The DIY Disaster: Water Damage Edition

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

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Restoration Revolution podcast,
where we help restore hope andput your family on the road to
recovery, one episode at a time.
Here's your host and owner ofHazard Clean Restoration, chad
Melody.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Think a shop vac and fan will fix your water damage.
Chad explains why that's arisky bet.
Welcome back everyone.
I'm sophia yvette, co-host andproducer.
Back in the studio with chadmelanie, owner of hazard clean
restoration, chad.
How's it going today?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
it it's going well.
Sophia Glad to be back foranother episode.
Looking forward to the question.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, it's great to see you again.
Now.
This one's for the weekendwarriors who might be in over
their heads.
So, Chad, why is it soimportant to hire a professional
when it comes to water damage?
Why don't you want to DIY thesolution?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
So you don't want to DIY it because there's a lot of
risk involved.
There's a lot of things thatyou can DIY.
You can go on YouTube and watcha bunch of videos and
everything else and kind offigure it out.
And water damage restoration,first off, you need the right

(01:24):
equipment.
So there's a lot of differenttypes of equipment and the
equipment can be very expensive,you know.
So that may not make itworthwhile to try to do it
yourself.
And then, secondly, there's alot of science and physics and
math involved and drying outbuildings and you know, know,
and so if, if you decide to justtake a fan and put it on the

(01:49):
area that got wet, or you knowwe're, if it flooded or or got
into a room, you put a couplefans in there and then you walk
around, maybe after a couplehours or a day you feel it and
you're like, okay, well, feelthis dry, we're good, take those
fans, put them back somewhereor you return them, you might

(02:13):
have just done a lot more harmthan good because, depending on,
first off, the water source andthe water that got in, if it
was flood water or anything likethat nature and it doesn't even
have to be, because there'slots of times where clean water
can have a lot of microbes in it, have a lot of viruses,

(02:34):
bacteria, those types of things,pathogens, pesticides, all
kinds of things.
If it may look clean, but if itcame from the outside it may
not be.
If it may look clean, but if itcame from the outside it may
not be.
And so, first off, if you diddo that and it was water that
had bacteria and viruses andeverything on it, now you just

(02:54):
have a lot more of that in yourbuilding.
And if I back up for a secondand maybe you had that water and
you sucked it up with a wet,dry bag, you could have
aerosolized all of thosepathogens and microbes now that
are in the building.
And now those occupants are atrisk.

(03:15):
And so now let's go back to youknow, you feel it and everything
else.
It feels dry.
Well, just cause it feels dryand looks dry doesn't mean that
it actually is dry.
And we now, if the moisturecontent isn't below a level that
will support, you know,microbes to grow, then they're

(03:35):
going to grow and bacteriareplicates at a very fast rate I
think it's every 20 minutes.
You're putting your occupantsif it's your home, your family,
everyone at risk.
Because, again, just because itfeels dry and looks dry doesn't
mean it is dry.
You could have the framingmaterials, the interstellar

(03:59):
cavities, all of that could haveall kinds of moisture in there
and months down the road orweeks down the road all of a
sudden.
Now people may be getting sick.
You may notice some growth onsome of the building materials.
It's just not worth it.
I mean, our homes are ourbiggest asset, so why risk it?

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Most definitely Now, chad.
Can you go over the hiddendangers of untreated or
improperly dried water damage ingreater detail?

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, so we touched on some of it.
But if let's just play thatsame scenario out, right, those
dangers now with the buildingmaterial that is not dry to a
level that won't supportmicrobial growth, and so now

(04:52):
you're giving basically anall-you-can-eat cafeteria to all
those microbes, whether it'sinside the walls, on the
building materials, on theframing, so they're going to
continue to grow.
And the occupants of that home?
We're dealing with microscopicthings and so we can't see them.

(05:14):
And if we just continue to playthat scenario out now, the
occupants may not be feeling asgood, they may start having some
allergies and it just getsworse from there.
And that's why, when you hireprofessionals, they're going to
come in and have the rightequipment.
And it's not just the rightequipment, they're also going to

(05:34):
a lot of the techniques andscience and everything they put
behind it and the physics theyput behind it in order to make
sure that that building isactually dry.
And you know, you think about,if you just took a fan and you
put it on that, that wall, andfor the building materials or
the wall that got wet, anddepending on the temperature and

(05:58):
the relative humidity, you mayactually be causing more harm
than good, because there'ssomething called dew point and
so the air and you may beattracting the moisture and the
water molecules basically tothat building, to that surface
of the building materials.
Same principles if you took aCoke can out, had a sip, put it

(06:22):
down, you look at it a couple ofminutes later and it's got
water all around it.
That's because it's attractingall that water to that can,
because that can is at or belowthe dew point.
You know, and when we'rebuilding I mean sorry, when
we're drying buildings, we haveto be well aware of that.
We also we're using differentlaws of thermodynamics.

(06:44):
We're not just usingspecialized equipment, but it's
also just even the angle of theequipment right.
And so we want to make surethat when the airflow is going
over the building materials,that it's going over smooth,
kind of like a razor Think abouta razor almost taking out,
cutting out that moisture.

(07:06):
If it's very turbulent andeverything else it's not smooth
You're not going to be asefficient in drying those
building materials.
You know there's things calledvapor pressure and so if you're
not aware of a lot of these,these terms and everything, and
I mean yes, you could youtubesome of this stuff and try to

(07:28):
figure it out and you couldeither buy or rent some
equipment and try to place itand try to do it correctly.
But by the time you did allthat, it's probably going to
cost you the same amount of youhiring the professionals to come
in.
And you know that, already knowwhat they're going to do.
They're already going todocument everything that are

(07:49):
going to give you all the proofof showing that it's it's dried
their moisture meters, thethermal imaging, they're going
to have dry logs.
They're going to haveeverything for you so that that
way you know, you're not justguessing and not just looking at
it and going I think it's dry,it feels dry.
They're actually going to provethrough science that it

(08:10):
actually is dry.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Well appreciate the insights.
As always, Chad, Another greatreminder that restoration is
best left to the pros.
I'll see you next time.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
See you next time, sophia.
Bye everyone.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Thanks for listening to the Restoration Revolution
podcast, where recovery startshere.
Let us help put your family onthe road to recovery.
Go to hazardcleannet or call772-259-5018.
That's 772-259-5018.