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 Loma Vista 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 Starr County, Texas, and can get dehumidifiers and extraction equipment to you soon.
Call Now: (888) 596-0163Someone picks up, day or night.
Around 84% of the 30,291 places we track get more than this. 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.
If you've been meaning to clear the gutters, do it before September comes around.
Ice and winter storms lead the list here. Pipes freeze and split, and you often don't know until the thaw, when the water starts running. We've left out 3 for other causes, such as fire 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.
There's no public build year for this spot, so here's the short list for any house. Check how old your water heater is, because 8 to 12 years is about the limit. Look under every sink for drips and stains, and replace rubber washer hoses if yours are more than a few years old.
If your home is older, look for rusty steel pipes. If it went up in the 1980s or early 1990s, look for gray plastic ones. Both have a habit of failing.
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.
Water under a slab rarely shows on top. Acoustic equipment listens for the break in the line, thermal imaging maps the wet area, and drying then goes after the carpet, pad and bottom plates above it. It saves a lot of demolition.
When you call
First we'll want to know three things: where you are in Loma Vista, 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 Starr County. That goes for homeowners, landlords and businesses alike.
The first hour is mostly detective work. Using thermal imaging and moisture meters, the specialist traces the water through walls and floors. Then they'll sort it into Category 1, 2 or 3, from clean supply line water to sewage or floodwater. If it's Category 3, they'll seal the area with plastic sheeting and set up negative air with HEPA filtration, so the contaminated air stays put.
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.
It depends mostly on how fast drying starts and how dirty the water was. With clean water, carpet can usually stay and the pad goes. Hardwood often comes back with drying mats and patience, and sanding can take care of what's left. Walls may only need a flood cut, which removes the bottom section of drywall, so the rest stays put.
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.
Calls come to us from homeowners, landlords and business owners across Loma Vista and Starr County. Give us your address, and we'll find out who's closest.
In most cases you'll have someone on the way that day. You can ask for a time when you're connected with the specialist. It may take longer after a storm, when much of Loma Vista needs help at once.
A small spill of clean water on a hard floor? Sure. Towels and a fan will do it. But if the water's in the walls, the carpet pad or the subfloor, or it came from a sewer or a flood, you'll want it extracted and properly dried. What you can't see is what keeps causing damage.
Most homes take three to five days of drying once the water's out. Dense materials such as hardwood and plaster can take longer, and any rebuilding comes afterward.
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.
Many water losses are covered, so it's worth checking. The usual line is sudden versus gradual: a burst supply line is generally covered, and a slow drip often isn't. Flood damage needs a separate flood policy, and a sewer backup may need an extra rider.
Day or night, someone picks up. We'll connect you with a specialist who works in Starr County.