Emergency Water Damage Restoration
This is the call for water that's coming in right now. We get a local specialist on the way to stop the source, pull the water out and start drying the same day.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163Water in the house? Call now, and we'll find you a local specialist.
Water where it shouldn't be gets stressful fast, and it keeps spreading while you work out what to do. If it's a burst pipe, a soaked ceiling or storm water at the door in Calion, Arkansas, call us. We'll get a specialist from our network of local restoration companies moving toward you, with extraction equipment and dehumidifiers.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163Someone picks up, day or night.
That's newer than 66% of the 28,807 US places we track. Newer doesn't mean leak-proof, though. It only changes what's likely to fail.
80% of the 30,291 places we track come out drier. A normal year here brings enough water to find any weak spot in a roof or along a foundation wall.
If you've been meaning to clear the gutters, do it before December comes around.
No one kind of weather leads the list here. Whatever brings the water in, the first job is the same: stop it, then start drying. We've left out 3 for other causes, such as fire or the pandemic.
Before anyone arrives
These are the steps that help most before anyone gets there. Do what you safely can.
Look for the main valve near the meter or where the line comes into the house, and turn it slowly, since older valves can stick. If it's one fixture, its own shutoff valve will do.
If you can reach the breaker panel without stepping in water, switch off the wet rooms. If you can't, leave it alone, stay out of the water and tell us when you call.
Before you clean up, photograph the water, where it came from and whatever it damaged. Your insurance company will ask, and you only get one chance at those shots.
Move rugs, papers, photos and electronics to a dry room, and prop furniture up off the wet floor. Everything else can wait.
If the water is clean and the power's safe, open interior doors and run the fans you have. Stay out if it's sewage or floodwater, and keep that air away from the rest of the house.
Mold can get started within 24 to 48 hours, so it's worth calling even if the worst seems over.
Typical build year
Your home is too new for rusted steel pipe, but it may be just the right age for polybutylene, the gray plastic line used in many houses until the mid 1990s. It doesn't give much warning before it lets go.
The other usual suspects in a house this age are the second or third water heater, the supply lines under the toilets and the ice maker line behind the fridge. All of them are cheap to replace and expensive to ignore.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163
This is the call for water that's coming in right now. We get a local specialist on the way to stop the source, pull the water out and start drying the same day.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163
The more water that comes out at this stage, the less has to be dried later. Pumps and extraction units clear carpet, pad, hardwood and tile, then everything the water touched gets cleaned.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163
Floodwater is never clean. It carries soil and sewage, so mud and silt get cleared, soaked drywall and insulation get cut out, and what stays gets disinfected.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163
If your home has a basement, a failed sump pump or a backed-up drain can fill it fast. It gets pumped out, the concrete and block get dried, and someone finds out how the water got in.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163
Air movers and dehumidifiers run until the meters say your walls, subfloor and framing are back to normal. Not until they look dry. Until the readings prove it.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163
Once the structure is dry, the drywall, flooring, trim and paint go back. You'll have photos and notes for your claim along the way.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163The southern plains
Spring storms here don't mess around. Hail cracks shingles and skylights, and the rain can come faster than the gutters can take it. You might not see the leak until days later, on a ceiling two rooms away from the actual damage. A hard freeze is rarer, but when one lasts a day or two it splits pipes that were never protected for it.
A lot of homes here are built on slabs, with brick veneer over wood framing. Water that gets behind the brick can wet the studs and insulation without showing inside. Older neighborhoods still have pier-and-beam houses, where moisture collects in the crawlspace. Attic water heaters and air conditioning units add another risk, because a clogged condensate line drains straight through your ceiling.
Clay soil swells when it's wet and shrinks when it's dry. Over the years, that movement can crack a slab and the pipes beneath it. It also sheds hard rain instead of soaking it up, and that water has to go somewhere, often toward your garage or back door.
Finding water under concrete takes the right tools. Acoustic leak detection narrows down the break, and a thermal camera shows how far it has spread through the flooring, so only a small part of the slab has to be opened up.
When you call
We'll ask where you are, what happened and whether the water's still running. That takes a couple of minutes. Then we'll connect you with a specialist from our network who works in Union County, and you can ask them when they can be there before you hang up. Homes and commercial buildings are both fine.
Expect a walk through the house with a thermal camera and a moisture meter, because what you can see is usually only part of it. The specialist will also tell you which of the three categories you've got. Category 1 water is clean, Category 2 is dirty, and Category 3 is sewage or floodwater. That last one changes the job, with plastic containment around the work area and negative air machines pushing air through HEPA filters.
Drying is a process, and you'll have strange machines in the house for a few days. The bulk of the water goes first, by truck-mounted or portable extractor. Air movers then lift moisture off surfaces, and low grain refrigerant (LGR) dehumidifiers remove it from the air. A cold building or dense material may need desiccant units instead. Daily psychrometric readings show if the air is still pulling water out.
A wall can feel dry and still hold plenty of water. That's why the specialist measures a dry standard from unaffected wood and drywall nearby and keeps the equipment running until the wet areas match. This is the method in the IICRC S500 standard, and those moisture logs back up your insurance claim.
A lot of it can stay if you move quickly. If the water was clean, the carpet is often fine once the pad is replaced. Hardwood needs slow, careful drying with mats, and it may want refinishing at the end. Drywall is the easy one: a flood cut takes off the wet part, a little above the waterline, and the top of the wall is untouched.
If it was sewage or floodwater, porous things usually can't be saved. Carpet, pad and soaked insulation go in the dumpster, and studs and hard floors get cleaned and disinfected. Keep clear of any gas appliance that was underwater, and of any floor with a bit of bounce, until a professional has checked them.
Wherever you are in Calion, the number's the same. We'll connect you with a specialist working in Union County, for a home or a commercial building.
We aim to have a specialist on the way the same day, often within hours. When a big storm hits all of Union County at once, it can take longer, so it pays to call early. The steps above will help while you wait.
You can handle a minor spill if it's clean water and it hasn't gone anywhere. For anything that's reached the carpet pad, the walls or the floor below, professional drying really does make a difference, and floodwater or sewage should be left to people with the right protective gear.
A small leak that's caught early may dry in two or three days. A flooded room with wet subfloor and insulation can take a week or more, and repairs start after that.
It depends on time and on the water. For hardwood, floor drying panels and patience can do a lot, though refinishing may still be needed. For carpet, clean water usually means new pad and the same carpet. Contaminated water means replacing both.
Sudden and accidental damage, such as a pipe that bursts, is usually covered. Slow leaks and rising floodwater usually aren't, unless you've got flood insurance. Take pictures before cleaning up and keep every receipt, because your insurance company will ask.
Tell us what's happening, and we'll line up a specialist from our network in Union County. That's all you need to do for now.