When an 8-in water main broke and flooded the entire first floor of a school building, Bismarck, North Dakota’s Specialized Cleaning & Restoration, Inc. was on site within 30 minutes to evaluate the loss. Within the first 10 minutes of analysis, Specialized Restoration’s crew knew this was the perfect job for Dryvex™ technology. Using two Dryvex MC5200s saved the school tens of thousands of dollars and allowed officials access to the building much more quickly.

Specialized Cleaning received the notification call at 8:30 p.m. on September 3, 2008, and by 9 p.m. crews were conducting the initial on-site inspection. By the time the water was shut off, nearly two inches of standing water was left throughout the entire first floor and water had wicked up the walls approximately 12 to 18 in. Three trucks with equipment were quickly on site to begin water extraction, and within five hours of the call, this phase of the process was complete.

Specialized Cleaning stays on top of industry technology and takes a proactive approach within its working environment. By quickly beginning structure dry down and using specialty drying techniques, crews minimized damage to the drywall, keeping most of it in the school and out of the landfill. “We were able to save the school thousands of square feet of drywall and more than $20,000 in repairs,” says Seth Sandness, project manager.

The company’s proactive approach also ensures it has the proper tools for the application. Several different calculations were used to determine the number of air movers, dehumidifiers and other equipment to properly dry down the structure. Within minutes, the crew knew that the total 205,000 ft³ area affected by the flooding would require specialty drying equipment.

“If we only had the option of refrigerant dehumidifiers, we would have needed approximately 1,000 amps to run all of the equipment,” explains Jerry Thomas, founder and president. Thomas and Sandness also figured it would require nearly 44 refrigerant dehumidifiers with at least a 320 CFM rating and nearly a couple of weeks to effectively dry the building and its contents. “This option would have taken too long and cost more than $60,000,” says Sandness.

Fast Drying
Multiple factors including size of loss, economical dry down, material affected, indoor air quality, building down time and available electricity were considered in selecting the right equipment. “Having the right tools for the job is extremely critical in our industry today, and the MC5200 was the perfect tool for this loss,” says Thomas.

The Dryvex™ MC5200 open drying system is completely self-contained with an on-board generator. Featuring exclusive Wacker Neuson Dryvection™ technology, the MC5200 draws in outside air – heat conditioned to 3 to 15% relative humidity – rather than recycled air to quickly dry flooded buildings and their contents. A second blower accelerates the drying process by extracting moisture-laden air from the building.

“The science behind the MC5200 is great, and the time it saves is unbelievable,” says Thomas. However, the equipment is only as good as the training received on proper use and the personnel operating it. “I cannot say enough good things about the equipment, sales and technical support we have received from Wacker Neuson, and our dedicated team members are second to none,” he adds.

Using both penetrating and non-penetrating monitors, crews closely observed more than 300 different test points throughout the building during the dry down process. Specialized Restoration’s crews accelerated all drying conditions by using temperature and humidity controls of the MC5200. “We noticed that the humidity level came down very quickly with the MC5200s,” recalls Sandness. “It would have taken one to two days to notice this same drop if we had used the dehumidifiers.”

By employing the Dryvex™ MC5200 drying system from Wacker Neuson, complete dry down of the 205,000 ft³ school building was achieved in only four days. This was much faster than what would have been possible with refrigerant dehumidifiers. “This cut the dry down time by at least half, allowing the school to utilize the building again much quicker,” says Thomas.

Just as important, the MC5200 helped to save the school significant sums of money. “We saved our customer about $25,000 on drying alone,” says Sandness. The end results of this job brought great satisfaction to Specialized Cleaning and its employees as well as a number of job-well-done and thank you comments from the customer.