Pumping and vacuuming standing water off tile, slab and lower floors across Orlando and Orange County, after a shut-off and a safety check.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Emergency water extraction removes standing water so a building can begin to dry. In Orlando that usually means a tile or slab floor with water under the baseboards and in the carpet pad. The first step is shutting off the water and checking for electrical hazards. Phones are answered 24/7.
Standing water is the most urgent part of a water loss because it moves. On a tile or slab floor, water runs under the baseboards, into the bottom of the drywall and along the edge of the flooring within minutes, and every minute it spends there is a minute it spends in the building rather than on the floor.
Florida homes often have hard floors that look dry once the surface is wiped, so the danger is easy to miss. Water hides under the toe of a baseboard, inside the seam of a tile floor and beneath the lip of a cabinet kick. Extraction is the step that takes the bulk of it out before those hidden pockets have time to spread.
A crew arriving on a Orlando loss first confirms the source is off, checks the room for electrical hazards and then decides how the water will be removed. Clean water from a supply line is handled one way. Water that came up a floor drain is handled another way, in protective gear, with porous materials treated as waste rather than as something to save.
Do not wade into standing water near outlets, a plugged-in appliance or the water heater. Do not switch breakers unless the panel is dry and you can reach it without standing in water. Leave a sagging ceiling alone. Never run a household wet vacuum in water that came from a drain. Shut the water off, step out of the room and call (833) 490-5225.
The most common call in Central Florida homes that have hard flooring. Water on tile does not soak into the surface, but it runs into the grout lines and under the tile edge, so the crew checks the seams and the baseboard line as carefully as the open floor.
Carpet holds a surprising amount of water in the pad, and that pad keeps releasing moisture for days. Extraction removes the water from the carpet face and the pad is usually lifted and replaced, because it cannot be dried back to a reliable condition in a humid room.
A garage or a ground-floor closet with a water heater or a laundry hookup can flood into the next room through the threshold. The crew works from the low point, pumps toward a safe discharge and watches the doorways, because water that reaches the living space needs its own drying plan.
Tell us what's happening and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a quick fix, and what emergency water extraction should cost.
As soon as the call is made. Standing water starts to work into the materials at once, and extraction is the cheapest point at which to stop it. Calls are answered 24/7 across Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties, and a technician is sent as one becomes available.
Extraction does not dry anything. It removes the water that is sitting on the surface so that the drying equipment can work on what has soaked in. Leaving water on a tile floor overnight means the water is still there in the morning, deeper in the seams and further into the drywall, and the drying job grows with it.
The most useful thing a homeowner can do while waiting is to keep the water from spreading. Move towels, rugs and furniture to dry floor, and lift items off the wet area instead of trying to dry them in place.
Because the house has more places for water to hide. Floors that meet the walls at an angle, baseboards that were nailed tight, cabinet kicks and old thresholds all trap water, and equipment has to be carried into tight corners to reach it.
Older bungalows and mid-century homes in Orlando often have uneven floors and small rooms with several doorways, so water runs into a hallway and then a bedroom before anyone sees it. The crew measures the spread across each room rather than assuming the puddle is the whole loss.
Where a house has a raised floor, water can also move underneath it. That part is harder to reach, and the extraction plan includes checking the floor cavity and the access points before anything is closed back up.
Volume and time, mostly: how much water there is, how long it sat, whether it was clean or contaminated, how many rooms it reached and how hard the space is to reach. The price is explained and approved before any work starts.
Time is the biggest lever. A supply line caught early on a tile floor is a short job. The same line running overnight into a carpeted room and a hallway wets the pad, the baseboard, the bottom of the walls and whatever was stored on the floor, and most of that has to be handled rather than simply pumped.
Access is the quieter factor. A narrow stair, a bulkhead, a long discharge run to a safe point or a room with a locked door all add time that has nothing to do with the water itself.
Usually not for a clean-water loss, though one room will be out of use while the crew works. Where water was contaminated, or where the only bathroom or kitchen is inside the work area, staying with family or friends for a few nights is often easier.
Extraction itself is loud and wet, and the crew will ask for access through a single route so that the rest of the house is kept clear of hoses and cords. Drying equipment follows the extraction and runs for days, so ask the crew to show you the layout before they leave and to explain where the equipment will sit.
