Reference
Restoration and insurance glossary
The words you'll hear from restoration crews and adjusters after water, mold or fire damage, defined in plain English. 47 terms.
Types of water damage
- Category 1 water
- Clean water from a sanitary source, such as a broken supply line, an overflowing sink with no contaminants, or a water heater. It's mainly a drying job if handled quickly. Water categories explained →
- Category 2 water
- Gray water with significant contamination that could cause illness if ingested or touched, such as washing machine or dishwasher discharge or a toilet overflow with urine. Water categories explained →
- Category 3 water
- Black water that is grossly contaminated, such as sewage, toilet overflow with feces, or floodwater from rivers and streams. Porous materials it touches are generally removed. Water categories explained →
- Class of water damage
- A rating from 1 to 4 under the IICRC S500 standard for how much material is wet and how hard it will be to dry. Class 4 means water is held in dense materials like hardwood, plaster or concrete.
- Sudden and accidental
- The insurance test for most covered water damage: a discharge that happened abruptly and unexpectedly, such as a burst pipe, as opposed to gradual damage from a slow leak or lack of maintenance. What insurance covers →
- Gradual damage
- Damage that built up over weeks or months, such as rot from a slow drip or a failed shower pan. Usually excluded from homeowners insurance.
- Wicking
- Water moving up or along porous materials such as drywall, wood and carpet by capillary action. It's why water damage spreads higher and farther the longer it sits.
- Efflorescence
- A white, chalky crust on concrete or masonry walls left when water seeps through and evaporates, leaving minerals behind. A sign of moisture moving through a basement or crawl space wall.
The restoration job
- Mitigation
- The emergency phase of a water damage job: stopping the source, extracting water, removing materials that can't be saved, and drying the structure so damage doesn't spread.
- Restoration (reconstruction)
- Putting the home back after mitigation: replacing drywall, insulation, flooring, cabinets, paint and trim. Often billed separately and sometimes done by a different contractor.
- Extraction
- Removing standing water and water held in carpet and pad with pumps and truck-mounted or portable extractors. It's much faster than evaporating the same water.
- Air mover
- A high-velocity fan that pushes air across wet surfaces to speed evaporation during structural drying.
- Dehumidifier (LGR)
- A machine that removes moisture from the air. Low-grain refrigerant (LGR) dehumidifiers used in restoration can keep pulling water out of air that's already fairly dry.
- Moisture mapping
- Using moisture meters and thermal imaging to find and record how far water traveled into walls, floors and ceilings, so drying and removal can be targeted.
- Dry standard
- The moisture reading of a material in an unaffected part of the same building. Drying is complete when wet materials reach that reading, not after a fixed number of days. How long drying takes →
- Drying log
- A daily record of moisture readings, temperature and humidity during drying. It documents that drying was done properly and is often requested by insurers.
- Antimicrobial
- A product applied to clean surfaces after gray or black water, or during mold remediation, to limit microbial growth. It doesn't replace removing contaminated materials and drying.
- Containment
- Plastic sheeting and sealed openings that isolate a mold or sewage work area so spores and debris don't spread to the rest of the house.
- Negative air
- Running an air scrubber that exhausts air out of a contained work area, keeping it at lower pressure than the rest of the house so contaminated air doesn't escape.
- HEPA
- High-efficiency particulate air filtration, used in vacuums and air scrubbers during mold and fire cleanup to capture fine particles and spores.
- IICRC
- The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, a nonprofit that certifies technicians and develops industry standards for water, mold and fire restoration.
- IICRC S500
- The ANSI/IICRC standard for professional water damage restoration. It defines water categories and classes and the procedures for drying.
- IICRC S520
- The ANSI/IICRC standard for professional mold remediation, covering assessment, containment, removal, cleaning and verification. Black mold guide →
- Xactimate
- Estimating software widely used by insurers, adjusters and restoration companies to price repairs line by line. Many contractors bill insurers through it.
Insurance terms
- Deductible
- The amount you pay toward a covered claim before insurance pays. Some policies have a separate, higher deductible for wind, hail or water damage.
- Actual cash value (ACV)
- Payment based on what damaged property was worth at the time of loss: replacement cost minus depreciation for age and wear.
- Replacement cost value (RCV)
- Payment based on the cost to repair or replace damaged property with new material of like kind and quality, without deducting depreciation.
- Recoverable depreciation
- On a replacement cost policy, the depreciation an insurer may hold back at first and pay once repairs are completed and documented.
- Proof of loss
- A formal, often sworn, statement of the amount you're claiming and how the loss happened. Policies set a deadline after the insurer requests it, and state rules set how quickly insurers must respond. Protecting your claim →
- Additional living expenses (ALE)
- Coverage for the extra cost of living elsewhere, such as a hotel and meals, while a covered loss makes your home unlivable. Also called loss of use or Coverage D.
- Water backup endorsement
- An add-on to a homeowners policy that covers damage from water backing up through sewers or drains, or overflowing from a sump pump. Standard policies exclude it.
- National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
- The federal flood insurance program run by FEMA. Homeowners policies exclude flood, so flood coverage comes from the NFIP or a private flood insurer, usually with a 30-day waiting period.
- Adjuster
- The person who investigates a claim and estimates the loss for the insurer. Staff and independent adjusters work for the insurance company.
- Public adjuster
- A licensed adjuster you hire to prepare and negotiate your claim, usually for a percentage of the settlement. Licensing and fee limits vary by state.
- Appraisal clause
- A policy provision for resolving disputes over the amount of a loss: each side picks an appraiser, and an umpire decides where they disagree.
- Assignment of benefits (AOB)
- A document that transfers your right to insurance payments to a contractor, who then bills and negotiates with your insurer. Read it carefully before signing; it can limit your control over the claim.
- Work authorization
- A contract that lets a restoration company start work and usually sets how it will be paid. Different from an assignment of benefits, but still worth reading before signing.
House and weather terms
- Main water shutoff
- The valve that stops all water into the house, usually where the water line enters through the foundation, near the meter. In cold climates it's often in the basement; in warm climates it may be outside or in a garage.
- Sump pump
- A pump in a pit at the lowest point of a basement or crawl space that removes groundwater collected by drains around the foundation.
- Backwater valve
- A valve on a sewer line that lets wastewater flow out but closes if sewage starts flowing back toward the house.
- Vapor barrier
- Plastic sheeting laid over a crawl space floor, or installed in walls, to slow moisture moving through. In crawl spaces it's the first step toward controlling ground moisture. Crawl space guide →
- Crawl space encapsulation
- Sealing a crawl space's floor, walls and vents with a heavy liner and drying it with a dehumidifier or conditioned air. Crawl space guide →
- Ice dam
- A ridge of ice at the edge of a roof that traps melting snow behind it, forcing water under shingles and into ceilings and walls.
- Pipe-freeze night
- On this site, a night with a low at or below 20°F, the temperature at which uninsulated pipes in unheated spaces are at serious risk of freezing. Counted from NOAA daily data. Our methodology →
- Freeze-thaw day
- On this site, a day with a low at or below 32°F and a high above it. Frequent freeze-thaw cycles drive ice dams and foundation cracking.
- Heavy-rain day
- On this site, a day with 1 inch or more of precipitation, when sump pumps run hardest and storm sewers are most likely to back up.
- Muggy night
- On this site, a night with a low of 65°F or warmer, a simple sign of humid summer air that feeds basement and crawl space mold.