Thorough water extraction is key to ensuring faster drying and minimizing the risk of damage.
Some common-sense tools and techniques can significantly increase your overall extraction performance:
1. When excessive contents are present during restoration, extract the center of the room first to minimize content handling and speed the process. Then move contents to the center of the room, protect contents, and extract the perimeter.
2. Use specialized flood extraction tools, rather than carpet cleaning wands - or worst of all - wet/dry vacuums. These products were purpose-built for extraction, so they maximize water removal:
3. Keep the extraction hose as short as possible because resistance increases with hose length. Use the largest diameter of extraction hose approved for the tool and vacuum (refer to the manual). For portable deep extraction tools, it's usually 2 in. (5 cm). Some truckmount units use 2½ in. vacuum hoses.
4. As much as possible, avoid loops and bends in the hose—they reduce extraction efficiency.
5. Hose reels, while great for carpet cleaning, shouldn't be used for extraction. The long coils of hose and internal hose couplings can significantly reduce vacuum and airflow.
These techniques will help ensure you're removing as much liquid water as possible.
See Legend Brands' other technical tips for mastering your restoration challenges.
