Restoration Technology and Equipment
A field guide to the cameras, meters, dehumidifiers, and air-handling tools we bring to every water, fire, and mold project — and what each one actually contributes to a successful outcome.
Equipment does not restore a property on its own. A moisture meter in the wrong hands produces readings nobody believes. A dehumidifier sized for the wrong cubic footage runs all week without making progress. The value of good equipment only shows up when it is used by trained technicians who understand why each tool exists and how to read what it is telling them. This page is written from that perspective: not as a gear catalog, but as an explanation of how the right tool, used correctly, produces evidence that a loss was handled to a measurable standard.
We keep response vehicles stocked so the first truck on your property is a complete mitigation kit — not a sales visit followed by a return trip the next day. The categories below walk through what is on those trucks, why it matters, and how we decide which tools come into your home for your specific loss.
Every tool on this page is calibrated or maintained on a schedule. Meters that drift out of calibration get pulled from service. Equipment that cannot produce its rated performance gets repaired or replaced. The point of a written standard of care is that the numbers on a report mean what the report says they mean.
Thermal Imaging and Moisture Measurement
How we find water you cannot see and prove it is gone when we leave.
Thermal Imaging Cameras (FLIR-Class)
A thermal camera visualizes surface temperature. Because evaporating water cools the material underneath it, wet drywall and wet framing typically appear as cooler shapes against surrounding dry material. Thermal imagery is used to prioritize where we measure, not to replace direct measurement. Every finding is confirmed with a calibrated moisture meter before any decision is made to remove material.
Thermal cameras are particularly useful on flat ceilings, behind baseboards, and along the bottom plate of walls where water tends to migrate but where a visual inspection alone would miss it. The captured imagery becomes part of the job file, which gives adjusters and homeowners a clear picture of what drove each scope decision.
Pin Moisture Meters
Pin meters use two probes that measure electrical resistance between them in hygroscopic materials like wood, drywall, and particleboard. Because the reading comes from a specific depth at a specific point, pin meters are the tool of choice for confirming that a suspect location is actually wet — and later for confirming that it is actually dry.
Pinless Moisture Meters
Pinless meters use a sensor plate that reads roughly the first three-quarters of an inch of material underneath it without puncturing the surface. They are the fastest way to scan a large area — a full basement, a flooring field, or a long wall — to map moisture before deciding where to drill pin readings.
Thermo-Hygrometers
A thermo-hygrometer measures ambient temperature and relative humidity and calculates grains per pound (GPP) of moisture in the air. Tracking GPP inside the drying chamber, in the rest of the unaffected house, and outside the structure tells us whether the drying system is actually producing progress — or whether we are circulating the same wet air.
Dehumidifiers and Air Movers
How moisture is removed from materials and then removed from the air.
LGR (Low Grain Refrigerant) Dehumidifiers
LGR units are the workhorses of residential structural drying. A refrigerant cycle cools the incoming air below its dew point, condenses moisture out, and returns drier air to the space. Low-grain models are engineered to keep producing useful water removal even as the air in the drying chamber gets drier, which is exactly when a conventional refrigerant dehumidifier starts to stall.
Proper sizing comes from the cubic footage of the affected area, the class of water damage, and the materials involved. Undersized drying chambers fail slowly; oversized ones waste energy and, in cold conditions, can over-dry wood framing. We size the drying system to the loss rather than to a rule of thumb.
Desiccant Dehumidifiers
Desiccant dehumidifiers pass humid air through a silica-based wheel that adsorbs water vapor. They continue to perform when LGR units start to lose efficiency — in cold garages and crawlspaces, on hardwood floor drying projects that require very low humidity, and on large commercial losses. Many projects benefit from combining LGR and desiccant in the same drying chamber.
Axial Air Movers
Axial air movers use a fan blade similar to a box fan but housed for restoration use. They deliver high volumes of air across large surfaces, which makes them the right choice for drying open floor areas, ceilings, and long wall runs. Axials are used when total airflow, not directed airflow, is the priority.
Centrifugal Air Movers
Centrifugal air movers use a squirrel-cage impeller to produce a higher-velocity, more directed stream of air. They are the tool for pushing air into wall cavities, under cabinetry, and across complex corners. Combining centrifugal and axial air movers lets a drying technician match airflow to the geometry of a particular room rather than carpeting the house with identical fans.
HEPA Scrubbers, Negative Air, and Containment
Protecting the unaffected portion of the home during demolition and drying.
HEPA Air Scrubbers
A HEPA air scrubber pulls room air through a sequence of pre-filters and a true HEPA filter that captures 99.97% of particles at 0.3 microns. Scrubbers run continuously inside containment during mold, fire, and sewage projects to reduce airborne particulates during demolition and cleaning. Filter stages are replaced on schedule rather than when they look dirty.
