When you have water damage in Oklahoma City, your first job will probably be to access the damage enough to submit a claim to your insurance and/or let a restoration company know what they will be dealing with. There are different degrees of damage and different categories of water that can be causing the damage, so how do you know what to tell the pros? You can usually visually access how much water damage is caused by volume of water and be able to tell the insurance and restoration people how much standing water, if any, there is in your home.
Your water damage in Oklahoma City may be caused by one of three different categories of water, clean water, grey water, or black water, which are numbered 1, 2, and 3, respectively. This can have an effect on what kinds of equipment is used in your restoration as well as how many things can be saved. Category 1 water, or clean water, is usually from a broken pipe that supplies water to different parts of your home or business. For example, if the faucet in your tub were to leak, then this would be clean water. Clean water is generally the easiest to clean up as it will not carry many contaminates through your home. Depending on the size of your category 1 water damage, you may be able to clean the standing water up yourself and then have a professional come and assess the damage to walls and other items.
Category 2 water, or grey water, is usually the waste water from a sink or bathtub and can also refer to water damage caused by weather such as rain or snow. This type of water damage in Oklahoma City may have contaminates which would be harmful if ingested and which can cause wood and other materials to rot more and to rot faster. There will usually be more removal of walls and floors during this type of restoration and you may be asked to vacate the building until the cleanup is finished.
Category 3 water, or black water, is water that has a significant level of contamination such as sewage, sea water, and rivers or streams. Many times you will be asked to vacate the building while this category of water is being cleaned up because it can be a health hazard. You will also usually see fewer items capable of being recovered with this type of water damage because some things cannot be satisfactorily decontaminated.
