Does Drywall in My Northampton House Need Removal When It Gets Wet?

6/16/2020 (Permalink)

When appliances fail, drywall often becomes water damaged. SERVPRO has the know-how to restore your home.

Experienced SERVPRO Managers Assess the Water Damage and Follow Best Practices to Restore Wet Materials in Northampton Homes

Drywall is a common material in many homes, predominant in more recent constructions, but also used in remodeled or repaired dwellings. Because of its porous nature, drywall wicks water quickly. When water spreads across a floor and moves toward the baseboard, the water crawls up the drywall. The composite material crumbles and warps and is rapidly rendered as inadequate and irreparable.

Where Does the Water Go After an Appliance Breaks Down?

If the dish or clothes washer in your Northampton home causes water damage, dealing with the visible water is just one step. You would not be the first homeowner wondering where the gallons of water that poured out went. Contact between the floor and wall joints in your kitchen or utility room allows water to seep through, pooling up between the walls and percolating into the subfloor. Merely mopping up or using a wet vacuum is not enough to address this hidden and now trapped water migration.

How Do the Pros Follow the Water?

SERVPRO technicians use sensitive moisture detectors and meters to outline the perimeters intruding water. We then choose the path of least disruption to reach the water, which can include flood cuts that take the wet drywall out several inches above the waterline, permitting:

• Access to the water, extractable with portable units

• Removal of unrestorable materials and inhibition of mold growth

• Opening of the wet areas so our Applied Structural Drying (ASD) technicians can eliminate moisture inside affected wall cavities

How Is Cutting Up My Wall the Least Disruptive Option?

Replacement of drywall is a straightforward process that our build-back specialists can manage easily. Choosing instead to leave the standing water and moisture behind surfaces to dry slowly, if at all, leads to the risk of severe damage to framing and other supportive structural materials.

SERVPRO of Hampshire County has wraparound restoration services available when water damages your home. Call us at (413) 324-1300 to discuss the best practices we use to return your house to the preloss condition.

More about Northampton.

Contractor Licenses:

General: MA CS-107843

Residential: MA HIC 180066