Water Mitigation or Water Restoration: Is There a Difference?

8/19/2020 (Permalink)

Drying the water is only one step of the water mitigation and restoration process. Call SERVPRO as soon as you discover water damage to your property.

Here's the scenario: you've discovered water damage to your home or business. Maybe it was from a leaky faucet or a toilet overflowing. Or maybe a freak Los Angeles rain storm or an overzealous sprinkler flooded your crawl space. Whatever the cause, fast action is critical to stop the damage from getting worse or causing mold growth.

You open up Google and start searching for someone to help. But the more you scroll, the more confused you get. Water cleanup or water extraction? Water mitigation or water restoration? You find lots of promising companies. But it may not be clear what they can actually do for you as you gaze at your damaged property.

So here's a quick primer on what each of these industry terms means. That way you can compare the ways different companies might help you to best recover from a water damage emergency.

What is Water Mitigation?

Water cleanup and water extraction are both tasks that fall under the category of water mitigation. By definition, mitigation is “the process or result of making something less severe, dangerous, painful, harsh, or damaging.”

Water mitigation, then, is the process of reducing the severity of damage created by water. That process starts with assessment, where a technician inspects the damage and determines the source. Infrared readers also detect water hidden inside walls, ceilings or floors. At this stage, techs also assess the water damage category to determine if biohazard decontamination is necessary.

Following assessment, the extraction, drying and cleanup begins. Extraction, or water removal, involves using pumps or vacuums to rapidly remove surface water from hardwood or tile floors and saturated carpets or furniture.

After excess water has been removed, techs dry the affected area with air movers and dehumidifiers. And they clean and sanitize surfaces to remove mold and other contaminants and deodorize the property.

At this point, the mitigation process is complete. And, if necessary, the restoration process begins.

What is Water Restoration?

Restoration is “bringing back to a former position or condition.” This is the essence of the SERVPRO North Hollywood promise to restore damaged property “Like it never even happened.”

And it doesn't take long for water to damage your property. Moisture seeps into porous surfaces, like hardwood or laminate floors and drywall. As it does, it can cause unsightly discoloration, peeling and warping. It can foster mold growth. And, if left unaddressed, it can weaken the structural integrity of floors, walls and ceilings.

Non-porous surfaces are also at risk of water damage. Metal, glass and ceramic can all stain, while metal is susceptible to corrosion and rust.

The water restoration process may involve repairing, rebuilding or replacing affected areas. For example, consider a wall damaged by leaky plumbing. A restoration tech might need only to patch up a hole in the drywall. They may have to replace the entire panel of sheet rock. Or they might remove the entire wall, replace the pipes and framing, and reconstruct the wall.

The level of restoration depends on the extent of the water damage. This is one of the reasons it is important to have a specialist inspect and mitigate damage as soon as possible. The sooner a tech can address a problem, the less likely the need for major restoration work.

Call SERVPRO for Water Mitigation and Restoration

Not every company handles both water mitigation and water restoration. SERVPRO North Hollywood does both. Our techs are highly-trained and IICRC certified in the entire mitigation and restoration process. We also work directly with most insurance companies.

A water damage emergency can be a stressful situation for you, your family or your business. Let SERVPRO North Hollywood relieve some of that stress by handling every step of the cleanup and restoration process. Call us anytime, 24/7, for a fast response to any size water damage disaster.