When an adjuster enters a loss following a fire or water damage, determining whether soft-surface items such as fabrics and carpets should be remediated or discarded can be difficult to determine.

Hard-surface items can typically be cleaned and returned to service, but the conditions of soft-surface items are frequently more difficult to assess.

The condition of an item may depend on whether it was directly or indirectly affected by a water loss; which determines the extent of remediation. For example, a fabric-covered sofa directly affected by a water loss may have deep-seated mold colonization that is difficult to remove and the item may be discarded by the restoration contractor (RC).

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