Water Damage Severity Checker

Tell us where the water came from, how long ago, how much area is wet and which materials are involved. You get the likely category and class, a plain explanation and the next step. It is a guide, not an inspection.

Where did the water come from?

Clean: a supply line, tub or sink overflow Gray: washing machine, dishwasher, sump overflow Black: sewage or flood water from outside

Hours since the leak started (a guess is fine) How much area is wet? Small, under about 100 square feet Medium, 100 to 500 square feet Large, over 500 square feet or several rooms

Which materials are wet?

Carpet and pad Drywall on walls Ceiling Hardwood or laminate Subfloor Concrete slab Insulation Cabinets or trim

Check the severity

How the answer is built

Input	How it is used
Water source	Sets the starting category: clean is 1, gray is 2, black is 3.
Hours since the leak	Over 48 hours moves the category up one step, to a maximum of 3. A day or more adds a mold warning.
Area affected	Together with the materials, sets the class from 1 to 3.
Materials wet	A ceiling, or a large area with walls wet, points to Class 3. Hardwood or concrete adds a note about specialty drying.

What category and class mean

Category describes how clean the water was. Class describes how much water the building is holding and how hard it will be to dry. Class 1 is a small amount in materials that do not soak up much. Class 2 is a larger area with carpet, pad and some wall wicking. Class 3 is water from above, with ceilings, walls and insulation all wet. Class 4 covers dense materials such as hardwood, plaster and concrete that hold water tightly and need specialty drying. The post on water damage categories explained goes into the categories.

What the result cannot tell you

It cannot see the building. Water can be inside a wall or under a floor with nothing visible, and the checker only knows what you tell it. It does not read moisture, so it cannot say how far the water has traveled. It simplifies the industry standard, and a technician with meters may land on a different category or class. If anything about your situation does not fit the boxes, call.

Use it for a first impression, and then let the readings on site correct it. Water that looks like a small clean-water problem sometimes turns out to have gone into a wall, and water that seems alarming sometimes turns out to be easy to dry. The point of the tool is to help you decide how fast to move, and to give you the right words for the phone call.

What to do with the result

For any category, the first steps are the same: stop the source, keep people away from electrical hazards and get standing water out. The pages on emergency water extraction and sewage backup cleanup explain what happens next. To talk it through, call (301) 786-0888. Emergency calls are taken 24 hours.