Storm Season Stock Check: What to Have Ready Before the SEQ Summer

Storm and flood work doesn’t trickle in. It lands in waves. One big cell across South East Queensland can fill a week of call-outs overnight: ceilings down, carpets floating, sewage back-ups, and a phone that won’t stop ringing.

The crews who cope best are the ones who did their checks in October. When every supplier and hire fleet is under pressure at once, that’s not the week to find out half your dehumidifiers need a pump, your hygrometer batteries are flat and the last roll of poly went on a mould job in August.

This is a practical pre-season checklist for restorers, carpet cleaners who take flood work, builders and facilities teams. It goes category by category: drying, monitoring, containment, PPE, chemistry and air filtration. It finishes with when hiring extra capacity makes more sense than buying, plus a short checklist you can print and pin up in the shed.

1. Drying equipment: service it, count it, plan your surge

Drying gear is what limits how much storm work you can take on. Before the season, pull every unit out and run it.

Dehumidifiers. Check and clean filters, test the pump and drain hose, inspect power cords and plugs, and note run-hours if your units record them. A dehumidifier that trips or won’t pump out is worse than none, because you’ve already promised the client a drying setup. Things worth checking against your own fleet:

• The XPOWER XD-85LH LGR dehumidifier has an auto purge pump with a 12.2 m drain hose and a washable stainless steel filter, and it stacks up to three high for transport and storage. Clean that filter and run the purge before the first job, not on it.
• The Dri-Eaz BD2500 LGR dehumidifier has automatic pump-out and an integrated humidistat adjustable from 30 to 90 per cent. Confirm the settings haven’t been left somewhere odd from the last job.
• The DryTrak Mini Upright LGR dehumidifier 50L is listed at up to 50 L/day with an integrated condensate pump. It’s an upright design with wheels and a foldable handle, which helps on apartment and hallway jobs.

Air movers. Check housings for cracks, clear fluff from intakes, test both speeds and inspect cords. If you daisy-chain fans, test the outlets as well. On the shelf at RW:

• DryTrak Axial Air Mover 4000 CFM: supplied with an adjustable stand, two-speed and daisy-chain capable.
• DryTrak Radial Air Mover Low Profile: 700–900 CFM, an 8 kg stackable body, two-speed and daisy-chain capable.

Count your setups. Don’t count units, count complete drying setups: dehumidifier, fans, monitoring and the leads to run them. That number is how many storm-affected homes you can start drying on the same day. Then decide your surge plan now. Either buy before the season or line up hire, so you aren’t working it out mid-storm.

If you’re weighing up machines, our guides on choosing a dehumidifier for restoration drying, LGR vs desiccant vs conventional dehumidification and carpet dryer vs air mover cover the trade-offs. Browse the full range under dehumidifiers and air movers and drying fans.

2. Moisture meters and monitoring

Storm season stretches your monitoring before anything else. Five active jobs need five sets of readings, and the drying log is what backs up your claim to the insurer.

• Check every meter powers up and reads, replace batteries, and carry spares.
• Inspect pins, probes and leads for damage. Check your meters against whatever reference your manufacturer specifies.
• Work out how many hygrometers you need for the number of jobs you expect to run at once, and fill the gap before the season starts.

Options from the hygrometers and environmental monitoring range:

• Tramex AZ8703 Digital Hygrometer: a pocket-sized, battery-operated meter for RH, temperature and dew point, with a min/max function. It’s a simple spot-check meter for every tech’s kit.
• Protimeter HygroMaster 2 with Quickstick: measures RH, air temperature, surface temperature and dew point, with data logging for reporting.
• Tramex Feedback Datalogger DL-RHTA: a Bluetooth ambient RH and temperature logger that stores up to 100,000 data points. Leave it on site so you aren’t relying only on visit-day spot readings.

If you’re also running jobs remotely, the Tramex TREMS-5 Remote Environmental Monitoring System pairs five cloud sensors with a cloud station. For material moisture, see our guide to choosing a moisture meter for restoration and flooring work.

3. Containment and site protection

Floodwater and sewage jobs need containment ready the moment you walk in. Separate the affected area, protect clean rooms and give the drying chamber a boundary. Check you have:

• Poles and kit. Count your poles, check the spring mechanisms and head pieces, and make sure each kit is complete. The ZipWall Premium Barrier Kit (ZPB10) includes 10 spring-loaded poles (1.4–3.8 m), Tight-Seal rails, side clamps, zippers and 4 m × 20 m sheeting.
• Doorways. The ZipWall ZipDoor STD comes with pre-installed zippers and double-sided tape for sealing a standard doorway.
• Sheeting. Ezy Clear Polythene Sheeting 3 m × 50 m (80 µm) for see-through walls, and Ezy Black Builders Film 200 micron (2 m × 50 m and 4 m × 50 m rolls) for heavier floor and site protection.
• Tape. Ezy Black Cloth Tape 48 mm × 50 m for fixing sheeting and running repairs.
• Waste. Wet underlay, plasterboard and contents add up fast. Ezy Heavy Duty Multi Purpose Bags (150 micron) suit general strip-out waste. They aren’t asbestos bags, so if older buildings are in your patch, read our asbestos bags guide too.

