Water Damage Cleaning and Restoration

When you talk about janitorial services, the most common services expected from them are carpet cleaning, rug cleaning, upholstery care, spot removal including pet stain removal, and even tile grout cleaning. An often overlooked service provided by many janitorial services is water damage cleaning and restoration.

What does water damage cleaning and restoration involve? It means cleaning a property that has been subjected to water damage and restoring it to its original condition before the damage was done. This is a serious undertaking with procedural standards of care set by a US certifying body, the Institute for Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), through the S500 water damage guide completed in May 2006. This standard has been accepted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The S500 does not dictate water damage restoration procedures but instead provides the basic principles of proper restoration practices based on research, experience and current practice culled from various sources. These include the scientific community, trade associations serving the disaster restoration industry on the international, national and regional levels, chemical formulators, equipment manufacturers, the insurance industry, cleaning and restoration schools, restoration service companies and allied trades personnel. The guide is being updated as needed.

Part of the responsibility of water damage restoration service is to determine loss assessment and evaluation by documenting all items affected by the water damage and determining the proper value lost based on industry standard pricing guides such as The Blue Book.

Water damage restoration service also involves inspecting the areas affected using water sensors such as probes and infrared tools to determine the cause of the water damage and the full extent of the affected area.

The water that caused the damage is categorized based on the level of contamination present. This is important in determining the necessary level of sanitation needed in the area.

Category 1 covers water that comes from clean sources. This includes clean water supply lines, faucets, clean toilet tank or bowls and bottled water. Once these are contaminated by being exposed for a certain period or being in contact with contaminants, however, their category is duly changed.

Category 2 covers water that has some level of contamination that may cause discomfort or illness if ingested. This includes washing machine overflow, dishwasher overflow and even toilet overflow with urine but no feces. With the passing of time, even category 2 water could degenerate further to category 3.

Category 3 covers water that is completely unsanitary and could cause severe illness or death if ingested. This includes overflow from the flooding of streams and rivers, sewage water, water that comes from beyond the toilet trap, toilet bowl water with feces and standing water with microbial growth.

The areas affected by water damage are dried with equipment, sanitized and deodorized. Contents of the area, such as furniture, electronics and books, are evaluated. Those that are unsalvageable are discarded while others are dried, sanitized, deodorized and stored. Of course, all these are included in the documentation process.

Drying may take two to three days with air movers, air scrubbers, dehumidifiers, wood floor drying systems and sub floor drying equipment. A reevaluation is then undertaken and the process is continued if necessary or adjusted to the prevailing conditions. If the results of monitoring show, however, that the temperature, humidity, and moisture content in the area are safe according to industry standards, the restoration is deemed complete.

Now that you know what water damage cleaning and restoration is, make sure to choose a janitorial service that includes it in its program, along with carpet cleaning, rug cleaning, upholstery care, spot removal, pet stain and tile grout cleaning.