Flood-cut & muck-out

Standard practice is to cut a margin above the waterline rather than right at it — this tool defaults to 2 ft. Sewage and floodwater wick up porous drywall and insulation past the visible line, so cutting flush with the tide mark leaves contaminated material in the wall. Two feet above is a common, defensible starting point; bump it if you see staining, a musty read on the meter, or wet insulation higher up. Document the waterline height in a photo so the cut height in your scope is sourced and holds up in review.

Category-3 water is grossly contaminated — sewage backup, floodwater, rising groundwater. IICRC S500 treats porous materials that absorb Cat-3 water as non-restorable: drywall, insulation, and similar wick and hold the contamination, so they're removed and disposed of, not dried. That's the difference between a Cat-1 dry-out and a Cat-3 tear-out. Scope the flood cut and the muck-out, not an in-place drying setup, and note the water category in the file so the removal reads as justified rather than optional.

Divide the removal square footage by 32 — a 4×8 sheet is 32 SF — and round up. For a 2 ft cut across 40 LF of wall, that's 80 SF, or three sheets. The count covers removal and reinstall of the cut band; it doesn't include the ceiling or any drywall above the cut line that stayed dry. Add the R&R line at the sheet count the tool returns, and remember the muck-out and haul-away are separate line items from the hang-and-finish.

Yes — this tool scopes all three because they come out together. Behind the cut band, batt or blown insulation that took on Cat-3 water is removed at the same square footage as the drywall. Baseboard runs the full affected wall length since it's pulled to make the cut and rarely survives reinstall clean. Scope the drywall R&R, the insulation removal, and the baseboard as distinct line items so each is priced and sourced, not buried in a lump tear-out.