Negative Air Machines
A negative air machine is a HEPA-filtered blower ducted from the contained area to the exterior. It produces a pressure differential that keeps air flowing into the containment rather than out of it, so demolition debris cannot drift into clean parts of the home. Negative air is a core element of the S520 remediation framework and is used on most mold projects.
Containment Plastic and Zip Poles
Physical containment — six-mil polyethylene sheeting, telescoping zip poles, and zippered entry doors — seals off the affected area from the rest of the home. Done properly, containment keeps dust and odor confined to the work area and makes daily life bearable for homeowners who are living on-site during the project.
Air Scrubber Placement
Where a scrubber sits matters. We position units to create a cross-flow through the containment so the air inside the chamber turns over several times per hour. A scrubber parked in a dead corner cleans its own corner and not much else.
Hydroxyl and Ozone Generators
Two different tools for different stages of the odor-removal process.
Hydroxyl Generators
Hydroxyl generators use ultraviolet light and a catalyst to create hydroxyl radicals that break down odor-causing molecules. They work more slowly than ozone but are generally considered safe to run in occupied spaces, which makes them the tool of choice when a family is living at home during a fire or odor project.
Ozone Generators
Ozone generators produce O3, an unstable three-oxygen molecule that reacts aggressively with organic compounds. Ozone can neutralize odors that hydroxyl treatment cannot, but it requires the space to be unoccupied during treatment and properly ventilated afterward. We use ozone as a final step in unoccupied structures, never as a shortcut around source removal.
Source Removal First
Neither hydroxyl nor ozone can overcome odor sources that are still present. Soot-laden insulation, contaminated carpet pad, and charred framing must be removed before any air treatment produces a lasting result. Odor machines are a finishing step, not a substitute for demolition.
Documentation of Treatment
Both hydroxyl and ozone treatments are logged with start and end times, equipment model, and the condition of the space before and after. That record is what allows the project to close out with confidence rather than with a nose test on the last day.
Xactimate Estimating Software
Why we write every estimate in the same platform your carrier uses.
Xactimate is the estimating platform most property insurance carriers in North America rely on to evaluate restoration claims. Writing our scope of work in Xactimate means every line item, unit of measure, and price point is grounded in a shared reference that both sides of the claim recognize. It shortens approval cycles, reduces scope disputes, and gives homeowners a document they can actually compare against their adjuster's worksheet.
For self-pay customers who are not filing a claim, a Xactimate-based estimate is still useful because it breaks a project into concrete, line-level components. Instead of a single "reconstruction" number, you see the demolition, the material, the labor, and the finish work individually. That transparency is how we avoid the surprise change orders that give the restoration industry a bad reputation.
Field technicians also use Xactimate's mobile tools to sketch rooms, attach photos, and record meter readings in the same file as the scope. The final job file your carrier receives is produced directly from the field data, not re-typed from handwritten notes days later.
Common Equipment Questions
Why does the technician carry so many different moisture meters?
Different materials and situations call for different measurement methods. A pinless meter is used for non-destructive scanning across large areas. A pin meter confirms moisture at a specific depth in wood or drywall. A thermo-hygrometer measures temperature and relative humidity in the air rather than in materials. Used together, the three tools produce a complete moisture picture.
What is the difference between LGR and desiccant dehumidifiers?
LGR (low grain refrigerant) dehumidifiers use a refrigerant cycle and are most efficient in warm, wet conditions — the most common residential drying environment. Desiccant dehumidifiers use a silica-based wheel to adsorb moisture and perform better in cold conditions or when extremely low humidity is required. Some projects use both simultaneously.
What does a thermal camera actually see?
A thermal imaging camera does not see moisture directly. It detects surface temperature differences caused by evaporative cooling, so a wet wall cavity typically reads as a cooler shape against the surrounding dry material. Every thermal finding is confirmed with a moisture meter before any decision is made.
Are hydroxyl and ozone generators the same thing?
No. Both are used for odor control, but they work differently and are used at different stages. Hydroxyl generators are generally safe to run in occupied spaces and work more slowly, while ozone generators produce a more aggressive reaction but require the space to be fully unoccupied during treatment and ventilated afterward.
What is Xactimate and why do you use it?
Xactimate is the estimating software most property insurance carriers use to evaluate restoration claims. Writing our estimates in Xactimate means line items, units, and pricing are based on a shared reference that carriers recognize, which generally shortens the approval cycle and reduces scope disputes.
See the Equipment in Action
Every loss is different, but the tools that make a difference are the same. Call to talk through your situation with a technician who understands what each piece of gear is for.