Air movers and dehumidifiers that dry walls, framing and subfloors to moisture readings, not to appearance.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Structural drying removes moisture from the building materials behind and under the finished surfaces after water has been extracted. Air movers and dehumidifiers run until moisture readings in framing, plaster and subfloor reach a dry reference. Anchorage Water Damage Restoration sends a crew as soon as one is free, at any hour.
Most water damage that is not dealt with properly is damage that was never seen. The floor dries to the touch in a day, but the moisture that went into the wall cavity, the sill plate and the subfloor stays there, and it keeps working on the wood and the insulation for weeks. Structural drying is the stage that deals with what cannot be seen, and it is the stage most often skipped.
The work is done in a sequence. The crew first maps where the water went using moisture meters and a thermal camera, then opens the materials that have to be opened to let the cavity breathe, and then sets air movers and dehumidifiers so that air moves across the wet surfaces at the right angle and rate. Readings are taken at the start, at each check and at the end, and the equipment stays until the numbers show that it can come out.
A drying plan has a clear end point. That point is a dry reference, a reading taken from an undamaged part of the same building, and each material is measured against it. A wall that reads close to the reference is dry; one that reads well above it is still wet even if the paint looks fine. The crew tells you the target for each material before the equipment is set, so you can see what will be measured.
Do not run a combustion heater or a generator indoors to speed drying, because the exhaust can build up to a dangerous level. Keep children and pets out of rooms where openings have been made, and do not reach into a cavity that has been opened, because the framing may be soft or the wiring may be exposed. If the air smells strongly of sewage or chemicals, leave the room and tell the crew before it goes back in.
The technician takes readings across the floors, walls and ceilings of the wet zone and in the floor below. A thermal camera shows cold spots that indicate wet insulation or a cavity holding water. The map is kept with the readings, because it is what the drying plan is built on.
A wet wall cavity cannot dry while it is closed. The crew removes a small section of drywall or plaster at the base and at points where the readings are highest, which lets air move into the framing and lets the technician see the state of the sill plate and the insulation. Openings are kept small and are sealed or repaired later.
Air movers are angled so that air crosses the wet surfaces rather than blowing across the room, and dehumidifiers pull water vapour out of the air so that it does not settle on dry surfaces. The number and placement follow the room and the materials, not a standard formula, and they are changed as the readings fall.
On each check the readings are taken again and compared with the dry reference. Equipment that is no longer adding anything is moved or removed, and areas that are still high stay under the air. The log records every reading and every change, so you can see the progress without having to trust the look of the room.
When every material reads at or near the dry reference, the equipment comes out and the final log is written. Any materials that did not come back are listed, with the reason. Reconstruction, such as new drywall, plaster and paint, is a separate scope and is priced once the building has been confirmed dry.
You do not know it by looking. A wall can look dry on the face and still hold moisture in the cavity behind the paint. The only reliable answer is a moisture reading taken inside the wall, compared with a dry reference from an undamaged part of the same building.
A crew takes readings with a pin meter at the surface and with a non-invasive meter across the face of the wall. Where the readings stay high, a small opening is made to take a reading inside the cavity. That is the measure the drying plan uses, because it reflects the framing and the insulation rather than the paint.
Wet insulation is a particular problem. Batt and blown insulation holds water for a long time and can stay wet well after the framing has begun to dry. The crew checks insulation directly where it can, and it tells you when a section of insulation has to be replaced rather than dried.
Drying takes as long as the materials take to reach the dry reference, which depends on how much water went in, how deep it reached and how dense the materials are. There is no fixed number of days, and the crew sets the schedule from the readings it takes on each check.
A small clean-water loss confined to one room can be dried in a few days. Framing that has been wet inside a cavity for longer, or a subfloor under a building that was wet across several floors, takes longer. Each check shows whether the readings are falling as expected or have stalled.
A stall is an important signal. If a reading does not fall after a day or two of drying, the crew looks for a reason: an unfound leak still running, a wet material that was missed, or a cavity that has not been opened. It does not simply leave the equipment running and hope.
Equipment stays in place until the readings show that the materials are dry. Removing it early leaves moisture in the framing, which can later support mold growth or cause the floor to cup, and that damage is more expensive than the extra days on the drying schedule.
The air movers and dehumidifiers are running to remove water that has gone into materials that are slow to release it. Wood, plaster and insulation all release water at their own rate, and a fan cannot speed that up beyond a point. The job is to keep the rate steady and to measure it.
The crew explains each change to the equipment. Machines moved from one room to another, and machines switched off in a room that has reached its reference, are both recorded in the log, so you can see that nothing is running without reason.
