Restoration Terms,
Explained Plainly.

What your damaged property was worth the moment it was damaged, after depreciation. Policies that pay ACV give you less than it costs to replace the item new. Compare with replacement cost value.

See also: Replacement Cost Value (RCV), Depreciation

The person who evaluates your claim for the insurance company and decides what it will pay. A staff adjuster works for the carrier. An independent adjuster is a contractor hired by the carrier. A public adjuster works for you, for a percentage of the settlement.

See also: Scope

A high-velocity fan that pushes air across wet floors, walls, and cabinets so moisture evaporates faster. Air movers do not remove water from the air; they hand it off to the dehumidifier. Expect several running at once for three to five days.

See also: Dehumidifier, Drying Goal

A treatment applied to wet or contaminated surfaces to stop mold and bacteria from taking hold while materials dry. It is a preventive step, not a substitute for removing materials that are already colonized.

Temporary plywood or framing over broken windows, doors, or roof openings after a fire or storm. It secures the home and shows the carrier you acted to prevent further damage, which most policies require.

See also: Tarp-Over, Secondary Damage

Moisture that has soaked into the structure of a material, such as inside drywall or the fibers of hardwood, rather than sitting on the surface. Bound water is what makes drying take days instead of hours.

The industry grading of how contaminated the water is. Category 1 is clean, from a supply line or rain. Category 2 is gray water, such as from a washing machine or dishwasher, with some contamination. Category 3 is black water, including sewage and floodwater from outside, and requires removing porous materials it touched. The category drives what can be dried in place and what must be thrown out.

See also: Class of Water Loss, Sewage Backup

A rating from 1 to 4 for how much water the building absorbed and how hard it will be to dry. Class 1 is a small area with little absorption. Class 4 means water has soaked deep into dense materials like hardwood, plaster, or concrete and needs specialty drying. Class sets the equipment plan and the timeline.

See also: Category 1, 2, and 3 Water

Plastic sheeting and zippered barriers that seal off the work area so dust, mold spores, and soot do not spread to the rest of the home. Often paired with negative air pressure.

See also: Negative Air

Everything in the home that is not part of the structure: furniture, clothes, electronics, keepsakes. Contents are usually a separate part of the claim with its own limit, and they may need to be packed out, cleaned, and stored while the structure is repaired.

See also: Pack-Out

The amount you pay before insurance pays anything. On Texas homeowner policies it is often a percentage of the dwelling coverage, not a flat dollar amount, which surprises people. Separate, higher deductibles for wind and hail are common along the Gulf Coast.

The machine that pulls evaporated moisture out of the air and drains it away. Restoration dehumidifiers are far larger than the one in your closet. A low-grain refrigerant (LGR) unit handles most home losses; a desiccant unit is used for dense materials and cold conditions.

See also: Air Mover, Grains Per Pound (GPP)

When layers of a material separate because water dissolved the glue between them. Common in laminate flooring, engineered wood, and the paper face of drywall. Delaminated materials cannot be dried back; they are replaced.

The value an item has lost with age and wear. Carriers subtract it from the replacement cost to arrive at actual cash value. Under a replacement cost policy, the withheld depreciation is paid out after you complete the repairs and submit receipts.

See also: Actual Cash Value (ACV), Replacement Cost Value (RCV)

The target moisture reading for each material, based on readings from a dry, unaffected part of the same house. Equipment stays until the goal is reached and verified with a meter, not until a set number of days has passed.

See also: Moisture Mapping

The white, chalky residue that appears on concrete, brick, or block when water moves through it and leaves minerals behind. It is a sign that the wall has been wet, often from the outside.

Removing the bottom section of drywall, typically two feet up from the floor, after water has wicked into the wall. It exposes the wet framing and insulation so they can be dried or removed, and it gives a clean line for the repair.

A measure of how much water vapor the air is holding. Technicians track GPP in the wet area versus the outside and unaffected rooms to prove the dehumidifiers are winning. You will see it on the daily drying log.

See also: Psychrometrics

High-efficiency particulate air filtration, which captures particles as small as mold spores and fine soot. HEPA vacuums and air scrubbers are standard on mold and fire jobs.

See also: Negative Air

An odor-removal machine that neutralizes smoke and musty smells at the molecular level. Unlike ozone, it is safe to run while people and pets are in the home, so it is used on occupied properties.