If anyone in the house has breathing trouble or is especially sensitive to dust and mold, say so when you call. The crew can adjust the layout and the amount of material disturbed.
Stop and step out if the ceiling is sagging, if the water is near live electrical equipment or if the water is from a drain. Those are conditions where a crew with the right gear should take over, and where a homeowner should not wade in.
A sagging ceiling can drop heavy wet material without warning, so leave the room and keep others out. Water that has risen from a drain or a toilet can carry waste, and it should be handled in protective equipment, not with a household wet vacuum.
If you are unsure what kind of water you are looking at, do not touch it. Describe the source on the call, and the technician will explain what the job involves before anyone goes into the room.
The crew confirms the source is shut off, looks for wet outlets, cords and appliances, and decides whether the power to the room needs to be turned off at the panel. Nobody works in standing water near a live circuit.
Water from a pressurized supply line, water with detergent or appliance discharge, and water that came up a drain are different jobs. The class decides what protective gear is worn and which materials will be kept.
A submersible pump moves deep water to a discharge point that will not run straight back into the building. Once the water is shallow, extraction vacuums take over and pull it from the tile seams and the surface of the subfloor.
Soaked pad, wet rugs and the lowest baseboard are removed where they hold water against the floor. Small inspection holes may be drilled low in a wall where water has gone into the stud bay, so it can be drawn out and air can reach the cavity.
Moisture readings across the floor and the lower wall show where water is still sitting. Those readings and photographs are taken before drying equipment is placed, so the record shows how far the water really went.
Orlando's summer rain arrives in bursts. June through September bring about 6 to 7.5 inches of rain a month on the 1981-2010 normals, and a short downpour can put an inch of water across a low floor in a single afternoon. Extraction in this city is often a same-day decision, made while the water is still on the surface.
Some of the harder local extraction calls come from homes that sit close to low ground. Near the lakes in Winter Park and Conway, heavy rain can push surface water toward the foundation faster than the yard can drain it, and the water comes in under the door.
Slab-on-grade and tile floors are typical across much of the metro, and that is why extraction here is about the seams, the baseboard line and the lowest few inches of the wall. A crew that only mops the open floor has not finished the job, and a homeowner who sees a dry floor should still ask for the readings.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Stopping the source, removing the water, drying to a measured target and documenting it, for homes across Orlando and Orange County.
Removing floodwater, drying floors and walls, and checking the flood zone and local rules for homes hit by rising water in Orlando.
Removing sewage that came up a drain or septic line in Orlando homes, with protective handling and removal of porous materials.
Air movers, dehumidifiers and daily readings that dry walls, framing and floors in Orlando homes to a measured reference, not a guess.
This guide publishes no price.
Hurricane and flood water in Orlando can come from rain the ground cannot absorb, lakes that rise over their banks, creeks that spill onto streets, or wind-driven rain entering a damaged roof.
Florida does not issue one license that covers water damage.
Water damage claims turn on how the water got in, whether the loss was sudden or gradual, and what the policy and its endorsements say.
Orlando's wet season runs through the summer, and its heaviest rain often arrives in short, intense storms.
For clean water, sometimes, with a dry panel and a pump you already know how to use. The risks are the electricity, the depth you cannot see and what the water is. If it came up a drain or carries waste, leave it for the crew.
To a point where it will not run straight back into the building. That depends on the lot. On a narrow lot or a house with neighbors close on both sides, the discharge may need a longer hose run to reach ground that drains away.
Leave the carpet and pad in place. The crew decides what dries in place and what comes out, and the first readings are taken with the flooring still down so the record shows how far the water travelled.
The extraction itself usually takes a few hours. The drying equipment that follows runs for days and is checked each day until the readings on wet materials match a dry reference from elsewhere in the house.
Then extraction is only half the job. Surface water at the foundation, water at a door threshold and water through the slab edge will refill the room at the next storm unless the entry point is addressed. The flood damage cleanup page covers that side.
Hard floors are usually fine if they are removed quickly. Long soaking is what damages them, as water lifts the seams and the subfloor swells. Ask the crew to check the flooring boards and the seams during the first visit and note what they find.