Extraction and drying after tropical storm rain drives in under doors, through siding and around windows.
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Tropical storm rain intrusion is water that a heavy storm drives into a building through doors, windows, siding and gaps, rather than water that comes up from the ground. The cleanup treats it as storm water, starts in the wettest room, and dries the walls and floors around it. Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is sent as soon as one is free.
A tropical storm does not need to flood a street to damage a house. Wind-driven rain pushes sideways against the front and the south-facing walls, forces its way under doors that have worn thresholds and around windows whose caulk has aged. The water can run inside the wall for some distance before it shows at the baseboard or the carpet edge, so the visible patch on the floor is rarely the whole job.
Storm rain is handled differently from surge water. Rain that enters through a door or a window is usually cleaner than river water, but it still carries dirt and debris from the outside, and it can soak insulation and drywall that were fine before the storm. The category is checked on arrival, and the cleaning follows what the crew finds rather than an assumption about the storm.
The work starts in the wettest room, not in the room closest to the door. Water runs downhill through a house, often to the lowest room or the room with the most carpet, and the drying plan follows it there first. A room that was merely splashed can dry in a day, while the room that took the flow may hold moisture in its walls for much longer.
Storm rain is usually cleaner than river water, but it carries dirt, leaves and debris from outside, and it can pick up contamination from the ground around the house. Each job is categorized on arrival, and the protective gear and cleaning follow the category, not the weather report.
Rain that comes through a window or a door soaks into the carpet, the pad and the lower wall, and the dirt it carries stays there. A cleaning step is needed to remove the grit and to stop the surfaces from staining, even when the water started out clear.
Water that has been standing outside and then blown in can carry more contamination than rain that landed directly on the house. The crew asks what was on the ground outside, and it treats the water with more care if the answer is a flooded yard or a street.
Water follows gravity and the path of least resistance. It runs along the subfloor and the bottom plate of the wall, into the lowest room or under a rug, and it can wick up the wall cavity a long way from the opening. The stain marks the place the water came to rest.
A front door on a sloping lot can send water along the hall and into a back room. A window that leaks at the sill can pour water down the inside of the wall and into the ceiling of the room below, if the house has a second story.
This is why the crew does not stop at the room with visible water. The walls and floors are measured from the entry point through the whole path the water is likely to have taken, and the drying plan covers that path.
Photograph each entry point, the water on the floor against a known object, the wet walls and the baseboards, and any damage outside the house visible from the entry. Keep the date and the storm name if you know it, since the record helps with the insurance file and with the repair.
Take the photographs before you mop, move rugs or remove anything wet. A short video walk-through of the rooms that were affected works well, and it shows the path of the water from the door or window to the rooms beyond.
The outside of the house is worth photographing as well. Torn screens, lifted flashing, a cracked window seal and a displaced soffit all help the crew and the repair trade understand how the water got in.
How many entry points there were, how far the water travelled, what the floors and walls are made of, and whether the materials can be dried in place decide the scope. The price is explained and approved on site before any work begins, and changes are explained first.
A single door with water on a tiled floor is a quick job. Water through a window into carpeted rooms with drywall walls and a wet pad is a longer one, because the pad and the wall cavity hold the water after the surface is clean.
The age of the building also matters. A house with plaster, solid wood floors or a raised foundation takes more care in the drying than a house with drywall and a concrete slab. Access to the wall cavity from inside or outside adds time as well.
Yes. A door sill, a window seal or a siding gap that still leaks will keep wetting the wall while it is being dried, so the water has to be stopped first where that is possible. The drying and the repair are sequenced so the wall is dry before it is closed.
A temporary seal or a tarp can stop a leak while the drying is done. The crew can advise on the temporary measure, and the permanent repair is made by the trade that does that kind of work.
Closing a wall before it is dry traps moisture inside the cavity, and mold can start within a few days. The drying is therefore measured to the dry goal before the wall is closed, and the log shows when that goal was met.
