Know What Your Dealing With

2/13/2023 (Permalink)

This restroom suffered severe water damages after the toilet and shower overflowed.

After your home or business experiences water damage from a leaky pipe, rainstorm or flood, you naturally want to get things back to normal as soon as possible.

If you’re dealing with anything other than a large incursion, you understandably may be considering handling the cleanup and drying yourself to save money or time. The problem is that cleaning up and recovering from water damage isn’t always as straightforward as it seems.

Know What You’re Dealing With Water damage can be caused by three different types of water, including:

• Clean water (Cat I)
• Gray water (Cat 2) 
• Black water (Cat3) 

It’s important to understand the differences because Category 2 and Category 3 water present health risks to your family or employees and need to be handled differently. The most likely sources of clean water would be water from a pipe, water heater, or steam lines. The basic rule of thumb is that it should look and smell like tap water.

However, Category 2 Water - Refers to a source of water that contains a significant degree of chemical, biological or physical contaminants and causes discomfort or sickness when consumed or even exposed to, this is known as "grey water". Examples are toilet bowls, sump pump failures, water discharge from dishwashers or washing machines.

Then we have Category 3 Water - Known as "black water" and is grossly unsanitary. This water contains unsanitary agents, harmful bacteria and fungi, causing severe discomfort or sickness. This category includes water sources from sewage, seawater, rising water from rivers or streams, ground surface water or standing water. Category 2 Water or Grey Water that is not promptly removed from the structure and or have remained stagnant may be re classified as Category 3 Water. A toilet back flow that originates from beyond the toilet trap is considered black water contamination regardless of visible content or color.

Here at SERVPRO of Highland/North Redlands we are trained and certified for water damage restoration.

We can be at your home or business immediately to provide you with a loss assessment and evaluation of the affected materials if you need help with your water damage needs. We will inspect the damaged areas with our water sensing equipment such as probes and other infrared tools in order to determine the source of the damage and possible extent of areas affected. SERVPRO of Highlands/North Redlands

We are preferred vendors for multiple insurance companies and will be happy to help you from start to finish during your claims process. Do not feel frightened or alarmed, stay calm and call SERVPRO of Highland/North Redlands and just like our motto we will make it “Like it never even happened."