If one of your rental properties recently experienced water damage, you may wonder if you should restore the property or write it off as a loss. If you don't know much about water-damaged properties, it may be in your best interest to have a water damage restoration company assess your rental for you. An assessment can tell you whether or not you can save your rental property or write it off as a loss. Learn more about water damage assessments and how you can restore your water-damaged rental property below.

Why Do You Need to Assess Your Rental Property?

A water damage restoration company generally follows a stringent set of protocols and guidelines when they assess their clients' properties. The protocols and guidelines allow a company and you to determine what category of water damage you have in your building. The damage in your rental property may fall under categories 1, 2, or 3. 

Category 1 describes water that doesn't contain feces, organisms, and other potentially harmful substances. The water in category 1 generally comes from a clean toilet tank, bathtub, and water line. 

Category 2 describes water that does contain potentially harmful substances, such as a toilet bowl, dishwasher, or sump pump. The substances have the potential to endanger the environment or make your property unsafe to inhabit.

Category 3 describes water that comes from a source outside your building, such as raw sewage and floodwater. The water can cause significant health and environmental problems for you. 

If your rental property contains severe category 3 water damage, a restoration company may suggest you write off your property. You may need to remove everything from the building, including the walls, flooring, and ceiling, to make it habitable again. If your rental property contains category 1 or category 2 water damage, a restoration company can begin restoring the building right away. 

How Do You Restore Your Water-Damaged Property?

A restoration will remove all of the damp or saturated items from your rental property for you. The items may become infected with pathogens right away, such as bacteria and fungi. The pathogens can quickly spread throughout the rental property and cause additional problems for it.

A restoration company will also take immediate action to dry out your rental property. The environment must be completely dry before a company can repair it. You may need to allow the property sufficient time to dry out before a company restores it for you. 

For more information about assessing and restoring your rental property, call a water damage restoration company near you.