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A

ACAC 

American Council for Accredited Certification, a non profit, private certifying body for environmental credentialing.

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C

Category 1

Water loss from a clean or sanitary source such as supply lines, faucets and bottled water. Category 1water can quickly become category 2 our category 3 depending on factors such as time and contact with contaminates.

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Category 2 

Water loss with some level of contaminates that could cause illness if ingested such as washing machine overflow, toilet overflow and dishwasher leaks. Category 2 can quickly degrade into category 3 depending on time and contact with other contaminants.

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Category 3

Water loss that is unsanitary and could cause severe illness or death if ingested such as sewage, water from rivers or streams, water from sewer lines, water from the toilet bowl with feces, and water that has been standing long enough to support microbial growth.

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Class 1 Water Damage 

Slow Evaporation Rate with water loss that affected part of a room with minimum moisture absorbed by materials. Moisture is released slowly and minimum moisture is absorbed by materials.

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Class 2 Water Damage 

Fast Evaporation Rate with water losses that affect an entire room with water that has wicked up walls 12"-24". Moisture is remaining in structural materials such as plywood, particleboard, wood and concrete.

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Class 3 Water Damage 

Fastest Evaporation Rate with water that may have come from overhead. Ceilings, walls, insulation, flooring in the structure are saturated.

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Class 4 Water Damage

Require speciality drying situations where wet materials with low porosity such as brick, plaster, stone, concrete or hardwood are typically saturated with moisture and require very low specific humidity.

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CMRS

Council-certified Microbial Remediation Supervisor (CMRS) is a certification granted by the American Council for Accredited Certification (ACAC). The ACAC is a non-profit certifying body for the indoor air quality industry. A CMRS Certification is granted to professionals in the mold removal industry who have passed an independent examination, demonstrated at least 5 years of documented field experience and whose files have passed a review by the CMRS certification board.

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Containment 

The process of sealing off a space from within a structure from the rest of the structure. Containment is usually used in mold remediation or structural drying techniques.

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D

Dehumidification 

The process of drying out a structure using dehumidifiers, drying fans, and other techniques.

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Dehumidifier 

Usually a refigerant machine that reduces the level of humidity in the air. Humid air can cause mold to grow inside of homes and pose health risks. A Low Grain Refrigerant (LGR) dehumidifier is effective in lower temperature conditions than conventional refrigerants and can be a more effective structural drying tool that can lower relative humidity (RH) down to 40%. A Desiccant dehumidifier is an excellent structural drying tool that can lower RH down to 5%. 

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F

Filter 

A material which removes solid particulates such as mold, dust, pollen and bacteria from the air.

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H

HEPA 

HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air. HEPA filtration removes 99.97% of all particles greater than 0.3 microns from the air that passes through.

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I

IICRC 

Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) is the certifying body for the Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration industry.

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M

Mold 

Molds are Fungi that grow in multicell filaments called hyphae. There are thousands of known types of mold. Molds derive energy through the organic material in which they live and secrete enzymes that degrade or decompose the materials that they are growing on. Many molds also secrete mycotoxins which inhibit the growth of competing molds.

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N

Negative Pressure 

Negative pressure is created in a containment using HEPA filtered air scrubbers, which are vented to the outdoors whenever possible. The pressure differential between the work area and the surrounding area should be maintained at -0.02 inches of water column. The industry standard requires 4 air changes per hour in this containment.

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R

Remediation

Mold removal and/or cleanup of mold from an indoor environment.

 

Restoration

Water Restoration is restoring a property back to the original condition after water damage.