Helpful Definitions of Water Damage Terms:

Water damage mitigation
The work, efforts, etc. aimed at reducing or eliminating the damage caused by a water loss. Response time & extraction of water are the most important “mitigation” actions.

Water damage restoration
The work, efforts, etc. aimed at returning or ‘restoring’ the structure & contents to a pre-loss condition. “Drying out” all affected materials.

Pre-loss condition
The state of a structure or personal contents prior to the damage causing event. Your home the way it used to be before it was affected by a water loss.

Extraction
The removal of standing water, puddled water, or water saturated items such as carpet and carpet-pad through vacuum suction.

Dehumidification
The process of removing water vapor from the air, therefore producing dryer air.

Air Flow
A very important part of the dry-out process, focused air flow across wet surfaces creates increased evaporation and reduction of moisture levels.

Psychrometry
The science behind the process used to control moisture levels in the air and the affect of moisture on materials. A combination of temperature control, air flow, and humidity control (dehumidification) in order to dry-out materials affected by water.

Dry standard
The amount of moisture any material or object has within it prior to being affected by a water loss.

IICRC
The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, & Restoration Certification…the governing body providing guidelines and education concerning water damage mitigation and restoration services.

Monitoring
The process of day to day inspection, testing, data gathering, and moisture detection within a dry-out job; a certified technician checking the equipment and progression of restoration work.