See also: Ozone, Thermal Fogging

The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, the body that publishes the standards the restoration industry works to. Its S500 standard covers water damage, S520 covers mold, and S700 covers fire and smoke. Ask any contractor which standard they are following.

One row on the repair estimate: a single task, material, or piece of equipment with a quantity and price. Carriers review claims line by line, which is why a precise, itemized scope settles faster than a lump sum.

See also: Scope, Xactimate

The emergency work that stops damage from getting worse: extraction, drying, removing unsalvageable materials, board-ups. Mitigation comes first, usually within hours, and most policies require you to arrange it promptly. It is distinct from the rebuild.

See also: Restoration, Remediation

Metering every wall, floor, and ceiling around a loss to find exactly how far the water traveled, including places that look dry. The map decides where equipment goes and becomes part of the documentation sent to your adjuster.

See also: Drying Goal

Running an air scrubber that exhausts outside the work area so the pressure inside containment is lower than the rest of the house. Air flows in, never out, so contaminants stay put.

See also: Containment, HEPA

A percentage added to a repair estimate to cover the general contractor coordinating multiple trades. Carriers sometimes leave it off; it is generally owed when the job needs a contractor to manage several subcontractors.

A gas used in a sealed, unoccupied space to break down smoke odor. It is effective but unsafe to breathe, so the home must be empty during treatment and aired out afterward.

See also: Hydroxyl Generator

Inventorying, photographing, and moving your belongings to a secure facility so they can be cleaned and so the structure can be repaired. Every item is logged, which also supports the contents portion of the claim.

See also: Contents

The science of air, temperature, and humidity that drying is built on. In practice it means the technician adjusts equipment based on daily readings rather than guessing, and the readings are logged for the carrier.

See also: Grains Per Pound (GPP)

Removing a contaminant, most often mold, and bringing the area back to a safe condition. Remediation is about containment, removal, and cleaning. The moisture problem that caused it still has to be fixed first or the mold returns.

See also: Mitigation, Restoration

What it costs today to replace the damaged item or material with a new one of similar kind and quality. Replacement cost policies pay ACV up front and release the rest once the work is done.

See also: Actual Cash Value (ACV), Depreciation

The rebuild: new drywall, flooring, paint, cabinets, and finish work after mitigation is complete. Some companies do both; some hand off. Either way it is a separate phase with its own estimate.

See also: Mitigation

The written list of everything the job requires, room by room, with quantities. The adjuster writes one, the contractor writes one, and the claim settles when they agree. A detailed scope with photos is the single most useful document you can have.

See also: Line Item, Xactimate

Damage that happens after the original event because it was not addressed quickly: mold from a leak left for a week, warped floors from water that was never extracted, rust from soot. Carriers can deny secondary damage if they decide you waited too long.

See also: Mitigation

Wastewater coming up through drains, toilets, or tubs, usually from a blocked main line or an overwhelmed municipal sewer. It is Category 3 water. Porous materials it touched are removed, and many policies only cover it if you bought a specific endorsement.

See also: Category 1, 2, and 3 Water

A leak in a water or drain line running under the concrete foundation. Common in Houston-area homes built on slab. Signs include warm spots on the floor, a water bill that jumps, or moisture at the base of walls with no obvious source.

The fine black residue left by burning materials. It is acidic and keeps etching metal, glass, and finishes for weeks, so cleaning it quickly matters. Different fires leave different soot: dry, oily, or protein, each needing its own cleaning method.

See also: Thermal Fogging

When your insurer pays your claim and then goes after whoever caused the loss to recover the money, such as the manufacturer of a failed water heater or a neighbor whose pipe burst. It can also return your deductible to you if they succeed.

Securing a heavy tarp over a damaged roof section to keep rain out until permanent repairs are made. Like a board-up, it is emergency protection the policy expects you to arrange.

See also: Board-Up

Heating a deodorizing solution into a fine fog that penetrates the same places smoke went: cracks, attics, inside walls. One of the few methods that reaches odor you cannot scrub.

See also: Soot, Hydroxyl Generator

Physically removing standing and surface water with truck-mounted or portable pumps and vacuums before drying starts. Every gallon extracted is a gallon the dehumidifiers do not have to pull out of the air, which shortens the job.

The estimating software most carriers and restoration contractors use. It prices each line item from a regional database, so two estimates built in it can be compared directly. If your contractor uses it, the adjuster can review the claim faster.

See also: Line Item, Scope