When people talk about water damage, the first thing that comes to mind is flood and the destruction it leaves in its wake. Unknown to you, your possessions could be under the wrath of water damage even as you read this article.
Water does not have to be in liquid form to wreak havoc on certain materials. Paper products for example are very vulnerable to water damage even when water is in its gaseous or vapor form.
That is to say, high humidity is itself a threat to paper-made products such as pictures, posters, books, documents, magazines, brochures, and the like. This is because of the high absorbent capability of paper. Moisture can be easily absorbed when it is found in large amounts in the air. This happens when the air has a so-called high percentage of relative humidity.
Relative humidity is the ratio of actual water vapor density in the air to the maximum amount of water vapor density that the air can hold. This maximum amount is dependent on the air's temperature. The lower the temperature, the lower also is the maximum amount of water vapor density that the air can hold.
When the amount of water vapor in the air is high, it is understandable that the amount of absorbed moisture also becomes high. When this happens, water fills in the gaps between the grains that make up the paper material. This forces the material to swell. Since the swelling is not uniform as some portions may have smaller between the grains than others, the paper becomes distorted.
The distortion then becomes irreversible the moment the paper dries, which naturally happens when the humidity in the air suddenly drops. Abrupt drying, wherein the moisture suddenly leaves the gaps, can be too fast for the gaps to close back. In this case, the material hardens and irreversible water damage sets in.
You can easily spot this type of water damage. Look around for wavy patterns that have formed on pieces of paper. This usually happens when a book, magazine or pieces of paper are left inside a car. Since the car is enclosed, the air inside can easily be saturated with water vapor especially if the water vapor finds its way inside through a small opening such as a partially closed window.
Now, when the humidity inside the car suddenly drops, and this easily happens again also because the car has such a small space rendering it vulnerable to relatively high rates of temperature changes, moisture that has seeped into the paper materials would readily evaporate. This, as stated earlier, leaves the gaps devoid of water so quickly.
It is therefore not necessary for water to be present in liquid form for water damage to take effect. As was discussed in this article, even water in vapor form can become a destructive force. So if you live in a place wherein the humidity levels rapidly rise and fall, be wary of possible water damage that might be going on around you.
Chris Blastoyout does writeups for homeowners for
Water Damage Restoration and
Chicago Water Damage Cleanup
