A Kitchen Ceiling Opened and Dried in Greenwich
1 / 7What the homeowner saw: a shadow spreading across the kitchen ceiling near the recessed light.
See How the Work Was Done
Twenty four seconds from the Greenwich kitchen: the shadow on the ceiling, the readings that set the scope, the containment, the opened cavity and three days of drying.
What Happened
What the homeowner could see was a shadow spreading across the kitchen ceiling near a recessed light. What the moisture meter found was a wet path that ran past the kitchen. Readings were taken across the ceiling, down the adjacent wall, into the framing above it and through the crawl space below, and they came back high enough at each point to put the whole run in the scope. Once the ceiling was open the cavity showed staining down the length of a pipe crossing the joist bays, with the insulation packed around it holding the water in place.
Wet insulation against framing does not dry on its own in a closed ceiling, so the ceiling and the wall came open together, everything soft came out, and the room stayed sealed while it dried.
Scope of Damage
Kitchen Ceiling and Adjacent Wall
Severe86 linear feet of ceiling and wall drywall taken down to two feet, with 86 square feet of wet insulation pulled out of the cavity and bagged. The exposed joists and stud wall were HEPA vacuumed and fogged before anything went back.
Bathroom Surfaces
Moderate46 square feet of affected surfaces in the bathroom cleaned and wiped down with a sanitizing agent so the room above the work was not left carrying the same problem.
Crawl Space Below
ModerateThe affected area of the crawl space cleaned and the poly ground cover addressed, with an air mover set under the same floor system so the cavity dried from both sides.
How We Solved It
- 1
Containment Before Anything Opened
A 240 square foot poly barrier with an airlock and one zipper access door was built across the kitchen, and 84 square feet of floor was protected under it. The barrier went up before the first cut so nothing from the ceiling cavity reached the rest of the house.
- 2
Ceiling and Wall Opened, Wet Materials Out
86 linear feet of ceiling and wall drywall removed to two feet and bagged, with 86 square feet of wet insulation taken out with it. Removing the insulation is what lets the framing dry, since it holds water against the wood and blocks any airflow reaching it.
- 3
HEPA Vacuuming and Antimicrobial Fogging
86 square feet of exposed joist system and stud wall HEPA vacuumed, then fogged with a plant based antimicrobial through a cold ULV fogger to reach the cavity surfaces a vacuum cannot. The bathroom surfaces and the crawl space area were cleaned in the same pass.
- 4
Three Days of Documented Drying
An LGR dehumidifier, axial air movers and a HEPA negative air scrubber ran inside the containment for three days, with moisture readings taken through the ceiling, the wall, the framing and the crawl space. Equipment was decontaminated and the containment was removed once the readings held.
Tools & Equipment Used
Greenwich is served by
Green Restoration of Greenwich
Available 24 / 7 for emergency response
