Removing the water
- Extraction
- Pulling liquid water out of flooring and surfaces with suction. The fastest way to reduce how much water has to evaporate.
- Truck-mount
- An extraction unit built into a vehicle, connected to the building by hoses.
- Portable extractor
- A wheeled extraction machine that plugs into building power.
- Weighted extraction tool
- A tool a technician stands or rides on to squeeze water out of carpet and pad while suction runs.
- Submersible pump
- A pump placed in standing water to move large volumes out of a basement or pit.
- Category 1, 2, 3
- How contaminated the water is: clean, significantly contaminated, or grossly contaminated such as sewage or floodwater.
- Flood cut
- Cutting drywall in a straight line a set distance above the floor to remove wet material and open the wall cavity.
Drying and measuring
- Class 1 to 4
- How much water and how hard it will be to dry, from a small area of low-porosity material up to dense materials like hardwood, plaster and concrete.
- LGR dehumidifier
- Low grain refrigerant: a refrigerant dehumidifier designed to keep pulling moisture when the air is already fairly dry.
- Desiccant dehumidifier
- A unit that pulls moisture with a drying wheel instead of coils. Often used in cold spaces or large commercial jobs.
- Air mover
- A high-velocity fan aimed across wet surfaces to speed evaporation.
- Psychrometry
- The science of air, temperature and moisture. Drying plans are built on it.
- Dry standard
- Readings from unaffected materials used as the drying goal.
- Containment
- Plastic barriers that isolate a work area, often with negative air pressure, to keep dust or contaminants from spreading.
Paperwork terms
Work authorization is the basic permission for a contractor to start. It should describe the scope and how payment is handled. An assignment of benefits transfers some of your rights under the insurance policy to the contractor; a direction to pay instructs the insurer to pay the contractor directly while you keep control of the claim. These are different documents with different consequences, so read the title and the operative paragraph before you sign.
An equipment log lists how many dehumidifiers and air movers ran and on which days. Xactimate is estimating software widely used by insurers and contractors; it generates line-item estimates based on regional price data. Mitigation means the emergency work of removing water and drying; reconstruction or rebuild means the repairs that follow, which may be done by a different contractor.
General information for Aurora, not a quote or professional advice. In an emergency, call 911.