Removing the water a water heater, washer, dishwasher or refrigerator line leaves on a floor, and drying the cabinets and slab it reaches.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
A leaking water heater, washer, dishwasher or refrigerator line releases clean water onto the floor it stands on, often into a garage or laundry room. The water runs under cabinets and along slab edges where it is hard to see. The cleanup removes the standing water, lifts the materials that hold it and dries the room. Calls are answered 24/7 on (833) 490-5225.
Appliances that use water sit in rooms that are easy to forget: the garage, the laundry closet, the space under a sink. A water heater tank that corrodes at its base, a washer hose that splits or a dishwasher supply that fails can release water for hours before anyone notices, and the water finds the lowest point in the room. On a slab floor that point is often the wall, the corner or the floor drain.
In Tampa the humid air makes a leak in these rooms harder to clear. A wet slab does not dry as quickly as a wood floor over an air space, and a cabinet base that has taken water in the humid air can stay damp for a long time. The drying plan for an appliance leak therefore starts with the room's own air, the floor covering and the base of the cabinets, not with the appliance alone.
The appliance itself is a separate matter. The water work removes the water and dries the room, and the appliance is repaired or replaced by the trade or the manufacturer's service that the homeowner chooses. This page covers the water side of the call, and the record the crew keeps shows what the appliance was and where it leaked.
A water heater can hold hot water and can be under gas or electrical power, so turn off the power or gas supply before touching it, and do not work near a heater that is still hot. Standing water near an appliance is an electrical risk, so do not touch a plugged-in appliance while standing in water. Keep children and pets away from the appliance area. Gas appliances should be checked by a licensed technician if there is any smell of gas. This page describes the water work and does not cover the appliance repair.
The water supply to the appliance is closed at its valve, and the appliance is switched off at the power or the breaker. A water heater is turned off at its controls and its power supply before the crew works near it, because a heater that is full of hot water is a scald and electrical risk.
Water on the floor, in the pan and around the base of the appliance is removed with extraction tools or a pump, depending on the depth. The crew works around the appliance and does not move it until the water has been taken off, to keep the water from spreading as the appliance is shifted.
Cabinet kick plates and the bottom edges of cabinets are removed where they have taken water. Vinyl plank, tile grout and the carpet edge near the appliance are checked, because water runs under them and stays there in humid air.
Moisture readings are taken on the slab edge, the wall at floor level and the cabinet frames. The readings show how far the water travelled and whether it reached a wall cavity, and the drying plan follows from them.
Air movers and dehumidifiers dry the floor and the lower walls until the readings return to normal. The appliance, its age if the homeowner knows it and the place where it leaked are recorded, and the record goes with the homeowner's claim papers.
Because a tank holds a large volume and releases it all at once when it fails. The water spreads over the floor and runs under cabinets and along walls before it stops.
A water heater can hold a substantial volume of water, and a failed tank or a failed valve releases it over a short time. In a garage or a laundry room the water runs toward the lowest point, which may be a floor drain, a wall or a corner. A slab floor holds water along its edges and under the base of cabinets, and the drying is planned around those edges rather than around the open floor.
Usually yes, when water has run under the cabinets or into the floor covering. A small splash on a hard floor may need only a wipe, but a leak that ran for a while needs readings.
A washer that leaks over an hour or two can soak the floor covering, the cabinet base and the wall behind it, and the water may have run under the surface before it was seen. The crew reads the floor and the wall to judge the spread. A short leak on a sealed hard floor can be cleaned and dried in a day, but a longer leak needs the covering lifted and the base cut out.
Shut off the supply valve and the appliance's power if it is safe, move items out of the wet area, and photograph the water and the appliance before anything is touched.
The supply valve is usually behind or beside the appliance, and closing it stops the flow. For a water heater, the power or gas supply should be turned off by the homeowner only if it can be done safely and the manufacturer's instructions allow it. Photographs of the pooled water, the base of the appliance and any label on it are the record the homeowner will need. Call the line on (833) 490-5225, which is answered 24/7.
Sometimes. Hard flooring and slab edges that were wet for a short time can dry in place. Carpet, pad and soaked cabinet bases usually need removal.
Drying in place depends on the material and the time the water sat. A vinyl plank floor that has lifted at a seam may need the planks lifted and dried, and it may be possible to reset them. Carpet pad that has taken water is removed, because it holds moisture against the slab. Cabinet bases that have swollen are cut out, since the particleboard will not return to its shape.
The trade or the manufacturer's service the homeowner chooses. The water work does not repair or replace the appliance, and the record the crew keeps is for that repair.
A licensed plumber or appliance technician is the right trade for the connection, and a homeowner should keep the record of the leak with the appliance's details. A water heater that has failed at its base usually needs replacing rather than repairing, and that decision is for the plumber. The water work is separate, and its record shows the trade where the water was and how far it travelled.
A tank that corrodes or fails at its base releases water across the pan and the floor beneath it. The water runs toward the lowest point of the garage or laundry room, and the drying plan covers the slab edge and the wall at floor level.
A washer hose that splits, or a supply that comes loose behind the machine, sprays water into the wall and the floor. The water often runs for a long time because the machine is not in use while it leaks, so the readings matter more than the visible puddle.
These leaks are usually smaller, but they run under cabinets and into the floor covering. The cabinet base and the subfloor under it are checked before the drying is closed out.
A concrete garage floor has no air space under it, so a leak in a garage or laundry room runs toward the edges of the slab and under the cabinets. The drying plan for these rooms reads the slab edge and the lower walls.
The humid air outside makes a damp cabinet base slow to dry in Hillsborough County, and the water heater and washer rooms are the places where that shows first.
The wet season from June to November also raises the humidity inside a garage with the door open, so a leak in a garage can stay damp for longer than the same leak in a dry month.
A crew is dispatched as fast as one is available, and you approve the estimate before any work starts.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Removing the clean water a failed supply line releases, drying the cavities it reached and mapping the wet area back to the break.
Clearing and drying the water a cooling system leaves behind when its condensate pan or drain line overflows into a ceiling, closet or floor.
Opening walls and lifting floors to the line the moisture readings set, removing what has soaked through and leaving the rest to dry.
Sorting, cleaning, drying and recording the furniture, documents, electronics and keepsakes that water has reached in a home.
In the first hour of a water loss in Tampa, the order matters.
No. The water work removes the water and dries the room. The heater is repaired or replaced by a licensed plumber or the manufacturer's service the homeowner chooses.
Water from a heater can be hot, so it is handled carefully. The water itself starts clean, but it can change category if it stands on the floor or mixes with other materials, and the crew judges it on site.
Only the cabinet bases and kick plates that have taken water. Cabinets that stayed dry above the base are kept, and the crew records which were removed and why.
Hard flooring that was wet for a short time may be saved. Carpet and pad usually cannot be, and soaked subfloor or swollen base may need removal. The readings decide.
Call the insurer early, keep the appliance's details and the photographs, and note the time you found the leak. The insurer decides what is covered, and the insurance claims guide linked from this page sets out the general pattern.
The work is between the homeowner and the local company that carries it out, and this line does not warrant any work performed. The disclaimer page explains the arrangement in full.