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.
Whatever got wet in your Pineland home, the next few hours matter more than the next few days. Call us and we'll find a restoration specialist from our network who works in Lee County, Florida, and can get dehumidifiers and extraction equipment to you soon.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163Someone picks up, day or night.
That's newer than 87% of the 28,807 US places we track. Newer doesn't mean leak-proof, though. It only changes what's likely to fail.
93% 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.
Check your drains and the slope around the house ahead of August. It takes an afternoon, and it can save a lot of drying later.
Tropical weather tops this list. The damage often shows up days later, as a stain on a ceiling. We've left out 5 for other causes, such as fire or the pandemic.
Before anyone arrives
No need to get it perfect. These are the things that make the biggest difference, in order.
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.
The clock on mold is roughly 24 to 48 hours, which is why we'd rather hear from you early.
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 humid Southeast
Humidity and heavy rain set the pattern here. A summer thunderstorm can drop inches of water in an afternoon, and tropical systems near the coast drive rain under shingles and through window frames. In the hills, stalled storms send flash floods down narrow valleys. And air this damp keeps a wet room wet long after the rain's gone.
Many homes here sit over vented crawlspaces, where damp air and leaking lines can keep floor joists wet out of sight. Newer houses are often on slabs, and older city neighborhoods have brick rowhouses with plaster walls. Air conditioning adds its own risk, since a clogged condensate line can run water into a ceiling or wall for days.
The ground doesn't get much chance to dry out. Sandy ground fills from below in a wet season, and clay holds water against your foundation after every storm. In the hills, runoff gets moving fast. A downspout that drains away from the house makes a real difference.
Outdoor air is often wetter than the air in your house, so fresh air won't help. The drying has to be closed up and controlled, with LGR dehumidifiers doing most of the work and air movers aimed at whatever's still wet.
When you call
First we'll want to know three things: where you are in Pineland, where the water came from and if it's stopped. From there, we'll connect you with a local specialist from our network, so you're speaking to someone who works in Lee County. That goes for homeowners, landlords and businesses alike.
Water travels through walls without leaving a mark, so the first step is measuring, not mopping. A thermal camera and moisture meters map the wet area. Next comes the question of what's in the water. Category 1 is clean supply water. Category 2 has been in contact with something, like a dishwasher overflow. Category 3 is sewage or floodwater, and it calls for containment: plastic sheeting, plus negative air machines with HEPA filters, so nothing spreads through the house.
Expect the drying to take longer than the cleanup. After a truck-mounted or portable unit has pulled out the standing water, air movers and LGR (low grain refrigerant) dehumidifiers run around the clock. Desiccant units get swapped in for cold rooms and dense materials. The specialist takes psychrometric readings each day, tracking temperature and humidity to see how fast the air is taking up water.
Looking dry and being dry are two different things. The specialist takes moisture readings from unaffected parts of your home to set a dry standard, and the machines keep going until everything wet matches it. That's how the IICRC S500 guidance says to do it, and the daily log gives your insurer the proof it asks for.
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.
The exception is dirty water. Whatever soft material sewage or floodwater touched has to be removed, and the rest gets an antimicrobial cleaning. Don't relight a gas heater or water heater that sat in water, and if a floor feels soft, stay off it and mention it on the call.
From one end of Pineland to the other, and on through Lee County, the first step is the same call. Homes and businesses are both covered.
It depends on the time and the weather, but same-day help is what we aim for, and it's often a matter of hours. The local specialist will give you a time on the phone, so you're not left guessing.
Small and clean, yes. Large or dirty, no. A shop vac and fans can deal with a little water on a hard surface, but they won't reach what's soaked into drywall and subfloor. That hidden moisture is where mold and rot get started.
Usually three to five days for the drying alone. The specialist can tell you more after the first readings. Materials such as hardwood, plaster and concrete hold on to water longer, and repairs can only begin when they're dry.
Hardwood is more forgiving than people think. Floor drying mats pull moisture up through the boards, and refinishing can take care of what's left. Carpet can usually stay if the water was clean, as long as the pad's replaced. If the water was dirty, it can't.
It usually depends on where the water came from. A homeowners policy usually covers a burst pipe. Outside flooding needs separate flood insurance, and sewer backup often needs an add-on. It's worth reading your policy, and it's worth having those photos.
Call now. Tell us your address, and we'll find you the closest available specialist in Lee County.