The biggest problem with flood water damage is that you can never know what to expect from them. Some may look pretty minor and easy to fix but become a cause of massive mold development and property devalue in the future. Others seem pretty harsh, and you gladly pay professionals to deal with them only to know sometime later that you could actually fix them yourself on a dime.
However, even if you live in a flood-prone region, you can hardly consider yourself an expert without special training and determine the grade of water damage after each flooding event. However, we decided to collect the fundamental information and experience from professionals and house owners to distinguish the 3 main types of water damage.
This guide will help you to see the real problem clearly and prepare you for the consequences and expenses any water damage would cause.
Type 1 - Clean water
This one is the most common and least dangerous type. This kind of damage is caused by water coming from pipes or overflowing sinks. Roof flooding caused by heavy rainfall is also typed 1 water damage.
Technically, this kind of water is clean, not contaminated with sewers, dirt, or chemicals. It is relatively safe for you and your house as long as you have paid attention to it and treated it properly within the first 48 hours after the flooding event.
However, once you failed to notice the flooding or simply were absent for a while, clean water damage can worsen pretty fast and grow into a far more serious and potentially dangerous Type 2 water damage.
Type 2 - Greywater
When the flooding somehow touches or involves chemicals like detergents, laundry products, soaps, floor liquids, acids, etc., it is considered greywater.
This kind of damage is pretty dangerous because homeowners often try to overcome its consequences by themselves and forget about the additional destructive power water gains from chemicals in it. Eventually, it can cause severe long-term erosion and damage to equipment, home appliance, and even the building itself. Not to mention that there are chemicals in your household that should never meet on one substance as the reaction may produce poisonous gases like Chlorine.
Moreover, certain chemicals often provide fruitful soil to develop pathogens and other microorganisms that eventually become dangerous for people long after the flooding event.
Type 3 - Blackwater
The most severe water damage that includes contamination with sewers, urine, grease, or oil is called Blackwater. It is particularly dangerous for people and pets as such water is an ideal ecosystem for numerous pathogens, bacteria, and viruses.
Experts claim that the chances of a person exposed to such water catching some potentially dangerous disease are as high as 90%.
Moreover, this kind of water causes long-term structural and aesthetic damage to your house and belongings even if you manage to notice it within the first several hours. Most of the time, the damage either requires some professional and costly repair or appears to be irreversible at all.
How to withstand water damage?
Here are several essential steps you can take immediately to prevent and withstand the effects of water damage:
- Keep away from the water. Even if the damage looks minor, it is always best to make sure that all family members keep away from the water until the situation is clearly under control;
- relocate your belongings. Once you got the flood or storm alert, make sure to move your most valuable and fragile belongings away from the area that is most likely to get flooded;
- Consider flood barriers. It only takes few minutes to install flood barriers at all the vulnerable passages at your house. Still, this measure will guarantee that even the most severe water stream will stay away from your property and belongings. They are also ideal for garage gates and basement passages - areas of the house mostly prone to severe flooding.
Contact Dam Easy not and learn about all benefits and options of our flood gates and barriers. We shall be happy to answer all your question and arrange your personalized flood barrier kit based precisely on your property`s measurements. Remember, prevention is always safer and cheaper than treatment. Get your flood gates today and protect your future.
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