The Low Country is blessed with incredible natural beauty. For this reason, many people purchase houses here that they use as a vacation home or second residence. A large number of these homes can be found on Kiawah Island, Seabrook, Sullivan’s Island, the Isle of Palms and Folly Beach.

These homes represent special challenges to the water restoration professional. Because these homes do not serve as a primary residence, they are left unattended for days or even weeks at a time. Water leaks might go undetected for a similar length of time. This is unfortunate, because the destructive power of water is greatly increased over time.

This phenomenon was amply illustrated by a recent water remediation we performed on a beach house on Edisto Island. The hot water heater failed on a Friday. But the owner was not made aware of the loss until the following Wednesday. She walked into the house with her two daughters, eager for a week at the beach in their beautiful vacation home. Instead, they found that their kitchen ceiling had collapsed, their cabinets had lost their shape and their hardwood floors were severely buckled.

Moreover, the entire residence was affected by an unpleasant odor. The source of this odor was the growth of mold, bacteria and viruses that accompanies all unmitigated water losses.

Hardwood floors, cabinets and carpeting can all be dried and salvaged if they have been affected by clean water, and if a water remediation professional is brought in at an early time. Conversely, these materials must be discarded if they remain wet for an extended period of time. On occasions such as these, the duty of the water remediation professional is to discard the materials that cannot be saved, so that the remainder of the structure can be dried and sanitized.

Rainbow International removed all of the flooring in the home. We also discarded all of the vanities and lower kitchen cabinets. We then sanitized the wood subflooring. We dried the subfloor, the framing and 99% of the drywall.

If you own a second home, have someone check on it on a regular basis. Make good friends with your neighbors! Make sure they know how to contact you. And make sure that someone local you trust has a way of getting into the home.

This past week we began drying a home in the West Ashley neighborhood of Shadow Moss.

In many ways this water loss was typical of most water damage events. We extracted water from the carpet. We set up air mover and dehumidifiers to dry the carpet, drywall and sill plates.

The unusual circumstance associated with this water loss involved drying the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom vanity. Cabinets and vanities can be particularly difficult to dry because their sides are normally constructed of pressed board.

Pressed board is essentially saw dust bound together in sheets using glue. Pressed board quickly absorbs large quantities of moisture. Unfortunately, it does not give up the moisture very quickly.

If pressed board absorbs a sufficient amount of moisture, it will expand. Pressed board that has expanded, cannot be repaired. Expanded pressed board looks unsightly. Expansion also compromises the strength of the board.

Wet pressed board is also an excellent food source for mold.

The fastest way to dry most cabinets is to remove the toe kicks. The toe kick is a plate that is installed at the base of most cabinets. The toe kick is normally installed at the front of the cabinets. Removal of toe kicks allows the restorer to direct air beneath the cabinets.

Some cabinets do not have removable toe kicks. The wood at the base of the cabinets is integral to the cabinet structure. This was the case in this West Ashley home. How do you dry cabinets in these situations?

Our solution was to use the Injectidry wall cavity drying system. This system utilizes a system of hoses to deliver positive pressure to any cavity in the home. In this case, we drilled ¼” holes in a hidden location where the toe kicks would normally be located. We attached special fittings to the injectidry system that were slightly smaller than the ¼” holes.
The injectidry system positively pressurized the space beneath the cabinets with hot, dry air. This caused rapid evaporation of the water trapped beneath the cabinets.
This was a success. We saved the cabinets. This meant that the home owner was spared the expense of replacing the cabinets. The hidden holes can be left the way they are now or repaired at a minimal cost.