How Different Categories of Water Damage Can Affect Your Home

6/12/2019 (Permalink)

Category 1 water is generally considered the least harmful category

How Different Categories of Water Damage Can Affect Your Home

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when your home in Leonard, OK, is flooded. Many homeowners don’t realize that clean water and contaminated water can have drastically different impacts on homes, and that these categories of water can majorly affect the restoration process.

1. Category 1

Known as clean water, category 1 water is generally considered the least harmful category of water damage. A broken supply line or an overflowing sink are common sources of this category of water. Since this type of water doesn’t contain potentially harmful debris, it is often relatively simple to remove. As long as the water is removed in a timely manner and the home is thoroughly dried and restored, the likelihood of secondary damage is minimal compared to other categories of water damage.

2. Category 2

Category 2 water damage can come from a variety of sources, including washing machines or sump pumps. This category of water is known as contaminated water or gray water because, unlike clean water, it generally contains some amount of debris. This type of water should be handled with caution when it is removed. If this category of water is left to sit in a home, it can turn into category 3 water.

3. Category 3

When floodwater contains hazardous debris, it is generally referred to as black water or category 3 water. Flooding that starts outside the home or a sewer line break are common causes of this category of water. The removal process is often time-consuming, and it can be helpful to contact residential water damage repair experts to ensure that the water is safely removed. In many cases, it is necessary to thoroughly sanitize the home after category 3 water has been removed.

Though no homeowner wants their home to sustain water damage, having clean water rather than contaminated water or black water can make restoration simpler. Knowing the effects of different categories of water damage on homes can help to prepare you for restoration.