Serving North Palm Beach
Wind-Driven Rain Intrusion North Palm Beach, 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
Why does the ceiling of a North Palm Beach balcony drip on a dry morning?
More than half the homes here are in buildings of ten or more units. Where a building of the early 1970s has its balconies cast as extensions of the concrete floor slab, the slab carries the cold of the cooled unit outward. Near the wall, the balcony's underside runs colder than the humid outdoor air, and water condenses on it and drips onto the balcony below.
Why are the cabinet backs damp in a North Palm Beach condo closed for the summer?
Seasonal use accounts for about one home in six here. In a closed unit with the cooling set high, the little cooled air that moves through the rooms never reaches inside shut cabinets, and where a kitchen or vanity cabinet stands against an outside wall, the air inside it stays as damp as the wall. Leaving cabinet doors ajar lets the drier room air in.
Why does water stand on some North Palm Beach streets after an August storm?
The village drains through a network of pipes, gutters, swales, waterways and ponds that has been in place for several decades, and the village says the system now experiences numerous failures each year. On ground about 7 feet above sea level, a downpour has little fall to leave by, so where a section has failed, water stands at the curb and against the lowest slabs.
For the figures behind these answers, see North Palm Beach.