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 Kensington 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 Smith County, Kansas, and can get dehumidifiers and extraction equipment to you soon.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163Someone picks up, day or night.
Housing here is older than in 53% of the 28,807 places on our list. Age alone won't cause a leak, but it does mean more pipe that's been in the wall a long time.
Kensington gets less than 80% of the 30,291 places on our list. Low totals can fool you. Roofs and drains get little practice here, so problems tend to show up all at once in the one big storm.
Check your drains and the slope around the house ahead of July. It takes an afternoon, and it can save a lot of drying later.
Severe storms come first here. If one has been through lately, it's worth a look in the attic, even if your ceilings look fine. That leaves out 5 for causes such as fire or the pandemic.
Before anyone arrives
A few minutes now can save days of drying later. If something doesn't feel safe, skip it and tell us when you call.
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
A lot of plumbing from these years has reached the end of its life. Galvanized steel narrows from the inside as it rusts, so weak water pressure can be a warning, not just an annoyance. Cast iron drains can crack, and fittings where old meets new are often the first thing to go.
Have a look under the kitchen and bathroom sinks and around the water heater. Any rust, drips or green staining is worth having a plumber check before it turns into a call to us.
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.
Across the southern part of this region, most homes sit on concrete slabs with the pipes underneath, so a slab leak can soak your flooring for weeks before there's anything to see. A warm spot on the floor or a water bill that jumps for no reason is often the first clue. Farther north, basements are more common, and that's where the water ends up.
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.
A leak under a slab needs its own approach. Specialists use acoustic listening equipment and thermal imaging to find the break without jackhammering the whole floor, and then dry the flooring and the bottom of the walls around it.
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 Smith County, and you can ask them when they can be there before you hang up. Homes and commercial buildings are both fine.
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.
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.
Contaminated water is where the rules get strict. Sewage or floodwater means the carpet and pad come out, along with wet insulation, and what's left gets an antimicrobial treatment. It's also not safe to relight a gas appliance that's been underwater until someone's checked it, and a soft floor needs a look before anyone stands on it.
Wherever you are in Kensington, the number's the same. We'll connect you with a specialist working in Smith County, for a home or a commercial building.
Often within hours. Our network covers Smith 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.
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.
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.
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.
That's between you and your insurance company, but most policies cover sudden water damage from inside the home. Flood is separate, and sewer backup is often an add-on. Your best help is good records: photos from the start, plus the daily drying readings.
It's quick. Give us your address, and we'll connect you with a local specialist who can tell you when they'll be there.