Is This a Spill? Or is it Water Damage?

11/11/2020 (Permalink)

If you are a homeowner or a property owner, then you probably have had or will have a water damage event at some point. Accidents and circumstances that lead to water damage can be alarming, and most people don’t know where to start if they haven’t experienced a water event before. Knowing ahead of time what constitutes water damage and what the potential for costly damages can be in such an event can save you a lot of anguish, and possibly money, when the time comes.

There are times when you can just mop it up and go on, but there are other times when you need to call the professionals, such as SERVPRO of Ennis/Red Oak (972-937-1494).

What is Water Damage?

Water damage is a term used to describe harm to your floors, walls, ceiling, and belongings caused by an unintended intrusion of water. Such water intrusion can result from many sources, but your first concern is to determine whether this is truly water damage that needs to be mitigated by professionals. We use that term, mitigate, a great deal in the restoration business. But in case it is new to you, it means “to moderate or counter the effect of something" – usually something damaging.

You do NOT have damage if

• Water splashes onto the floor in the bathroom when someone is showering.
• A glass of water is spilled on the carpet in your living room.
• Water sloshes onto the kitchen cabinets and floor during hand-washing dishes.

In the above examples, you can just wipe up the spilled water with a towel. In the case of the carpet, you would need to soak up as much of the water as possible to allow the carpet to dry quickly.

You DO have damage if

• You left your bathtub water running and forgot about it until you noticed water running into the hallway or came back to find standing water in the bathroom.
• A pipe under your sink broke allowing water to run into the surrounding area for an extended period before you found it.
• A pipe under your sink dripped continuously for an extended period soaking the inside of your cabinets and perhaps the surrounding flooring and walls before you noticed it.
• Your hot water heater leaked or burst, emptying its contents into your home.
• Water is accumulating anywhere in your house, but you cannot identify the source.

The potential causes of water damage are too numerous to list, but the point is that you cannot simply use a towel to soak up the water in these cases and expect to have no further damage. By the time the water intrusion is discovered in each case, the water has had the opportunity to seep under and into flooring and floor coverings, behind baseboards and into drywall, and into other porous materials in the area. And in a case as acute as the water heater bursting, you will find the amount of water it holds will quickly spread into adjoining rooms soaking everything in its path.

This is when professional water extraction and drying equipment is necessary to mitigate the water damage. Simply soaking up the water and then leaving structural materials to dry on their own will almost certainly result in damaging and costly mold growth, besides the visible damage from swelling, paint peeling, and stains in porous materials.

A water disaster is alarming and upsetting to a property owner when it occurs. But our team of professionally trained and experienced technicians at SERVPRO of Ennis/Red Oak sees these cases and much worse daily, and we are ready to rush to your assistance.

If you are unsure as to whether your water emergency requires the assistance of professionals, is it is better to be safe than sorry.

Call SERVPRO of Ennis/Red Oak at (972) 937-1494. We will check your walls, floors, ad all affected spaces for moisture to determine if you need professional water extraction and drying to mitigate damage.

Rest assured that we are ready to make it "Like it never even happened."