One of the first questions homeowners ask after water or fire damage hits is whether or how much of their home is salvageable. The answer is: it depends.
“It’s a team effort between the insurer and the restoration services professionals,” says William Gordon, regional business coach for 1-800 WATER DAMAGE, and Tim Fagan, president of 1-800 WATER DAMAGE. “A restoration professional judges salvageability based on their own expertise, and adjusters must determine whether it makes financial sense to restore or preserve when replacement might make more economic sense.”
Understanding the basics of salvageability
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The restoration industry uses the words “restore,” “preserve” and “replace” to categorize the degree of salvageability, and it all depends on the proximity to heat or the length of time something was in direct contact with water. For example, the longer drywall is exposed to water, the more likely it is to deform or worse, thereby requiring replacement. Damp insulation may be dried out and saved, but heavily saturated or submerged insulation must be replaced. Wood that has been lightly charred in a fire can be restored, but heavy charring will compromise its structure and should be replaced.
For water damage specifically, determining whether to restore, preserve or replace can depend on the type of water that the property has been exposed to. For example, category one water damage occurs from a clean water source like a broken pipe; category two is damage from water that isn’t toxic or pathogenic, but not drinkable; and category three is damage from sewage water. It’s this third category that diminishes salvageability.
“Property damage from category three water is most likely unsalvageable in an effort to preserve health and safety,” says Gordon. “But if the homeowner is insistent on keeping an item [damaged] from category three water damage, there would have to be a release of liability put in place.”
Fixing the damage
The first step for a restoration professional is to determine the level of damage. Fagan notes that this will involve identifying the category of water or the extent of the fire. The restoration professional will identify high-value and salvageable contents, then move them out to a neutral environment so they can be evaluated for restoration. Once the contents have been removed, the structure can be evaluated according to training and IICRC-established standards of care, with a focus on safety.
For water damage, the conversation with the insurer may involve a “duty to mitigate” clause stating that the homeowner has a responsibility to prevent further damage. In the case of fire damage, the claim can be much larger and will typically involve an active conversation with the insurer before getting too far into the restore-preserve-replace process.
Once all those details are sorted out, the restorer will try to work as quickly as the job allows. Metal and enameled surfaces require fast remediation to ensure their proper restoration. Carpeting, wall panels and other structural items will have to be assessed for repair or removal. For bigger jobs, it’s always important to remember that it’s part of a larger conversation.
“As we’re going through the assessment process,” says Gordon, “we're generally writing a scope and having a conversation with the insurance company before we get too far into the process.”
For more insights from the 1-800 Water Damage team of experts, click here.
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