Our Transparent Way of Categorizing Water Damage

10/28/2021 (Permalink)

Coming from personal experience flooding and the aftermath is a stressful obstacle to overcome. No need to stress because our professionally trained team will have it restored to the preloss condition in a jiffy! In this blog, we will give you a transparent outlook on how our project managers will categorize the type of flood you might be dealing with.

Category 1: Clean source, no risk of sickness

When a project manager labels water damage as a category 1 it means that they found the source of the flood is a clean source and it won’t create any unsafe environment. A category 1 water damage means that the water wasn’t standing for an excessive amount of time which didn’t cause major damage to the structure. Once the project has been classified as a category 1 the team can proceed with structural drying. It is possible to restore the structure to the preloss condition but the team will have to work rapidly to properly dry material, and by replacing materials with permanent structural damager. If the structure has an odor there is a strong chance that it is a category 2.

Category 2: Large Contamination

No need to stress out, once again, our trained professionals are prepared to handle any category. A category 2 is when the water has a significant degree of chemical, biological or physical contamination. Some examples of category 2 would be aquarium leaks, waterbed leaks, toilet bowl overflows, dishwasher or washer discharges. This category has the potential to cause discomfort and shouldn’t be allowed to dwell in a structure for an extended period of time. When our production technicians approach a project of this category they will take special steps and procedures in order to return the structure to the preloss condition. These special steps include; cleaning procedures which must begin before the drying process can begin. Also, any affected carpet underlay must be taken out and disposed of. The carpet MUST be thoroughly cleaned using our hot water extraction method. Finally, our skilled team will employ antimicrobials to mitigate the growth of microorganisms, especially when there are porous materials that are to be cleaned and restored. By thoroughly cleaning and rapid drying the materials we ensure that there won’t be further damage.

Category 3: Dangerous Situation

Although this is a more serious situation you shouldn’t feel stressed because your SERVPRO professionals know exactly how to handle these types of situations, for example, Toilet traps, floodwaters, etc. Our number one priority in this situation is the safety of our production technicians. To ensure that they are completely safe in these situations we have them dress in full PPE: rubber gloves, respiratory protection, rubber boots, body covering, and appropriate eye protection. These technicians want to ensure that communication is constantly flowing so to ensure this they will mark and post areas that are potentially hazardous. To ensure the safety of those living/working in these situations we will evacuate individuals with compromised immune systems until it has been labeled as safe.