After a thaw the owner finds a few inches of cloudy water on the cellar floor, with a fine grey silt on the floor and a damp line on the stone walls. The water came in through a window well when the creek behind the property rose.
What we do
The crew cuts power to the cellar at a dry panel, extracts the water in stages, and shovels out the silt before any drying equipment is set. The masonry is read with moisture meters at several heights, the sill plate and first joists are checked from above, and the wall plate is dried before the cellar is closed up.
What to expect
Readings in the wall fall over the visits until they reach a dry level, and the owner receives the log, the photographs of the water line and a note on the window well that let the water in.
A supply line splits inside an outside wall in a cold snap
What homeowners notice
After a cold week the owner notices a damp patch on a ground-floor wall and a faint sound of running water inside it. The supply line runs along an outside wall in an enclosed porch and had frozen before the thaw started.
What we do
The owner is asked to close the main, which is done before the crew arrives. The crew reads the wall in a grid, finds the highest readings low on the wall and opens a small section there. The split is recorded for the plumber, and the wet insulation and plate are removed where they cannot be dried in place.
What to expect
The plumber repairs the line on a separate visit. The wall is dried to its readings, the opening is kept for the plumber's inspection, and the owner has the note that names the split and the municipality it was in.
A ceiling stain after a heavy snow and an ice dam at the eave
What homeowners notice
A brown stain appears in the corner of a top-floor bedroom ceiling a few days after a heavy snow and a warm spell. The owner has noticed icicles at the eave and a damp smell in the room.
What we do
The crew looks in the attic above the stain before it touches the ceiling. It finds wet insulation along the eave, traces the water to the ice dam at the roof edge and opens the ceiling only where the readings are high. The framing is dried, and the roof edge is noted for the roofer.
What to expect
The ceiling is closed once the readings show it is dry, and the roof repair is made by a roofer on a separate visit. The note, the readings and the photographs go to the owner for any claim.
Half a day, with a second visit for readings typical visit
A floor drain backs up into a cellar during a storm
What homeowners notice
During a heavy storm the floor drain in the cellar starts to bubble and then overflows. The owner has kept the household off the water, but the wet area has spread to the carpet on the cellar stairs and stored boxes.
What we do
The crew arrives in protective equipment, limits the spread with a barrier and extracts the water for proper disposal. The drain and the floor around it are cleaned and disinfected. Carpet pad and stored cardboard are removed, and the hard floor is checked before it is released.
What to expect
The cellar is dried to its readings. The note records the drain that took the water, and the owner is told to have a plumber inspect the line before the drain is used normally again.
Most of a working day, in protective equipment typical visit
A washer hose fails on an upper floor and the water reaches the floor below
What homeowners notice
A washer hose bursts on an upper floor while nobody is home. The water runs under the laundry room floor and comes out through a ceiling light in the kitchen below, and the owner returns to a wet ceiling and a damp floor.
What we do
The crew closes the supply and traces the water from the washer through the floor and the joists to the kitchen. It removes the wet ceiling where the readings are high, dries the joists, and lifts the kitchen floor covering where it has swelled at the seams.
What to expect
The kitchen is dried to its readings and the laundry floor is checked for the same damp. The washer and the hose are repaired or replaced by the person who services the appliance, and the note tells that person where the water came from.
A morning on site, with a second visit typical visit
Have the same problem?
Call and tell us what you see. We will tell you what it likely is and what it usually costs before anyone drives out.
