The longer you wait to dry a structure, the worse it will get.

This is why water damage is very serious situation for homeowners. Secondary damage starts to take place with the growth of mold in your walls that could lead to serious health issues (asthma, allergies, etc.)

You have up to 48 hours from the time something gets wet until mold will start to grow. After the 48 hours, mold will grow at a very rapid pace. If mold gets out of hand, you’ll need to call a mold remediation professional like SteamWay to remediate the mold to acceptable levels as tested by an environmental company.

To prevent mold growth, it’s important to get everything dry within the 48-hour window. Unfortunately, this isn’t a job you can do yourself, unless of course you have all the proper professional water removal equipment needed. Most people do not have the commercial grade fans and dehumidifiers to dry a structure quickly enough. This is the problem with using box fans and low end dehumidifiers like the ones purchased at Lowes or Home Depot for large volumes of water as is typical in a water loss.

The next thing to consider is what type of water you are dealing with. This is very important when it comes to your health. Water damage can be categorized into 3 levels of pollution:

• Category 1: Water is coming from a clean source. For example, the water coming from your pipes is safe and will not cause any illness.
• Category 2: Water that might cause illness if exposed because of the bacteria in the water.
• Category 3: Water that is dirty and highly contaminated. Direct contact can cause severe illness or even death. Water from sewage backup, overflowing toilet, storm waters, etc.

Also, just because your water might start out as a category 1, doesn’t mean it won’t get worse. Anything that the water touches could contaminate it and could change the water damage to a higher category.

Regardless of the types of water, you’ll still need to call a professional to get it cleaned up.

Water damage is nothing to take lightly. If you’ve had water damage loss, call SteamWay at 434-845-2636.