Serving Longwood
Wind-Driven Rain Intrusion Longwood, 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.
Wet days later? That is worth a call
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 rain treat a building with its studs on the outside, like Longwood's Inside-Outside House?
Directly. The city describes the house, prefabricated in New England and shipped in 1873, as taking its name from support studs on the outside. Framing exposed that way meets every summer storm head on rather than sheltering behind siding, and in humid air it gives the water back slowly. Sound paint on every face of the wood is what keeps it sound.
Why is the bottom of the siding soft on an early-1980s Longwood house?
On a house of that era clad in plywood panel siding, the lowest edge of each sheet sits close to the ground. Rain splashing off the soil soaks into that end grain, and the cooled wall behind keeps it from drying inward. Over summers the edge swells and softens. Keeping soil and mulch a few inches below it helps.
Can an open fireplace damper make a Longwood living room damp?
It can. A damper left open is a hole to the outdoors, and in June the air coming down the flue holds more water than the cooled room. It settles on the hearth and the firebox, which the room has cooled, and condenses there. Closing the damper when the fireplace is not in use keeps that air out.
Longwood's own page carries them beside the local figures.