Older construction holds water differently. Plaster over lath, heavy framing and tight cavities keep moisture in the building longer than modern drywall over studs, and they hide it behind surfaces that look sound. The drying plan allows for that by taking more readings and opening more cavities.
Where the house has plaster and lath, the plaster can be sound on the face and soft on the back, and it can hold water for days after the room looks dry. The crew checks the back of the plaster at the openings and records what it finds, rather than assuming that the face reflects the whole wall.
Price follows the work. The number of openings, the number of readings and the number of days the equipment stays all shape the scope. None of these figures is given in advance on this page, because each one depends on what is found inside the building, and the crew explains it before any of the work begins.
Keep the moisture logs, the photographs of each check and the list of materials that were removed. Those records are what your insurer will ask for, and they show that the drying was done against a measured target rather than a guess.
Photograph the room before the equipment is set, at each check and after the equipment is removed. Keep one copy of each set of readings and ask the crew for the final log in writing. Mark anything you see that the log does not show, such as a new stain or a smell that comes back after the room is closed.
Do not paint, seal or close up a wall that has been opened until the crew has confirmed it is dry. A closed cavity that is still wet can hide mold and rot for months, and reconstruction done too early tends to be the most expensive part of the job to undo.
Surfaces that can be cleaned and dried without removal, such as hardwood that has not cupped, tile over a sound subfloor, and framing that reads close to the dry reference, are dried in place. This is the preferred route where it works because it keeps the finished materials and the cost of replacing them out of the scope.
Drywall, plaster base, insulation and particleboard that have absorbed water and will not return to the dry reference are removed to the framing. The crew explains which materials are coming out and why, and it leaves framing in place where the readings show it can dry on its own.
When water has run down through a floor, the room below is treated as part of the same job. The equipment is set floor by floor, and the readings are kept separately for each level, because a room above a dry cellar can still hold water in its floor cavity while the room below looks finished.
Anchorage's utility covers the city and Chugiak-Eagle River, Peters Creek, Eklutna and Girdwood, and a supply break in any of those places leaves the same question: how much wet material is inside the framing. Drying is measured the same way in each place, because the readings do not depend on the address.
In any community on this site, a long drying schedule should be explained to the owner in writing so that the insurer, the owner and the repair contractor are all working from the same readings.
Structural drying is a measured process, not a timed one, so the crew does not commit to a number of days over the phone. What it commits to is a check on every visit and a written log at the end, which is the thing a homeowner can verify without relying on the crew's word.
Tell us what's happening and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a quick fix, and what structural drying and dehumidification should cost.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Pumping and removing standing water from floors, cellars and crawl spaces, answered around the clock across Anchorage.
Lifting and drying wet carpet, pad and hardwood, and deciding what can be kept, from readings taken on the subfloor.
Recognising mold after a water loss, drying the cause and checking a firm's credentials before any work starts.
Finding and drying water that reaches under a house with a crawl space, before the floor above gives way.
A water damage restoration quote depends on how much area is wet, how deep the water has travelled, which materials must be removed rather than dried, and how hard the building is to reach.
Water under a house with a crawl space soaks the insulation, the joists and the sill plate, and the first sign is often a soft or sagging floor rather than a puddle.
Hire a water damage firm by asking which credentials it holds and whether they apply in Alaska, what the Municipality of Anchorage may require for permits, for proof of insurance, for a written scope and for references from recent jobs.
After water damage in Alaska, photograph the damage before any cleanup, keep the damaged materials until the insurer has seen them, keep every utility and contractor record, and report the loss to the carrier early.
A household fan and a store-bought dehumidifier can help with a small surface wetting. They do not reach the cavities and framing where most of the moisture sits, and they cannot be set to a dry reference. A crew can tell you whether your own equipment is worth using alongside its work.
The floor surface dries faster than the material beneath it, and the wall cavity dries slower still. A meter reading inside the framing is the measure that counts, because it shows the material that the surface cannot.
Drying removes the conditions that let mold grow, which is moisture held in materials for a long time. It does not guarantee that no mold is present. If visible growth or a strong smell is found, that is recorded and addressed under the mold page's steps.
The crew checks the readings on each visit, and the visit frequency is set by the drying plan. It is typical for the readings to be checked at intervals across the first several days, and the schedule is explained when the equipment is set.
Repairs to finished surfaces wait until the materials are confirmed dry, because closing a wet cavity traps the moisture inside. Structural repairs that do not cover wet materials can sometimes be done in parallel, and the crew tells you which ones can.
The crew looks for the reason, such as a leak still running, a material that was missed or a cavity that has not been opened. The reason and the next step are written in the log and explained to you, and no material is signed off as dry while its reading stays high.