Category 1 2 3 Water Damage

The 4 primary classifications of water damage.

Category 1 2 3 water damage.

Category 1 or 2 water can deteriorate to 2 or 3 respectively. This category includes water sources from sewage seawater rising water from rivers or streams storm surge ground surface water or standing water. Category 2 grey water damage water damage from a category 2 classification is from sources that have a level of contaminants that may cause illness or. It affects only part of a room or area or larger areas containing materials that have.

If it is not cleaned quickly it can degrade into category 2 leading to health issues for those inhabiting the structure. Once microorganisms become wet from the water intrusion depending upon the length of time that they remain wet and the temperature they can begin to grow in numbers and can change the. Refer to the iicrc s500 for complete definitions. Category 2 gray water gray water presents some degree of contamination whether its chemical biological or physical in nature.

Image by diego cervo for shutterstock. There are significant health risks as well as a high chance of injury associated with the water damage restoration process there are also additional health risks including severe illness and death associated with improperly drying the structure as there is the potential for toxic mold to be left behind as well as structural instability. This category may include discharged water from the washing machine broken aquariums and leaking water beds. Time and temperature can also affect the quality of water thereby changing its category.

Category 2 water or grey water that is not promptly removed from the structure and or have remained stagnant may be re classified as category 3 water. Flood restoration category 2 water loss. Although this water is clean it does not come without risks. Class 1 is the least amount of water absorption and evaporation.

S500 then defines the conditions under which an originally category 1 water damage loss might be considered to have changed its category of water to 2 or 3. 1 in 1994 the iicrc made the decision to eliminate the use of gray and black water references in the professional standard because color based descriptions of the water were not accurate. The current standard that addresses water damage restoration is the s500 standard and reference guide for professional water damage restoration s500. In the s500 water is described relative to its degree of contamination in 3 categories.

Water grossly contaminated with bacteria can be perfectly clear category 3 water formerly referred to as black water is rarely black and category 2 water formerly referred to as gray water might not be gray. Devastating damage will occur in a category 3 hurricane winds range from 111 to 129 mph. There is a high risk of injury or death to people livestock and pets from flying.