How Severe is Your Water Damage?

6/2/2017 (Permalink)

Water Damage

To get started in the restoration of a home or business that has been affected by water damage, it is important to know the extent of damage that you are getting into. According to the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), there are four classes of destruction that explain the severity levels of water damage. Knowing the class of destruction first will help in making a restoration plan to fix the water damage.            

Classes of Destruction

Class 1 –

            Class 1 is the easiest water damage to deal with due to the slow evaporation rate. Only part of the room or area is affected for this class and there is little to no wet carpet that has been affected.

Class 2 –

            Due to the fast evaporation rate of Class 2, the whole room becomes affected. From the carpeting to the walls and structure, moisture covers the room.

Class 3 –

            This class involves the fastest evaporation rate where ceilings have now become involved. Most instances from this class have had liquid come from the ceiling. The moisture in these incidents will most likely affect the ceiling, walls, insulation, carpet and sub-floors.

Class 4 –

            When an area has reached class 4, this means that the liquid has had enough time to completely saturate materials such as hardwood, brick or even stone. These incidents require specialty-drying situations.

Source - http://www.IICRC.org/the-basics-water-damage-restoration-training-a-23.html