Serving Amsterdam
Structural Drying & Dehumidification in Amsterdam, NY
Commercial dehumidifiers and air movers remove moisture from the structure, with daily readings logged from the material itself for claim documentation. Structural drying brings building materials back to a documented dry standard using air movers and dehumidifiers rather than surface evaporation alone. Moisture readings are logged through the process so the substrate, not just the surface, is confirmed dry before anything is rebuilt.
Frequently asked questions
The creek runs under buildings. Is that a problem?
It is a limitation rather than a fault, and the limitation is that nobody can see the inside of it. A culverted channel has whatever capacity it was built with, less whatever has accumulated in it since, and both are unknown until something backs up. The city holds what records exist. For a property above or beside one, the practical question is where the water goes when the culvert is full.
Water comes through the cellar wall halfway up rather than at the floor.
On a hillside cellar that usually means the water is arriving sideways through the slope rather than rising from beneath. It travels down through the soil, meets the wall, and comes through at whatever joint is weakest. The floor may stay dry throughout. That points the remedy uphill, at intercepting the flow before it reaches the wall, rather than at anything done to the floor.
Is a stone cellar of this age worth waterproofing?
Sealing the inside face of a stone wall generally moves the water rather than stopping it, and on a hillside it can push it into the mortar instead. The approach that works is managing what arrives: interception above the house, roof water carried well clear, and a pit and pump for what still gets in. That gets a cellar to reliable dry storage, which is usually what is actually wanted.
This FAQ belongs to the Amsterdam page; it is repeated here.