Why extraction comes before anything else
Water that leaves the building as liquid costs far less to deal with than water that has to be evaporated out of wood, plaster and subfloor. A good extraction pass removes most of the free water in the first visit, which shortens the drying time and lowers the number of air movers and dehumidifiers the job needs.
In Cambridge the stakes are higher than in a single-story house. In a triple-decker or a converted Victorian, water left on a top-floor kitchen floor does not stay there: it finds the gaps in old strip flooring, runs along the joists and shows up in the plaster ceiling of the unit below. Pulling the water fast on the floor where it started is what protects the units underneath. When it has already come through, ceiling leak water damage is its own job.
Truck-mounted or portable on Cambridge streets
Truck-mounted extraction has the most suction and sends the water straight out to the truck, so it is the first choice for basements and large carpeted areas. On tight streets in Cambridgeport, East Cambridge and around Inman Square, the truck cannot always park close, and a third-floor unit can be a long hose run up a back stair. The extraction crew then brings high-power portable extractors to the unit and uses the truck where it can reach.
- Weighted extraction tools squeeze water out of carpet and pad
- Submersible pumps handle basements with several inches of water
- Squeegee wands work on tile, sealed hardwood and concrete
- Wet pad and debris are bagged and carried out
What happens right after the water is out
Extraction is step one, not the finish. The tech who does the walkthrough maps moisture in the walls, floors and ceilings with thermal imaging and pinless meters, marks what can dry in place and what has to come out, and the drying team sets air movers and LGR dehumidifiers to the load of each room. The full process is on the structural drying page.
Speed matters because mold can start on wet organic materials in 24 to 48 hours; the EPA mold cleanup guidance explains why. If the water came from outside or from rising ground water, the Ready.gov flood safety page covers electrical and health precautions before anyone walks through it.
- Category. Clean supply water is Category 1; water from a floor drain or toilet is Category 3 from the start.
- Class. The amount of wet, porous material in the room sets how many air movers and dehumidifiers go in.
- Equipment. Truck-mounted extraction, weighted extraction tools for carpet and submersible pumps for deep basements.
- Goal. Structural drying to within 2 to 4 points of a dry reference material.
