What Causes Water Damage in Warehouses?
When it comes to running your business, having a safe place to store your inventory and equipment is essential. While some accidents are unavoidable, you can do a few things to prevent and minimize the risk of water damaging your warehouses and the goods inside. Small amounts of water over weeks or even months can lead to severe damage.
What are the Different Types of Water Damage?
There are three main categories of water damage. All of them can lead to damaged walls, flooring, ceilings, beams, and foundations. If water is not removed promptly, it can lead to further destruction via mold and mildew. There’s no time to waste when dealing with water damage.
Category One: Clean Water
Category one water damage can be just as physically severe as other kinds, but it comes from a clean and sanitary source. This category will still damage goods and property, but does not present a substantial risk of harm if a human ingests, comes in contact with, or breathes around it. It’s less hazardous to clean and doesn’t require special protective equipment aside from waterproof clothing and gloves.
Category Two: Gray Water
The next type of water damage is caused by “gray water,” or water that has been significantly contaminated. It presents a serious but non-lethal hazard for humans. If they ingest or make contact with gray water, people may experience discomfort or illness. Before worrying about rescuing goods and property from water damage, you must take precautions to protect yourself from gray water exposure.
Category Three: Black Water
The last category is by far the most severe of the three. This term describes property damaged by grossly contaminated water like sewage or other biohazards. Black water contains pathogens or toxins that can cause hazardous reactions in humans, often resulting in hospitalization. If black water is damaging your property, it should not be handled by anyone who isn’t trained to do so. Special protective equipment and procedures are necessary to protect anyone working with black water. Call in a professional immediately, and do not attempt to handle water damage restoration by yourself. Black water will damage your property but will also leave behind dangerous residue.
How to Protect Against Water Damage
While there is no way to guarantee that your commercial property or warehouse will be safe from water damage, you can take some steps to minimize the damage as natural disasters occur. 
The first step to preventing water damage is making sure that your commercial property warehouse has adequate drainage systems. Standing water is almost always the culprit in severe water damage, so a sound drainage system is necessary to ensure there’s as little of it as possible.
Next, make sure your building has a good foundation and a well-repaired roof. Cracks in the foundation can allow water to seep onto your items and damage the structural integrity of the warehouse. A leaky roof can let water get inside, causing a similar effect. Water damage that works its way into the walls or beneath flooring can damage the structure in ways you can’t easily see.
Another common cause of water damage is an underperforming HVAC system because they are responsible for maintaining adequate airflow in a building. Without regular maintenance, your HVAC may stop circulating air, allowing a buildup of moisture to spread across the structure and damage the warehouse. Get your HVAC system checked regularly and make sure it’s in optimal condition and free of mold.
Another thing that water damage affects is your finances. All business owners should invest in property damage insurance, especially policies covering commercial water damage. Without it, water damage can be a substantially expensive repair job.
What to Do when Floodwater and other Water Damage has Affected you
In the aftermath of a flood or other kind of water damage, you need to turn off all electronic appliances as soon as possible. Flood water presents an especially high risk of damaging electronics, leading to further hazards or electrical fires. It’s also important to shut off the water supply to prevent any damaged pipes from making the situation worse.
Next, call your insurance provider to have them assess the damage and help with your insurance claim. Document the damage with as much detail as possible. This can be a big task, so you may need to assign multiple employees to assist. Luckily, AdvantaClean has plenty of experience working with insurance providers, so we can help you through the process as quickly as possible. 
Call AdvantaClean today!
Retain an expert water damage repair team like AdvantaClean to deal with the results of your flood. We specialize in water damage and natural disaster cleanup, so we’re willing and able to help you get past the incident. If you have fire, smoke, mold, storm, or flood damage that needs repair and restoration, call AdvantaClean! We offer 24/7 emergency services because water damage doesn’t keep business hours. If you have water damage, we have the solutions.
