Understanding the Water Damage Assessment Process

4/8/2022 (Permalink)

Learn more about the Water Damage Assessment Process by following our Tips.

Your commercial property in West Valley City, UT, may be inspected regularly to ensure that it is flood resistant. A broken pipe or heavy storm, though, can get past all the precautions you have put in place.

When water restoration experts arrive at your building, they conduct a series of assessments and pretesting to tell them exactly what needs to be done to fix the problem.

Water Inspection

Water damage can vary greatly in terms of extent and contamination. First, technicians have to determine the water source:

• Broken or leaky pipe
• Sewer backup
• Storm runoff

Water is clean when it comes straight out of a pipe that feeds your faucets or supply lines, but that doesn't mean that it stays clean. By testing the water's contamination level, specialists can determine the equipment and procedures they will need to mitigate the damage. Then they formulate a plan that you can include on your insurance claim to get the payment process started.

Content Inspection

After the water is identified and removed, technicians start to move out the contents of your building, particularly those that may stain the floors and cause more damage. They also inspect each item to determine whether it can be repaired or needs to be replaced. Through this pretesting process, they identify items that are not total losses, thus reducing the amount on your insurance claim.

Structure Inspection

Walls, ceilings and floors often bear the brunt of water damage. Your insurance agent will likely want to know how much of the building is affected, and the technicians assess the damage before any repairs begin. If they suspect mold damage, they can test for growth and determine if it was caused by the covered incident. This step helps them get an accurate estimate for your claim.

By pretesting your building and its contents, restoration experts gain the big picture for the remediation process. This can lower your claim and improve its accuracy from the start.