# How to dry out 30K sq. ft of Unsealed Concrete Block Walls



## Iceblast (Jun 18, 2014)

On a mold remediation project, we are looking for a way to dry out heavy condensation on 30K sq. ft of walls inside of a food processing facility in storage coolers. 

We believe the condensation to be due to temperature variance on the other side of the walls. After a project meeting we are at a standstill. The walls have about 48 hours to dry. I had the idea of getting high volume air fans in the room to be able to dry the walls but many of the guys think that we need to install dehumidifiers. I don't think we'll have enough time for that. any other ideas. None of these coolers have HVAC set-up, only Ammonia Cooler systems. 

Any ideas?


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

I have absolutely nothing to offer here as a solution. All I can say is that every time you create a thread, my first thought is about how happy I am to complain about how boring it can be to get a call about painting a bedroom or kitchen with the odd "hmm, how am I going to get a brush in there?" type problem to address.

You Sir, come up with some incredibly formidable tasks.


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## journeymanPainter (Feb 26, 2014)

Air movement will definitely help dry out the walls, maybe add some heat to the air circulation?

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## driftweed (May 26, 2013)

If it's condensation, then air movement alone will not help. You obviously must get both sides of the wall as close as possible to the same temperature. By using high velocity fans, you are wicking away the moisture, but it is still forming inside the wall. Is there any way to thaw out the cooler?

Warm it up is your only option. Otherwise as soon as shutoff the fans the moisture will reappear. 

Ammonia is a great commercial refrigerant. Unfortunately in this situation, its too good of a refrigerant as it is overcoming the heat loss due to poor/improper insulation. This is the root cause of your problems and should honestly be fixed first. (former food factory maintenance worker here)

Maybe you can lucky and move enough air to temporarily stop it for painting purposes, but your going to need an unholy amount of air flow to accomplish that. Go big or go home with this approach.


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## Iceblast (Jun 18, 2014)

Also, the trouble we are running into is that these coolers are in the middle of the plant, which means that the surrounding rooms may be fluctuating temperatures.


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## driftweed (May 26, 2013)

No offense, but do you not have a paint rep that's local? Also, why did they not spell this out in the scope of work beforehand? Seems they would have had this sort of stuff dialed in before work began.

Were you just called in and told to "sort it out"? Honestly, if that's the case I would have called up my S.W. rep and had him make a site visit. They will do that, you know?


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

I'd see about renting some commercial dehumidifiers.


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## straight_lines (Oct 17, 2007)

Yup great big dehumidifiers. You may even want to build out containment surrounding the coolers and climate control that area. Sounds like you need an industrial rep to put you on the right track. 

I read this article in D&D last month, you have to be logged in to read it but the dehumidifiers used to dry concrete in this hospital are massive.
http://www.durabilityanddesign.com/archive/?fuseaction=view&articleID=5298


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## Iceblast (Jun 18, 2014)

driftweed said:


> No offense, but do you not have a paint rep that's local? Also, why did they not spell this out in the scope of work beforehand? Seems they would have had this sort of stuff dialed in before work began.
> 
> Were you just called in and told to "sort it out"? Honestly, if that's the case I would have called up my S.W. rep and had him make a site visit. They will do that, you know?


We specialize in many different services, in this case it's mold remediation. In order to set someone up with a long term solution sometimes I'd rather speak to technicians vs sales reps 9 times out of 10. This is just one problem contributing to the growth of the mold and I am just looking for the fastest and most efficient way to plan out the drying of the walls. I have met quite a few reps that know their stuff, but most sales reps just try to push their coatings on us without spending much time. There are many instances where I'll send a rep out to go look at a project for me.


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## Epoxy Pro (Oct 7, 2012)

You need to get heat on it to dry it out. Use like ready heaters and fans.


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## Hines Painting (Jun 22, 2013)

Fill the room(s) up with rice.


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## wje (Apr 11, 2009)

Call a local disaster restoration company. They usually have about 30-50 commercial dehumidifiers maybe they will rent you some.


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## premierpainter (Apr 17, 2007)

cdpainting said:


> You need to get heat on it to dry it out. Use like ready heaters and fans.


Ready Heater will add humidity to the room. Not a good idea


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## amcraft (May 6, 2014)

wje said:


> Call a local disaster restoration company. They usually have about 30-50 commercial dehumidifiers maybe they will rent you some.


This is actually a great idea. 

Question for the main person who posted: Is one side interior and the other side exterior? What is the temperature difference? Also, since it is a food processing facility - Are there certain areas that need to be physically separated from drying out this wall? 

____________________________________

http://www.amcraftindustrialcurtainwall.com/products/food-grade-curtains/


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

Call Servpro. They won't rent them too you but dehumidifying is what they do. I've seen them draw so much moisture out of a home that all the trim popped
Let them be in charge of that part there by alleviating your responsibility for moisture control


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