Kitchen Floor Leak Query

[Verbena17]

Verbena17 · Today 11:43
Hi,
We are waiting for our insurance company to sort out a pipe leak in our kitchen.
They are saying the concrete sub-floor will need drying out with industrial dehumidifiers but I have eczema and dust allergy and DD has controlled asthma. We have pets - dog and cat and adult DS is autistic and really isn’t great with other people in the house.
I’m mega stressed about it all and DH just keeps getting cross with me and saying ‘it’ll all be fine’!

My query is has anyone not used dehumidifiers to dry out a concrete floor and used instead, something like the Injectidry system? It’s supposed to be much more effective, although more expensive - so not sure insurance companies will want to do anything like that.

Do we have a choice? I’d prefer not to have noisy drying dehumidifiers for up to 6 weeks! 😩

I had the same thing a few years ago when the incoming mains pipe leaked and saturated the floor under the vinyl. It had been leaking fir a while and we didnt notice until the subfloor was full and it started coming through the vinyl.

It honestly wasn't too bad. There wasn't much dust. One elderly dog, one asthmatic and one COPD sufferer. Just limit the amount of time you spend in the affected room. The main issue was the noise.

Thanks so much for your reply @unsync . That must have been stressful before hand though no? Just worrying about all of that, especially with an COPD sufferer?

They said we can keep the fridge in here and still use the worktop and cupboards on uneven ted side for cooking etc. Yes, the noise factor is concerning me too but I’ve read in a few places that you don’t need to keep them on all the time?

Im stressing as to where the pets will go - currently we can close off the kitten (who can’t go outside yet) but if the dog cant be in the kitchen, he’ll have a much smaller area to reside in! 😩 he’s not keen on the kitten 😂.

I just think them injecting dry air into the concrete would be much more effective and less time consuming than dehumidifiers.

I only turned the dehumidifiers off when I had to use the kitchen for cooking. The longer they are on, the faster the process. It was during winter, so I had the heating on full blast in there too.

The more stressful thing was that as the kitchen was coming to an end, a joint to a radiator in the conservatory blew overnight. That dumped the entire water content of the central heating and then kept pumping more water in as the system kept trying to refill. I was paddling in water by the time I found it in the morning.

I got to know the disaster recovery guy quite well by the end. 😅

Oh blimey! Total nightmare! So after the floor had dried out you mean? Then the radiator blew?

Just as the kitchen finished drying out, but before the new floor / redecorating / repair work was carried out.

The conservatory was far worse as it was full of stuff which had to be taken away and dried out. It was carpeted, so that came up and then they had to remove all the ceramic tiles to enable the floor to dry out properly. The only saving grace was that the central heating circuit could be isolated as the plumber had to wait for the floor to dry out before repairing the joint. Otherwise we would have had no heating.

Gosh yes - very stressful then!

@unsync Can I ask how long approx it took to dry out your kitchen floor?

It was about four weeks of almost non stop dehumidifier. Then we had to wait another two months for the insurers' designated contractor to have availability.

😲 that’s a really long time! For the builders to come back I mean.
Ive said that due to our son being autistic and how unsettling it will be for him, that I’d like everything to run as fast as possible with back to back work men doing the designated jobs.

They were lovely about it and said they will coordinate it so it goes smoothly - so I’m crossing my fingers.

Still waiting - they hadn’t even got a stripping-out date.
It’s been me chasing all the different people trying to sort it myself!

Finally today, when I called the builders, she looked at calendar and picked a provisional date next week. I feel like I’m project managing the entire thing for the insurance company and building group! 😩

Hi, just came across your dehumidifier / injection drying query. both use dehumidifiers. In very basic terms - wet and dry air are always trying to be equal, so wet air gets attracted to dry air. Placing a refrigerant dehumidifier in the room will dry the air in it and the moisture from the floor will be attracted to the dry, therefore releasing the moisture from the slab.
Injection drying is forcing dry air into the slab via drilled holes, pushing arid air into the slab via a desiccant dehumidifier, attracting the moisture to the dry air as it travels though the slab, when the moist air is released back into the room, the same desiccant dehumidifier captures it and removes it..

Hope this helps and makes sense