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Default how to dry out after water leak?

(Posting for some friends) They live in a first floor flat and have
had a water leak underneath the kitchen units. The leak has been fixed
but unfortunately seems to have been going on for some time.

As a result there are water stains on the ceiling of the flat below.

For now they are just trying to dry the place out because of the awful
smell. Trouble is they cannot get at the affected area. They have some
kind of "stuck on" floor tiles onto the floorboards. Beneath that is
the ceiling void and they have managed to get a hole to that to try
and blow warm air to dry things out. No luck so far.

I thought maybe a heat gun directed in there (I know it needs great
care - so maybe not worth the fire risk). Is there a better (& safer)
way to get warm air in there to dry things out?

They are a young couple and having a pretty hard time of it in other
ways so I'd like to help - but don't really have any better ideas.

Appreciate any us help I can pass on to them - for which I will of
course give full credit!

Thanks
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Default how to dry out after water leak?

On Sun, 13 May 2007 23:51:17 GMT, mike mused:

(Posting for some friends) They live in a first floor flat and have
had a water leak underneath the kitchen units. The leak has been fixed
but unfortunately seems to have been going on for some time.

As a result there are water stains on the ceiling of the flat below.

For now they are just trying to dry the place out because of the awful
smell. Trouble is they cannot get at the affected area. They have some
kind of "stuck on" floor tiles onto the floorboards. Beneath that is
the ceiling void and they have managed to get a hole to that to try
and blow warm air to dry things out. No luck so far.

I thought maybe a heat gun directed in there (I know it needs great
care - so maybe not worth the fire risk). Is there a better (& safer)
way to get warm air in there to dry things out?

They are a young couple and having a pretty hard time of it in other
ways so I'd like to help - but don't really have any better ideas.

Appreciate any us help I can pass on to them - for which I will of
course give full credit!

How wet is it? Unless it's soaked right through and is in danger f
falling down (in whcih case it should be replaced) then letting it dry
naturally would be the best bet.
--
Regards,
Stuart.
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Default how to dry out after water leak?

On 14 May, 00:51, mike wrote:
(Posting for some friends) They live in a first floor flat and have
had a water leak underneath the kitchen units. The leak has been fixed
but unfortunately seems to have been going on for some time.

As a result there are water stains on the ceiling of the flat below.

For now they are just trying to dry the place out because of the awful
smell. Trouble is they cannot get at the affected area. They have some
kind of "stuck on" floor tiles onto the floorboards. Beneath that is
the ceiling void and they have managed to get a hole to that to try
and blow warm air to dry things out. No luck so far.

I thought maybe a heat gun directed in there (I know it needs great
care - so maybe not worth the fire risk). Is there a better (& safer)
way to get warm air in there to dry things out?


A heat gun in a confined space sounds very scary to me! I've used a
hairdryer before, which works OK if the damp area is quite localised.
Don't leave it unsupervised though!
Jon.

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Default how to dry out after water leak?

On Sun, 13 May 2007 23:51:17 +0000, mike wrote:

(Posting for some friends) They live in a first floor flat and have had a
water leak underneath the kitchen units. The leak has been fixed but
unfortunately seems to have been going on for some time.

As a result there are water stains on the ceiling of the flat below.

For now they are just trying to dry the place out because of the awful
smell. Trouble is they cannot get at the affected area. They have some
kind of "stuck on" floor tiles onto the floorboards. Beneath that is the
ceiling void and they have managed to get a hole to that to try and blow
warm air to dry things out. No luck so far.

I thought maybe a heat gun directed in there (I know it needs great care -
so maybe not worth the fire risk). Is there a better (& safer) way to get
warm air in there to dry things out?

They are a young couple and having a pretty hard time of it in other ways
so I'd like to help - but don't really have any better ideas.

Appreciate any us help I can pass on to them - for which I will of course
give full credit!

Thanks


==================================
You don't actually need heat to assist the drying out process. An ordinary
domestic fan will work quite well provided that you can get air to
circulate in and out of the floor void. You'll need to lift a
section of floorboard at two points to allow proper circulation. You could
use a concertina type duct from an inline fan (or even the fan itself
complete with duct) to get the air in.

Cic.

--
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Using Ubuntu Linux
Windows shown the door
===================================

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Default how to dry out after water leak?

mike wrote:
(Posting for some friends) They live in a first floor flat and have
had a water leak underneath the kitchen units. The leak has been fixed
but unfortunately seems to have been going on for some time.

As a result there are water stains on the ceiling of the flat below.

For now they are just trying to dry the place out because of the awful
smell. Trouble is they cannot get at the affected area. They have some
kind of "stuck on" floor tiles onto the floorboards. Beneath that is
the ceiling void and they have managed to get a hole to that to try
and blow warm air to dry things out. No luck so far.

I thought maybe a heat gun directed in there (I know it needs great
care - so maybe not worth the fire risk). Is there a better (& safer)
way to get warm air in there to dry things out?

They are a young couple and having a pretty hard time of it in other
ways so I'd like to help - but don't really have any better ideas.

Appreciate any us help I can pass on to them - for which I will of
course give full credit!

Thanks


Sounds like a buildings insurance job, especially if the owners of the
flat below expect a new ceiling. Taking the plasterboard down there
would probably be the best way to dry everything out anyway.

Leaks in flats are a bloody nuisance. I know of one instance where 4
flats were trashed by a top floor leak in an unoccupied flat. Nobody had
authority to break the door down but the fire brigade did eventually.


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Default how to dry out after water leak?

On Sun, 13 May 2007 23:51:17 GMT, mike wrote:

For now they are just trying to dry the place out because of the awful
smell. Trouble is they cannot get at the affected area. They have some
kind of "stuck on" floor tiles onto the floorboards. Beneath that is
the ceiling void and they have managed to get a hole to that to try
and blow warm air to dry things out. No luck so far.


If there is an awful smell I'd lift the stuck on floor tiles, presumably
the leak was waste water rather than from the hot or cold water suppllies?
The smell is coming from the rotting matter in the waste water, the only
real cure for that is to remove as much as possible and disinfect.

Drying out won't clear the stains on the ceiling below, they will need to
be sealed in with a propritary stain sealer or oil based paint before
being painted over with emulsion.

Once the source fo wet/damp has been removed nature will dry everything
out over a few weeks, making sure there is ventilation in the void is a
good idea. I doubt that you need forced ventilation just somewhere for air
to get in and some where else for it to get out.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail



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