Water Restoration Categories & Classes: Damage/Lose Classifications

In our ongoing series about water restoration, we’ve discussed the categories of water damage but now want to turn our attention to the various classifications.

But first let’s quickly recap the various categories:

Classifications of Water Destruction

Once we have determined the category that the water falls into, we then have to classify the kind of damage/loss. While categories have three levels, the classifications have four:

Classification 1

This is the easiest to deal with as it will evaporate slowly but the space is only partly affected. There is little or no wet carpet as the moisture has only affected materials with a low rate of absorption, such as plywood or concrete.

An example of a Category 1 (Clean Water) Classification 1 water loss would be a hot water supply line leaking in the unfinished basement that was discovered quickly.

Classification 2

This has a faster evaporation rate and affects an entire space with carpeting.The moisture has wicked up the walls at least by 1 foot and there is moisture remaining in framing behind the walls.

An example of a Category 1 (Clean Water) Classification 2 water loss is if the supply line to your hot water tank burst while you were out to dinner and water ran into your whole finished basement. This will change categories if it is not quickly and properly mitigated.

Classification 3

This has the fastest evaporation rate and is more likely to saturate the ceiling, walls, insulation, carpet and sub-floors. The liquid may have come from overhead.

An example of this Category 1 (Clean Water) Classification 3 would be a supply line for your basement toilet broke while you were out, the line whipped around spraying everything in range. This too could change categories if it is not quickly and properly mitigated.

Classification 4

This is more often a specialty drying situation, which means there has been enough liquid and time to saturate materials with very low absorption rate, such as hardwood, brick, or stone. By the time this is mitigated, it is no longer a Category 1 (Clean Water) but most likely become a Category 2 (Grey Water) situation.

Examples of this would be outside flooding that filled your basement or an ice maker line had a slow leak that was only noticed when your hardwood floor started to buckle.

Help, I have water damage!

S&A employs a number of highly trained and certified restoration technician to assist you when you are facing water issues. The quicker we can respond, the faster we can get you back to pre-loss state.

That is why it is important to call a BBB A+ rated professional water mitigation and restoration professional like S&A Restoration as soon as possible.

For those in the Wichita Kansas area that need a water damage restoration service and contractor, give us a call at (316) 558-8422 day or night.

As always, let us know if you have any questions, other ideas, or comments!