Categories Of Water And How To Treat Them Accordingly

12/5/2017 (Permalink)

SERVPRO OF NORTHBROOK/WHEELING/GLENCOE

Nobody ever wants to see water damage in their home or businesses, but when disaster strikes, you can always trust the professionals at SERVPRO of Northbrook/Wheeling/Glencoe to take care of it!  We are highly trained in water damage restoration and know the best and most affordable way to treat whatever situation you may come across.  The first thing a SERVPRO employee will do when they get the information on a water damage, is find out what the source is.  This helps determine what the category of water is, as well as the appropriate measures are to get you back to where you need to be.  

CATEGORY 1

Category 1 water is "clean" water that comes from a sink, shower, hose, or any source that has been filtrated.  Typically, you will see Category 1 water damages from pipe bursts, and hot water heater failures.  In Category 1 loses, SERVPRO is able to save a lot of building materials and contents.  SERVPRO will place dehumidifiers, air movers and in some cases, specialty drying equipment to dry the affected materials and avoid any sort of Microbial growth. 

CATEGORY 2

Category 2 water is defined as "slightly" contaminated water.  This source comes from broken drains, sump pump backups, and when water travels through floors.  In these cases, carpet, baseboards, and sometimes drywall will need to be removed.  Anything that comes in contact with category 2 water, should be safely sanitized by SERVPRO employees.  Because we do not know what type of contaminates could be in the water, its always better to be safe, than sorry!

CATEGORY 3

Category 3 water is classified as "grossly" contaminated.  This type of water is mainly sewage, but seawater is also classified as category 3 if hurricane flooding causes a flood in your home.  Any porous materials should be discarded given the fact that contaminates could get lodged in the very fine pores of certain contents.  Non-Porous materials such as metal, plastic, granite etc. can be safely sanitized with the right measures. 

If you ever find yourself in need of assistance, or have questions, feel free to give the professionals at SERVPRO of Northbrook/Wheeling/Glencoe a call at (847)498-8889.