Following flood damage in the home or at your business premises, our priority is to return the affected property to its pre-incident condition as quickly as possible, minimising secondary damage, efficiently, effectively and with the minimum of disruption for the customer. Water damage restoration or flood damage clean up is a process that can have consequences to the structure and integrity of your property, if the operation is not handled by experts in damage management.
Water damage restoration procedures are dependent on the class of water loss. Water damage is classified in 4 different classes, contingent on the level of exposure to water and moisture.
The first, and less severe of the classes is Slow Evaporation Rate. This category is classified as a room or area only partially affected by water damage, or as an area with lower permeance porosity materials such as ply, VCT or concrete.
The second class, Fast Evaporation Rate, indicates a significant amount of water that has flowed into the damaged area and affected areas are medium to high porosity such as carpet, gypsum wall sheeting etc. The result of Fast Evaporation Rate Class 2 Water Damage is greater absorption into materials, and once said water is removed, a significant amount of water and moisture remains.
A Class 3 water intrusion is the Fastest Evaporation Rate. This category is indicated by the greatest absorption rate into materials, resulting in the highest potential rate of evaporation needed after the bulk of the water is removed. A Class 3 water damaged property is likely to have part or most of the structural elements and surfaces such as ceilings, walling and carpet damaged. It is not uncommon for the water to have come from overhead, resulting in virtually the whole area being saturated.
The final water damage restoration category is a Class 4 Speciality Drying Situation. The Class 4 water instruction results in the majority of the moisture being trapped or bounded within the building materials and assemblies with very low permeance levels such as hardwoods, plaster, brick, concrete and masonry. In the case of Class 4 water damage, the premises will require specialised drying method, longer drying times, or substantial vapour pressure differentials. Extraction equipment is brought into the home to physically remove any freestanding water, whether it be extracted fro carpets, padding, upholstery and other soft furnishings. In some cases, the carpet and padding may have to be removed for proper drying.