There’s more in the containment and site protection and sheeting and zip doors categories, and in our dust containment guide.

4. PPE for contaminated water

Treat floodwater as contaminated. It can carry sewage, chemicals and debris, and your crew will be working in it for days on end. Count PPE per tech per day, not per job, and stock for a busy fortnight rather than a normal week.

• Respiratory. The Ezy Consumables P2 Particulate Respirator with Valve (20 pack) is certified to AS/NZS 1716:2012. See how to choose a P2 mask for fit and limits.
• Hands. Ezy Nitrile Gloves Diamond Grip Heavy Duty come in boxes of 100, with a raised texture for wet handling. Our nitrile gloves guide covers the rest.
• Body. Ezy Disposable Coveralls Type 5 & 6 are hooded and rated for particles and light spray or splash. See how to choose coveralls.

Browse PPE and safety supplies, or the biohazard and meth job page for sewage-heavy work.

5. Antimicrobials, disinfectants and odour control

Post-flood clean-up and mould prevention both depend on having the right chemistry in the van. Check quantities, check use-by dates, and check that a current SDS is on hand for every product. If anyone on the crew needs a refresher, read how to read a safety data sheet.

• Actichem BioSan II Concentrate: a hospital-grade disinfectant and micro-organism decontaminant in 5 L and 20 L. Follow the label and SDS for dilution, contact time and PPE.
• Actichem Percide: a peroxide-based disinfectant, used ready to use or mixed 9:1 with booster, and TGA listed.
• Actichem Mould Exterminator: a chlorine-based mouldicide for hard and structural surfaces. The product page notes it isn’t suitable for carpets, fabrics or sensitive surfaces.

Not sure which fits the job? Our Percide vs BioSan II vs Mould Exterminator comparison sets them side by side. Browse disinfectants and sanitisers, fire and odour restoration and the mould remediation job page.

6. Air filtration

Sewage, mould and post-flood strip-outs all put particles in the air. Before the season, check every air scrubber runs, inspect the housing seals, and have spare filters on the shelf. You don’t want to find out on site that the only HEPA filter you have is loaded.

The DryTrak Air Scrubber 800 CFM comes with a HEPA filter and G4 prefilter installed, and has variable airflow and optional carbon filtration. For filter choice and replacement, see our HEPA filter guide and air scrubber guide. You can also hire an air scrubber or browse air filtration and decontamination.

7. When to hire instead of buy

Buying makes sense for the setups you run all year. Hire makes sense for:

• Surge capacity. The fortnight after a big storm, when you need twice your normal fleet.
• One-off large losses. A commercial floor or a multi-unit building that needs more dehumidification than you’d own.
• Trying heavier kit. Running a larger dehumidifier or heated drying on a real job before you commit to buying.

Restoration Warehouse hire rates as listed on the equipment hire page, checked 22 October 2026. The site states that displayed rates include GST.

Rates can change, so check the hire page for current pricing. If you need several fans, dehumidifiers or a full setup, send your quantities and dates for a bulk-hire quote. The team confirms availability when you book. For storm and flood jobs specifically, start at our storm and flood drying hire page.

Quick printable checklist

• Every dehumidifier run-tested: filter cleaned, pump and drain hose checked, cord inspected
• Every air mover run-tested on both speeds; intakes cleared, housings and cords checked
• Number of complete drying setups counted (dehu + fans + monitoring + leads)
• Surge plan decided: what you’ll buy now and what you’ll hire
• Moisture meters and hygrometers checked; spare batteries packed
• Enough hygrometers or loggers for the number of jobs you expect to run at once
• Containment poles and kits counted and complete; zip doors on hand
• Poly sheeting, builders film and cloth tape restocked
• Heavy-duty waste bags stocked (and asbestos bags if older buildings are in your area)
• P2 respirators, nitrile gloves and coveralls stocked per tech per day
• Disinfectants and mould chemistry restocked; current SDS on hand for each
• Air scrubbers run-tested; spare HEPA and prefilters on the shelf

Get your setup sorted before the season

Talk to the Restoration Warehouse team about stock and hire setups before the season gets busy. Call 07 3568 4925, email sales@restorationwarehouse.com.au, or arrange collection from 9a/35 Learoyd Rd, Acacia Ridge. If you’re not sure where to start, the water damage and structural drying job page brings the drying, extraction and monitoring range together.