Classes and Categories of Water Damage

Water damage is a common and recurring problem in homes and businesses, but dealing with it can still be a daunting task every time. Water damage can stem from normal disruptions like broken pipes, leaking faucets, or damaged appliances to natural calamities like heavy rain and intense flooding, but no matter how big or small the damage is, it is vital to deal with it immediately to prevent further losses.

The first thing that comes to mind when water damage is involved is to try to handle it on one’s own, but often this only leads to a bigger problem especially if the one performing the task is untrained. Water damage comes in different classes and categories and each requires special techniques and equipment for proper extraction, a job that can only be handled by an expert water damage restoration company such as ServiceMaster of the Upstate. Below are the classes and categories of water damage that home and business owners may encounter.

Categories of Water Damage

The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification (IICRC) designates three (3) categories of water damage.

Category 1: Clean Water Damage

Category 1 is the least severe form of water damage and does not pose a threat to human health. Sources of Category 1 water damage include broken water pipes and supply lines, and overflows from bathtubs and sinks.

· Most items damaged by “clean water” can easily be dried without potential side effects for the property owner. However, Category 1 water damage may escalate to Category 2 if not dealt with immediately.

Category 2: Grey Water Damage

Category 2 comes from toilets, washing machines, or sump pump backups. Any item affected by grey water must be disinfected completely, as waste material and chemicals present in the water may be harmful.

Category 3: Black Water Damage

Category 3 or black water is the most extreme kind of water damage that needs immediate extraction and disinfection to prevent serious risks to health. This water contains significant pathogens and is grossly unsanitary.

Black water includes sewer backups, floodwaters, river or ground water, and standing water that has begun to support bacterial growth.

If a house experiences black water damage, occupants must stay away from affected areas so contamination doesn’t spread.

Classes of Water Damage

When assessing options for water damage repair, the class of water damage must be determined. The class of the water describes the amount of water and its anticipated evaporation rate depending on the amount and type of wet materials in the space affected.

Class 1 – the least harmful form of water damage which may only affect a portion of a room or area. It has the least amount of water involved and materials absorb only a very small amount of moisture.

Class 2 – this involves a large amount of water and can damage carpets or cushions. Structural materials such as plywood contain residual moisture. Water damage repair is more difficult when it involves Class 2 water.

Class 3 – the source of Class 3 water can come from overhead and may require demolition. Water can saturate the ceilings, walls, insulation, and carpeting.

Class 4 – this class of water damage may affect hardwood floors, plaster, concrete and other materials with very low permeance porosity. This type is the most complicated and hardest to deal with and requires special water restoration and water removal procedures.

South Carolina’s Leading Water Damage Restoration and Cleanup Company

No matter the class or category, water damage is a time-sensitive process that needs proper skill and equipment. If you experience water damage in your home or business, contact ServiceMaster of the Upstate. Our staff is trained on the use of thermal imaging cameras and moisture meters and certified by the IICRC. Our business is fully licensed and insured, and our technicians are professionally trained and certified, so you can rest assured that the job will be done correctly and efficiently. Our emergency response team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year to guide you from crisis to resolution.

We are an insurance-preferred company and can guide you when filing for insurance claims. Call ServiceMaster of the Upstate today at (864) 310-7891 or message us at https://www.servicemasterupstate.com/contact/ for water damage repair and restoration services in your commercial property. We service Greenville, Spartanburg, Laurens, Newberry, and Saluda, South Carolina and surrounding areas.

Four Events That Need Professional Clean up Services

Life is loaded with exciting bends in the road. Some major life events are expected, while others happen instantaneously and unexpectedly. Some of these life events could have a significant impact on your home, and that impact could mean you need professional home cleaning. While many people enlist the help of a professional restoration company after a flood, storm, or fire, the truth is that you could use professional help after plenty of other events as well. Here are some of them.

Moving

You might have waited for this moment all your life. Searching endlessly until you found the right one. What an exciting feeling! But wait… are you aware of what that home has been through? While inspections and history reports can tell you about foundation work or a collapsed roof, they don’t really tell you about other things such as how many times the seller’s dog soiled the carpet in the den or all the times their child accidentally threw up in the living room. That home could have a ton of germs and bacteria that you are not aware of.

Moving is a great time to call for professional home cleaning, particularly before you start moving in. Have the professional carpet cleaner work on the carpet and disinfect it, the bathroom areas thoroughly scrubbed, and other high-traffic areas wiped down until you can be confident that your new home is thoroughly clean and bacteria-free. That way you’ll move into a home that looks its best, is safe, and what you can really be sure that’s free from those unwanted germs.

