Equipment for Flood Damage in Downtown Chicago – Getting the Right Extraction Tools

7/21/2021 (Permalink)

When your home is flooded, time is of the essence. Contact SERVPRO to arrive on scene with tools and technicians to tackle the job.

SERVPRO's Inventory of Equipment Mitigates Storm Damage

Residential flooding does not always result in a submerged ground floor and occupants with very wet feet. Many of the cases we handle don't involve vast amounts of standing water. Either the leak or fault is not severe enough to cause intensive water intrusion. Alternatively, the laws of physics have their way, and the liquid water gets trapped in porous materials.

On the other hand, SERVPRO also has lots of experience dealing with severe cases of flood damage in Chicago. When storm waters intrude upon a structure, the cleanup is different from ground floor pipe bursts covering the rooms in two inches of standing water; we are here to help you eliminate it quickly. To do this, we employ a range of straightforward and sophisticated extraction tools.

Weighted Compression 

These tools work by, literally, squeezing the liquid out of fabrics (usually carpets). They use heavyweights (sometimes an operator stands on top) to push water out of the underlay and into an extraction machine. One such water extractor is called a Rover.

Vacuum Sealed Water Claw 

Water claws are compatible with 'carry in' and truck-mounted pumps, but the latter is only present on-site in rare circumstances. The tool depends on the presence of water to construct a tight seal, so the SERVPRO technicians first extract as much liquid as possible from the underlay. Then, the process gets completed with a traditional carpet cleaning wand.

Traditional Carpet Wands for Water Removal 

The more basic carpet cleaning wands are not as efficient at extracting liquid from subflooring and other types of fibrous materials. For this reason, SERVPRO only uses them in conjunction with other tools. Water mats also increase the suction surface of the carpet and are very effective in drawing moisture out from the seams of hardwood flooring. This also helps to dry out the supporting floor joists in a crawl space structure.

Hard Floor Squeegees 

While tools like squeegees are quite simple, they can effectively push excess water out and away from structural materials like hardwood, linoleum, and tile floors.

The Purpose of Water Damage Extraction 

The efficient and controlled extraction of standing water has a very positive impact on the overall drying process. It has a significant effect, for example, on the number of drying tools and the timeframes required to restore the home and contents to an optimal moisture equilibrium. Vacuum tools are the best form of standing water removal. The stronger the vacuum pressure and airflow, the more powerful the extraction equipment. For instance, truck-mounted devices have a much greater vacuum pressure than the more compact, portable tools, though the latter is a staple of most residential cases of flood damage.

SERVPRO of Marquette Park / West Lawn / Ford City has the expertise and skills you need to eliminate flood damage quickly. We serve homeowners within the Downtown Chicago area, so please find out more about our restoration services. Call us 24/7 at (773) 337-3993 today.