Water Damage Classes

• Class 1 – Slow rate of evaporation

  • Small size water loss.

  • Water losses that affect only part of a room or area.

  • Losses with low-permeance/porosity materials (e.g. plywood, particleboard, structural wood, VCT, concrete).

  • Little or no wet carpet and/or cushion is present.

  • Minimum moisture is absorbed by materials, which release that moisture slowly.

  • On hot dry days this class is an ideal candidate for open system dehumidification.

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• Class 2 – Fast rate of evaporation

  • Medium size water loss.

  • Water losses that affect the entire room of carpet and cushion.

  • Water has wicked up walls less than 24 inches.

  • There is moisture remaining in the structural materials (e.g. plywood, particleboard, structural wood, VCT, concrete).

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• Class 3 – Fastest rate of evaporation

  • Large size water loss.

  • Carpet and pad with water from coming from above or water wicking more than 24” up walls.

  • Ceilings, walls, insulation, carpet, cushion and subfloor in virtually the entire area are saturated.

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• Class 4 – Specialty drying situations, focus on bound water

  • Involves wet materials that are very low permeance/porosity (e.g. hardwoods, subfloors, plaster, brick, concrete, stone, crawlspaces).

  • Typically there are deep pockets of saturation that normally require very low specific humidity.

  • In laymen's terms a class four water loss involves drying hardwood flooring, concrete or some such material