Construction, Renovations, or Remodeling

Some time has passed in your home, and you really want a new environment. So you thought of updating that old, outdated kitchen to make it more of a modern masterpiece. Weeks later and your contractors have finished installing your countertops and plumbing fixtures, and you’ve just about gotten clear to start moving your appliances back in. But then you realize that your contractors have left behind a lot of dust and debris from that renovation. There are crumbled drywall on your new floor, dust all over your countertops, and even sawdust in a room and all over the house. Just imagine the chaos.

While you might think a vacuum and mop can take care of this, you really should have professional cleaning experts come in and conduct a construction cleanup service. Construction often involves the use of chemicals and substances that are hard to remove, that you certainly don’t want in an area like your bathroom or shower, so it’s best to have the professionals scrub the area down for good and make sure all traces of these things are removed.

Serious Illness

We are all aware how COVID-19 changed the world and it likely will never be the same. People everywhere have been infected, and many of the less-severe cases have been treated at home to avoid overcrowding hospitals. However, that might mean that most homes have to deal with the possibility that the virus might still linger on the surfaces of furniture or in flooring. Once everyone in your home has recovered from the disease and are symptom-free, it’s time to call home disinfecting experts in Greenville. This will help ensure the virus is removed for good and that your home will be safe and properly sanitized and disinfected.

Sewage Leaks or Spills

A sewage leak can happen for any number of reasons: a leaking pipe, an overflowing septic tank, or even a total sewer line failure resulting in sewage seeping up through your foundation from below. All of these issues have one thing in common: they can be extremely dangerous to anyone inside. Raw sewage contains millions of bacteria and diseases, and even a small amount of contact with the inside of your home could be dangerous. On top of that, most homeowners don’t have the tools to properly and adequately clean up after one of these spills happens.

These events are unavoidable. That’s why you have to know who to call when you experience these.

Call ServiceMaster of the Upstate at (864) 310-7891 for a 24-hour emergency service in South Carolina. We are serving Greenville, Spartanburg, Laurens, Newberry, Saluda, and surrounding areas and counties.

Top Tips When Preparing Your Hurricane Safety Kit in the time of a Pandemic

Hurricanes and Pandemic? What a combo. But it can happen. We are going through challenging times these days with the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic or also known as COVID-19.

COVID-19 is likely to be with us for a long time, and that is why we must prepare a little differently for other disasters that may affect our communities. It is difficult to think about, but other disasters like hurricanes can still strike.

Hurricanes are strong storms that can be life-threatening, as well as cause serious hazards such as flooding, storm surges, high winds, and tornadoes. Over the past years, there were a couple of deadly hurricanes that passed and left a scar to affected families. Now that we have this COVID-19 pandemic, how do we deal with hurricane preparedness?

Preparing for the Hurricane Season

• Understand that your planning may be different this year because of the need to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.
• With the public warnings issued by the government, use this to give yourself more time than usual to prepare your emergency food, water, and medical supplies. Home delivery is the safest choice for buying disaster supplies; however, that may not be an option for everyone. If in-person shopping is your only choice, take steps to protect your and other's health when running essential errands.
• If you need medicine, sign up for mail-order delivery or call in your prescription ahead of time and use drive-through windows or curbside pickup, if available. 
• Pay attention to local guidance about updated plans for evacuations and shelters, including potential shelters for your pets if you have any. It’s best to be always updated about this so that you will know where to go if the situation gets worse.
• If you need to evacuate, prepare a kit with personal items you cannot do without during an emergency. Include items that can help protect you and others from COVID-19, such as hand sanitizer, or bar or liquid soap if not available, and two cloth face masks for each person. There should be enough face masks for each member of your family so that everyone will be protected.
• Follow social distancing recommendations when checking on your neighbors and friends. It is recommended to stay at least 6 feet or about 2 arms' length from others.
• If you need to go to a disaster shelter provided you practice safety regulations imposed by the local authorities to avoid being infected by the virus.
• Keep a Water Damage Restoration Service Greenville contact number handy. In case of water damage, it’s best if you keep one. We’ll never know what destruction hurricanes can bring. 

As much as we want hurricanes not to happen, we believe that they are inevitable. So it’s better if we prepare our home and business for the worst. If your home will be damaged by the hurricane, call experts for content cleaning from water damage in Greenville. If it’s your business that is damaged by the hurricane, then you can contact a Commercial Water Damage Services in Greenville. 

Call ServiceMaster of the Upstate at (864) 310-7891 for  24-hour emergency service in South Carolina. We are serving Greenville, Spartanburg, Laurens, Newberry, Saluda, and surrounding areas and counties.