336-244-0330

There are three Categories of Water Damage

 

Category 1 (Clean Water): Water originated from a sanitary water source and does not pose substantial risk from dermal, ingestion, or inhalation exposure. Example of Category 1 water source includes, but not limited to: broken water supply lines, tub or sink overflows with no contaminants; appliance malfunction involving water-supply lines; melting ice or snow; falling rainwater; broken toilet tanks; toilet bowls that do not contain contaminants or additives. However, once clean water leaves the exit point, it may not remain clean once it contacts other surfaces or materials.  

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Category 2 (Unsanitary): Water contains significant contamination and has potential to cause discomfort or sickness if contacted by humans. Category 2 water can contain potentially unsafe levels of microorganisms or nutrients for microorganisms. Examples of Category 2 water can include, but not limited to: discharge from dishwashers or washing machines; overflows of washing machines; overflows of from toilet bowls on the room side of the trap with some urine but no feces; seepage due to hydrostatic pressure; broken aquariums and punctured water beds. 

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Category 3 (Grossly Unsanitary): Water is grossly contaminated and contains pathogenic, toxigenic or other harmful agents. Example of Category 3 water can include, but not limited to: sewage; toilet backflows that originated from beyond the toilet trap regardless of visible content or color; all forms of flooding from seawater; ground surface water and rising water from rivers or streams, and other contaminated water entering or affecting the indoor environment, such as wind driven from hurricanes, tropical storms, or related events. Such water sources may carry silt, organic matter, pesticides, heavy metals, regulated materials, or toxic organic materials.   

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Different Classes of Water Damage: 

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Class 1- (Least amount of water, absorption, or evaporation): Only part of a room or area is wet or larger areas containing materials that have absorbed minimal moisture. Little or no wet carpet and/or cushion is present.

 

Class 2 - (Large amount of water, absorption, or evaporation): An entire room or more is affected. Carpet and cushion (pad) may be wet, Water has wicked up the walls less than 24 inches. There is significant moisture remaining in structural materials, e.g., plywood, particle board, structural wood, VCT, concrete, and structural soil. 

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Class 3 - (Greatest amount of water, absorption, and evaporation): Fully involved. Water may have come from overhead. Ceiling, walls, insulation, carpet, cushion (pad), and sub-floor in virtually the entire area is saturated.

 

 Class 4 - (Specialty drying situations): Wet materials with very low permeance/porosity (e.g. hardwood, plaster, brick, concrete, light weight concrete and stone). Typically, there are deep pockets of saturation, which require incredibly low specific humidity. This situation MAY require longer drying times and specific methods.