Serving Homestead
Wind-Driven Rain Intrusion Homestead, FL
Wind pushes rain sideways through window frames, stucco and the base of the wall. The roof can hold and the house still take water. The walls on the side the wind came from are traced first, at windows, sliders, the base of the wall and the soffits. Block that took on water is dried from inside the closed building rather than left to the outdoor air.
Shut off the water, then pick up the phone
Often needed alongside
- Humidity & Moisture Drying
When the outdoor air is wetter than the building, opening windows adds water. Drying means a closed building and conditioned air.
- Storm Surge & Tidal Flooding
Surge and tidal water rise from the ground up and carry salt and silt with them. Anything porous they soaked is treated as contaminated.
Frequently asked questions
How does steam from another apartment end up in a Homestead bathroom?
Through a shared exhaust shaft. About a fifth of Homestead's homes are in buildings of ten or more units, and in some of them the bath fans of stacked units all empty into one vertical shaft. Each connection should have a damper that closes when the fan stops. Where one sticks open, warm, wet air from a neighbor's shower flows back in and settles as water on the cooled ceiling and mirror.
What do dark grout lines along the outside wall of a Homestead house mean?
Often, water coming up through the slab edge. In a house of around 2001, the median age here, that still has its original ceramic tile, the grout is the porous part of the floor. After August storms soak the soil against the wall, water wicks into the slab's edge and shows first as a darker band of grout along the outside wall, well before the tile itself lifts.
How long does a heavy August storm leave water around a Homestead building?
Long enough to matter at ground level. Homestead's center lies only about 3 feet above sea level, so after a heavy downpour the lawns and parking areas around a building hold water until the ground can take it. Where paving slopes toward the building, that water can reach the sills of ground-floor doors and soak the base of the walls before it goes down.
For the figures behind these answers, see Homestead.