Water damage can prove a rather intimidating subject of discussion. This is due to a number of different factors. But one of the most important is a perceived complexity to the subject. The details of insurance and restoration can seem so intimidating that people often balk at properly preparing for the worst. But in general one can get the basics down rather quickly.
In fact, the most important aspects of how water damage occurs and what to do about it can be understood in about sixty seconds. The first thing one needs to understand is the language used in water damage restoration. There are three main categories of water damage and four for classes.
Category 1
This category states that the water came from a portable or sanitary source. It’s the lowest category because the water is fit for human consumption.
Category 2
This water is unfit for human consumption and could cause medical issues if consumed. It’s also the point where significant contamination can occur to anything it touches.
Category 3
In category three one goes from potential health hazard to proven threat. This is when water has been shown to contain pathogens or toxic agents.
Class 1
This class is in large part defined by something known as porosity. Basically, this should be thought of as how well a substance can absorb water. A sheet of plastic would have a very low porosity. Where a sponge would be about as porous as anything can get. The more porous something is the worse it’ll hold up against water damage.
In a class 1 situation only a minimal amount of water will have flowed onto material which has a low porosity. This means that only a small amount of evaporative force will need to be used to fully mitigate the situation.
Class 2
In a class 2 water intrusion one will see a significant amount of water alongside high porosity surfaces. This means that the amount of water absorbed by the materials will be significant for two equally worrisome reasons. A wooden floor during a flood might fall under a class 2.
Class 3
A class 3 situation occurs when a large amount of water has been absorbed by highly porous material such as carpeting. This tends to occur in events along the line of a broken water main.
Class 4
A class 4 presents some of the most significant challenges. In this situation the water has actually become trapped. One can consider the base of a waterfall for an example of how water behaves in this situation. Most of the water will actively flow downstream after coming down a waterfall. But one can look around the base and find countless large, stagnant, puddles. This shows how even the most forcefully flowing water can become trapped by environmental barriers like rocks. The typical home or office has even more areas than a waterfall might. As such one can easily see just how difficult a class 4 situation is to treat.
However, this brings up the final point which one needs to learn about water damage restoration. All of these situations can be treated to some extent by water mitigation. Water mitigation is the process by which material is recovered after water damage occurs. Many people aren’t even aware that it exists. But even those who do are often unaware of the most important fact about it. The effectiveness of water mitigation is impacted by all the points discussed so far. But the biggest factor impacting every category is duration of exposure. If one has prepared to tackle water mitigation in advance than it’s easier to minimize the overall damage. This usually involves having the number of a good water mitigation service on hand to call in an emergency.