Water and Flooding Damage Categories 1, 2, 3

9/18/2020 (Permalink)

At SERVPRO, we are prepared for any kind of water damage or flooding you might experience at your home or business.

However, not all water damage situations are created equal. There are several categories that these situations can fall into that determine how dangerous they are to you and to our teams doing the cleanup. They also determine the amount of work needed to do the mitigation. It’s important you know what we mean when we talk about these categories if you ever have a water damage situation of your own.

Category 1: “Clean Water”

• Clean Water is any water that comes from a sanitary water source.
• Clean Water does not post any substantial risks to people’s health.
• An example of Clean Water would be any leaking from a water supply pipe.

Category 2: “Gray Water”

• Gray Water is water that contains significant contamination.
• Gray Water has the potential to cause people discomfort or sickness.
• Some examples of Gray Water are leaks from washing machines, dishwashers and water beds.

Category 3: “Black Water”

• Black Water is water that is grossly, or extremely contaminated.
• Black Water can contain pathogens, toxins or other harmful materials.
• Black Water can make people seriously ill.
• Some examples of Black Water are sewage backups, flood waters, and backups from a toilet trap.

When it comes to those three main categories, SERVPRO of Brown County is prepared to help you recover from whatever loss might occur. For the more serious categories our team members will need to wear protective gear, because those categories can be very dangerous to people’s health. Depending on the situation our team members will use different methods to clean up, like using antimicrobial products to ensure the environment is safe.

So, if you have any unwanted water issues, it’s best to reach out to us for help ASAP to keep damage and costs at a minimum. You can do that by calling us at 920-434-8224 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.