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.
A leak at 2 a.m. doesn't wait for business hours, and neither do we. If water's getting into your home or business in Solon Mills, Illinois, call and we'll line up a nearby specialist who brings the extraction gear and dehumidifiers to deal with it properly.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163Someone picks up, day or night.
That's newer than 95% of the 28,807 US places we track. Newer doesn't mean leak-proof, though. It only changes what's likely to fail.
Solon Mills gets less than 54% of the 30,291 places on our list. 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 June. It takes an afternoon, and it can save a lot of drying later.
A clean record for weather and water. Inside the house, it's still the same pipes, tanks and hoses as anywhere else. Not counted here: 2 more for things like fires or the pandemic.
Before anyone arrives
Go through these in order and skip anything that doesn't feel safe. None of it is worth getting hurt over.
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
Newer homes don't have old pipe problems, but they do have their own weak spots. Plastic supply lines and fittings are generally reliable, yet some brass fittings from the 2000s were known to corrode, and the flexible lines under sinks and toilets don't last forever.
The first big replacement in a newer home is usually the water heater, at 8 to 12 years. If yours is at that age or you can't find a date on it, that's the place to start. A leak detector on the floor next to it costs very little.
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.
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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 Midwest
Severe storms and hard winters both cause trouble here. Spring and summer bring thunderstorms that drop inches of rain and overload sewers, and river flooding can follow days of heavy rain upstream. In winter, deep cold bursts pipes, and ice dams push meltwater through ceilings.
If you've got a finished basement, you've got a lot to lose down there. A sump pump that stops in a power outage is the classic cause, followed closely by a floor drain backing up in a storm. Water heaters and washers often live in the basement as well.
Heavy clay and glacial till hold water close to the foundation. After long rain, the pressure pushes it through cracks and the joint where the walls meet the floor. That's why basements leak here even without any plumbing fault.
A basement has no real airflow and hangs on to cool, damp air. So the air has to be pushed. Air movers run low and fast over the floor, and large dehumidifiers keep pulling the water out of the bottom of your walls.
When you call
Don't worry about having the right words. Just tell us what you're seeing. We'll get your address and a rough idea of the damage, then put you through to a specialist in our network who works around Solon Mills. They handle homes and commercial property, and they'll give you a time.
Before any equipment goes in, the specialist needs to know two things: how far the water got, and how dirty it is. Thermal cameras and moisture meters answer the first. For the second, there are three answers: Category 1, clean water, Category 2, dirty water, or Category 3, sewage and floodwater. With Category 3, plastic containment goes up and negative air machines with HEPA filters keep your house's air clean.
Getting the water out is the quick part. A truck-mounted or portable extractor handles that. After that, air movers sweep across wet surfaces, and low grain refrigerant (LGR) dehumidifiers take that moisture out of the room. In cold or dense spaces, desiccant dehumidifiers work better. You'll hear the machines day and night for a while, and daily psychrometric readings of the air show that they're working.
The finish line isn't when things look dry. Readings from dry wood and drywall in your own house set the target, called the dry standard, and the equipment stays until the wet areas reach it. That's the IICRC S500 standard for water damage at work, and those daily records are what your insurance company wants to see.
Don't write everything off just because it's wet. Clean-water carpet can usually be dried where it sits, with new pad underneath. Hardwood floors respond well to floor drying mats if you get to them early, though you may see some cupping for a while. And drywall usually needs a flood cut near the floor, not a whole new wall.
Sewage and floodwater are a different story. Carpet they've touched has to go, and what stays gets cleaned and treated with an antimicrobial. Two more things to check before you use the room again: a gas appliance that sat in water, and any floor that feels soft underfoot.
We take calls from all over Solon Mills and the rest of McHenry County, for houses, apartments and commercial buildings. If you're not sure you're close enough, just ask.
Often within hours. Our network covers McHenry County, and we'll look for whoever can reach you soonest. Storms are the exception, because every crew in the area gets busy, so please don't wait to see if it gets worse.
If it's small, clean and caught quickly, go ahead. If it has been sitting, has gone under the floor or smells bad, that's the time to call. The trouble with doing it yourself is that everything can look dry on top and still be wet underneath.
Plan on several days. Three to five is typical, though a small, fresh leak may be quicker and a large flood may take over a week. The readings decide when it's done, not the calendar.
Often, yes, if drying starts quickly. Hardwood can come back with floor drying mats and slow, controlled drying, though it may cup for a while and need refinishing. Carpet soaked by clean water can usually be saved with a new pad. Carpet that sewage or floodwater touched has to go.
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.
Day or night, someone picks up. We'll connect you with a specialist who works in McHenry County.