What a water removal crew does on the first visit
The first visit is about getting the water out and stopping the spread. A typical crew will:
- Find the source and confirm it is shut off, or bring in a plumber if it is not.
- Pump out standing water, then go over carpet and pad with a truck-mounted or portable extractor.
- Check walls, subfloor and cabinets with moisture meters to see how far the water wicked.
- Pull up wet pad and cut out drywall that is too wet to save.
- Set air movers and dehumidifiers and leave a drying plan.
Most of the water damage you can't see happens in the first day, when drywall and wood soak it up from the floor. Getting the standing water out fast keeps that wicking to a few inches instead of a few feet.
Before the crew gets there
- Shut off the main water valve if the leak is from a supply line, water heater or appliance.
- Turn off power to any room where water is touching outlets, cords or baseboard heaters. If the breaker panel is in standing water, do not touch it. Wait for help.
- Move rugs, electronics, papers and photos to a dry floor.
- Take photos and video of everything before anything is moved or thrown out. Your insurance adjuster will ask for them.
- Do not run a household shop vac on sewage or on water that has been sitting for days.
What to tell us when you call
- Where the water is coming from, if you know (pipe, water heater, washer, toilet, sump, rain).
- Whether it is clean water or sewage.
- Which rooms and floors are wet, and roughly how long it has been wet.
- Whether the water is shut off and the power to wet rooms is off.
- Your street or nearest cross street in Lawrence, so the right local crew picks up.
Stay on the line for a couple of minutes. That is usually all it takes to get matched with a local company that can send someone out.
Free to call. No obligation to hire anyone.
Water removal calls we hear about around Lawrence
Lawrence has a mix of old and new housing that leaks in different ways. The older blocks around downtown, Old West Lawrence, Oread and East Lawrence have a lot of homes with original galvanized or cast iron lines, basements that were dug long before modern drain tile, and additions stacked on over the decades. Water in those houses tends to run along old seams and show up somewhere other than where it started.
Newer neighborhoods west of Kasold have more finished basements, upstairs laundry rooms and plastic supply lines. When a washer hose or a water heater lets go in one of those homes, the water usually lands on carpet and drywall that soak it up fast.
Rentals are a big part of the city because of KU. Pipes in student houses and apartments can break while everyone is gone over winter break, and nobody finds the water until days later. If you manage a rental and a tenant calls you about water, call us first and then call them back with a plan.
Crews dispatch across all five Lawrence ZIP codes (66044, 66045, 66046, 66047 and 66049) and into nearby towns like Eudora and Baldwin City.