Do not go outside to check the house during or just after a storm while winds are still strong or ground is saturated, and do not enter a building with standing water near an outlet or a panel. Keep the electrical system off in any room that has water in it, and leave the panel to the crew if it is wet. Do not use a generator indoors or next to an open window, and keep children and pets away from storm-soaked rooms.
Say which doors and windows leaked, which way the wind was blowing, and where the water was on the floor. Keep people out of rooms with standing water near outlets, and leave any fixtures off until the crew has checked them.
The crew extracts from the room that took the most water, then works outward toward the rooms that were splashed. This keeps the water from being pushed into rooms that are already dry.
Meters are run along the walls beside each door and window that leaked, looking for water in the cavity above the threshold and at the sill. The siding and the window frame are checked from inside, since they hold the water that the wind pushed in.
Air movers and dehumidifiers are placed for the rooms and the materials, and the cavities near the entry points are dried from the bottom. Readings are logged at the start and on each check.
Sealing a threshold or a window is a small repair that often belongs with the drying. Where the repair needs a licensed trade, such as a window installer or a roofer, the crew tells you which one before the job closes.
Door water is the most common storm intrusion in older houses, because the threshold sits lower than the flooring and wind pushes rain against it. The water runs along the subfloor under the door and can wet the first few feet of the room. The drying covers the subfloor, not just the surface.
Wind-driven rain can get behind siding and around window frames whose flashing has aged. The water sits in the wall cavity, often on the sill plate, and the room inside shows only the lower edge of the damage. The crew reads the wall from the inside and checks the sill.
A storm can lift or crack a vent, a soffit panel or a gable louver, and rain comes in above the wall plate. That water follows the framing and appears well away from the opening, so the attic and the top of the wall are checked as part of the job.
Call any hour and explain what is going on. You get a clear price before any work starts.
Jacksonville sits on a coast and a river, and a tropical system can push rain into the city from several directions at once. Houses on the windward sides see the most water through doors and siding, while homes on the lee side can still take water from the rain that runs down their roofs and into soft ground beside the foundation.
The older houses in the historic neighborhoods of Riverside and Avondale tend to have wood doors and single-glazed windows, which are more prone to wind-driven rain than modern units. Their thresholds and sills are checked as a matter of course after a storm, and the drying covers the lath and plaster behind the trim.
Homes across the outer neighborhoods and in the nearby towns, including those along the coast and on the St. Johns, face the same wind and rain but often have larger lots and more exposed walls. The crew's check starts on the wall that faced the storm, not the wall that is closest to the road.
Extraction and drying after water from flooded streets and yards runs into garages and ground-floor rooms.
Pumping out and drying a building after storm surge or river water has come in, answered around the clock.
Removing water from the attic and ceiling after a roof leak in the wet season, before the ceiling is opened or repaired.
Air movement and dehumidification that dry floors, walls and framing to measured readings in humid North Florida air.
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A roof leak in the wet season often shows first as a ceiling stain, a damp attic smell or insulation that has darkened.
Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is sent as soon as one is free. A crew may need to wait for the wind and the water to ease before it is safe to work at the building, and that decision is made on the ground. Tell the line what you can see so it can give you the right first steps.
Often, yes, when the carpet and pad have soaked. A carpet that is only damp on top may dry in place, but a pad that holds water rarely does. The crew measures the pad and the subfloor before deciding what has to come up.
Only where the readings show the cavity will not dry in place. Many walls can be dried from the room side through small openings low on the wall. The crew explains each opening before it is made.
Because water can sit in insulation and the wall cavity for a long time, and it moves slowly through the materials. A stain or a smell can appear once the wall has begun to dry or once the moisture has reached the surface. Call again if a new stain or smell appears after a storm.
The trade that does that work. The crew stops the water where it can and tells you which trade you need, such as a window installer, a door contractor or a roofer. This site does not do that repair work.
It can be, because storm water picks up dirt and debris. Keep children and pets out of wet rooms, wear gloves and eye protection if you must touch the water, and wash your hands afterward. The crew uses protective equipment and cleans the affected surfaces before the rooms are used again.