Contending with Water-Damaged Drywall in Matteson Homes

5/1/2022 (Permalink)

Saturation can be a damaging situation for many of the exposed materials in your Matteson home during a water loss incident. Drywall is a common selection for the property, and with its sheetrock composition, can prove very susceptible to even modest exposure to standing water, pooling, or spreading moisture effects. Depending on how long these materials maintain this damaging condition, it can be challenging for even our professional restoration technicians to prevent demolition and reconstruction.

While there are multiple layers of water damage in your Matteson home to contend with after a water loss incident sweeps through the floors of your home, drywall can quickly wick this standing water and wall cavity moisture. Beginning at the base of the installed sheets, moisture can move slowly up the surface, penetrating the full depth of the sheetrock. Our SERVPRO professionals must assess the severity of this saturation when we arrive and begin a thorough inspection of the affected areas of the property.

Much of the worst damage that can occur in your house from a water loss incident happens within the first 72 hours. During this time, water effects continue to spread unabated through the property without the appropriate containment protocols beginning or effective drying and extraction efforts getting underway. Identifying the severity of these conditions is the most important step for our arriving professionals, and we use sophisticated moisture readers, infrared imagery, and hygrometers to deduce the dampness and saturation of affected materials and areas.

These tools can identify the line of saturation that exists with the continued wicking of moisture from the ground into the drywall material. With bloating and distortion beginning in as little as a day, our SERVPRO team often must remove all of the exposed areas of drywall using a flood cut approach. This controlled demolition technique only removes the water damaged portions of sheetrock to make reinstallation faster and more cost-effective.

Drywall is a common staple to the construction of homes throughout our area, but these materials are also among the most susceptible to water damages. Let our SERVPRO of Matteson-Homewood protect your property and its materials with our fast response and expertise. Give us a call anytime you need us at (708) 747-9925.