Category 3 Water Cleanup in the United States

For a practical next step, grossly contaminated water that can contain harmful agents. Room by room, under the IICRC S500 standard, it covers sewage, water from outdoors at ground level, water that contacted contamination on its way, and lower category water that degraded over time.

Room by room, category 1 is clean water from a sanitary source such as a supply line. After you describe the problem, category 2 is water carrying significant soil, such as appliance discharge or drain water.

For a practical next step, category describes what is in the water. To help your home recover, class describes how hard the space will be to dry, based on how much of its total surface area is wet porous material.

Room by room, by how much of the total surface area of the space, meaning floor, walls and ceiling together, is wet porous material.

Room by room, yes, and this is the part most people are never told. To help your home recover, clean water picks up soil and grows bacteria as it stands, so it is treated as Category 2 within about a day and Category 3 beyond about two days.

For a practical next step, it means the estimate should include sealed work area, protective equipment, removal of absorbed porous materials, documented disposal and a cleaned and dry release.

For a practical next step, no. Room by room, the category condemns porous material that absorbed the water, not the contents of the room.