Water Restoration Services: A Handy Guide -

Water damage is a property owner’s worst nightmare. Thankfully, water restoration services can help you deal with the aftermath of a pipe bursting, flood damage, or any other type of water damage you experience. To help you prepare for the healing journey post-water damage, here is a handy guide to water restoration services:

3 Types of Water Damage

Water damage can come in many different forms and levels of severity. To ensure you are ready to handle needed repairs immediately, people must know the three types of water damage. A quality Portland restoration company can help you reclaim your property’s former glory:

Category 1: Clean Water Damage

When looking at the IICRC scale used by restoration pros, clean water damage is the least serious and most straightforward. Category one damage includes broken water supply lines, pipes, and water-using sewage systems (such as toilets and tubs). Since this water typically comes from a toxin-free source, it’s known as clean water damage and is much simpler to address.

Ready to find your dream home in Colorado?
Let us help you. Call or Text Kenna Real Estate Group at 303-955-4220 to get personalized assistance from our expert real estate agents. Find out what your home is worth in today's market.

Category 2: Gray Water Damage

Next up on the IICRC scale, gray water damage occurs when toilets, washing machines, sump pumps, and other more toxin-containing water systems suddenly break or become corrupted. Since this water comes from sources containing toxins and bacteria harmful to people using a property, it becomes much more severe. Handling the gray water damage in a timely fashion can ensure it does not lead to severe, expensive water restoration service issues down the line, however.

Category 3: Black Water Damage

Lastly, black water damage is the most severe on the IICRC scale. This damage comes from severe water damage accidents involving floods, seawater, and groundwater damage. Because there is a wide range of potentially toxic materials involved in these accidents, and since the water will hit your structure much harder, black water damage is deadly. To keep your property from becoming unsalvageable, you’ll need a professional water damage restoration team on the scene immediately.

The 4 Steps of Water Restoration

Once the type and category of water damage you’re dealing with have been identified. A pro water restoration team can get on-site to help you restore and save your property. There are four steps involved in the more extensive water restoration process:

1. Site Inspection

Before any other step can happen, an IICRC-certified water damage technician will need to do an on-site inspection to survey your property and every area damaged by water. From locating the initial source and cause of the damage to a lookover of your home’s structural integrity, the site inspection will ensure the restoration pros know to save your property.

2. Mitigation

After the inspection, water damage mitigation becomes the next crucial step. Truck-mounted water extraction equipment can remove standing water and other large pools of water from your property. Getting as much water as possible extracted is the primary goal of the mitigation process. Additionally, if any emergency structural repairs are needed to save your property, they will also happen during the mitigation step. Debris and any infestation-affected objects or structural pieces will be removed to ensure the property is not hazardous.

3. Remediation

Residual water will be left after the mitigation process in many cases, especially if you’re dealing with category one or two water damage. This time, special vacuum equipment will successfully remove any remaining residual water. This step also helps to deal with mold-proofing the damaged property. Next, specialized technicians set up heavy-duty drying equipment to dry the property. Pieces of property or structure that cannot be salvaged, sanitized, or cleaned will be removed to complete the remediation step of the process.

4. Restoration

Now that the water has been removed from the scene and severely damaged structural pieces have been handled, the restoration stage of the process will begin. Structural replacements will happen during this scene, for example. If mold has built up due to water damage, it will be handled during restoration. Content and other pieces of property damaged by water (that are not structural) will likely be taken care of during this final step. To finish the restoration service process, the pros will do a final inspection to ensure the property is restored as effectively as possible. Ultimately, they aim to restore your property to its pre-loss condition.