fan will fix your water damage. Chad explains why that's a risky bet. Welcome back everyone. I'm sophia yvette, co-host and producer. Back in the studio with chad melanie, owner of hazard clean restoration, chad. How's it going today?

Speaker 3:

it it's going well. Sophia Glad to be back for another episode. Looking forward to the question.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's great to see you again. Now. This one's for the weekend warriors who might be in over their heads. So, Chad, why is it so important to hire a professional when it comes to water damage? Why don't you want to DIY the solution?

Speaker 3:

So you don't want to DIY it because there's a lot of risk involved. There's a lot of things that you can DIY. You can go on YouTube and watch a bunch of videos and everything else and kind of figure it out. And water damage restoration, first off, you need the right equipment. So there's a lot of different types of equipment and the equipment can be very expensive, you know. So that may not make it worthwhile to try to do it yourself. And then, secondly, there's a lot of science and physics and math involved and drying out buildings and you know, know, and so if, if you decide to just take a fan and put it on the area that got wet, or you know we're, if it flooded or or got into a room, you put a couple fans in there and then you walk around, maybe after a couple hours or a day you feel it and you're like, okay, well, feel this dry, we're good, take those fans, put them back somewhere or you return them, you might have just done a lot more harm than good because, depending on, first off, the water source and the water that got in, if it was flood water or anything like that nature and it doesn't even have to be, because there's lots of times where clean water can have a lot of microbes in it, have a lot of viruses, bacteria, those types of things, pathogens, pesticides, all kinds of things. If it may look clean, but if it came from the outside it may not be. If it may look clean, but if it came from the outside it may not be. And so, first off, if you did do that and it was water that had bacteria and viruses and everything on it, now you just have a lot more of that in your building. And if I back up for a second and maybe you had that water and you sucked it up with a wet, dry bag, you could have aerosolized all of those pathogens and microbes now that are in the building. And now those occupants are at risk.

Speaker 3:

And so now let's go back to you know, you feel it and everything else. It feels dry. Well, just cause it feels dry and looks dry doesn't mean that it actually is dry. And we now, if the moisture content isn't below a level that will support, you know, microbes to grow, then they're going to grow and bacteria replicates at a very fast rate I think it's every 20 minutes. You're putting your occupants if it's your home, your family, everyone at risk. Because, again, just because it feels dry and looks dry doesn't mean it is dry. You could have the framing materials, the interstellar cavities, all of that could have all kinds of moisture in there and months down the road or weeks down the road all of a sudden. Now people may be getting sick. You may notice some growth on some of the building materials. It's just not worth it. I mean, our homes are our biggest asset, so why risk it?

Speaker 2:

Most definitely Now, chad. Can you go over the hidden dangers of untreated or improperly dried water damage in greater detail?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so we touched on some of it. But if let's just play that same scenario out, right, those dangers now with the building material that is not dry to a level that won't support microbial growth, and so now you're giving basically an all-you-can-eat cafeteria to all those microbes, whether it's inside the walls, on the building materials, on the framing, so they're going to continue to grow. And the occupants of that home? We're dealing with microscopic things and so we can't see them. And if we just continue to play that scenario out now, the occupants may not be feeling as good, they may start having some allergies and it just gets worse from there. And that's why, when you hire professionals, they're going to come in and have the right equipment. And it's not just the right equipment, they're also going to a lot of the techniques and science and everything they put behind it and the physics they put behind it in order to make sure that that building is actually dry.

Speaker 3:

And you know, you think about, if you just took a fan and you put it on that, that wall, and for the building materials or the wall that got wet, and depending on the temperature and the relative humidity, you may actually be causing more harm than good, because there's something called dew point and so the air and you may be attracting the moisture and the water molecules basically to that building, to that surface of the building materials. Same principles if you took a Coke can out, had a sip, put it down, you look at it a couple of minutes later and it's got water all around it. That's because it's attracting all that water to that can, because that can is at or below the dew point. You know, and when we're building I mean sorry, when we're drying buildings, we have to be well aware of that. We also we're using different laws of thermodynamics. We're not just using specialized equipment, but it's also just even the angle of the equipment right. And so we want to make sure that when the airflow is going over the building materials, that it's going over smooth, kind of like a razor Think about a razor almost taking out, cutting out that moisture.

Speaker 3:

If it's very turbulent and everything else it's not smooth You're not going to be as efficient in drying those building materials. You know there's things called vapor pressure and so if you're not aware of a lot of these, these terms and everything, and I mean yes, you could youtube some of this stuff and try to figure it out and you could either buy or rent some equipment and try to place it and try to do it correctly. But by the time you did all that, it's probably going to cost you the same amount of you hiring the professionals to come in. And you know that, already know what they're going to do. They're already going to document everything that are going to give you all the proof of showing that it's it's dried their moisture meters, the thermal imaging, they're going to have dry logs. They're going to have everything for you so that that way you know, you're not just guessing and not just looking at it and going I think it's dry, it feels dry. They're actually going to prove through science that it actually is dry.

Speaker 2:

Well appreciate the insights. As always, Chad, Another great reminder that restoration is best left to the pros. I'll see you next time.

Speaker 3:

See you next time, sophia. Bye everyone.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to the Restoration Revolution podcast, where recovery starts here. Let us help put your family on the road to recovery. Go to hazardcleannet or call 772-259-5018. That's 772-259-5018.