Water damage 18 posts
Notes for the worst day in a house: a burst pipe, a basement under water, a ceiling stain spreading from the unit upstairs. What to do first and in what order, how drying actually works, what insurance tends to want to see, and where the honest limits are on what can be saved. If water is coming in while you read this, stop reading and call. The line is answered 24 hours.
The basement is dry all year, then a downpour or the March thaw puts water on the floor. Where it is getting in, what the City of Toronto tells homeowners to fix outside, and what to do about what is already wet inside.
Cupped boards look ruined the morning after a leak. Often they are not. What decides whether a hardwood floor can be dried in place, and what the moisture meter has to say before anyone reaches for a sander.
Three things decide it, and you can check all three from the doorway. Where the water came from, how long the carpet has been wet, and what is underneath it.
The insurer has suggested a company, and you already have one in mind, or none at all. What the Insurance Bureau of Canada says about using a contractor of your choice, and the questions worth asking whichever company you call.
Water is coming through the ceiling and it is not yours. Who repairs what is set by the Condominium Act and by your corporation's own documents, and the first hour decides how much evidence you have when that conversation starts.
Most burst pipes in a Toronto winter announce themselves twice. Once when the tap goes dry, and again when the ice melts and the split starts to run. What to do at each stage, and whose problem the pipe is.
The question everyone asks on the first call, usually while standing in the water. The honest answer is a set of stages, each with its own clock, and only one of them is set by the calendar rather than by a meter.
The two days after a leak decide whether you are drying a house or cutting mould out of it. What Health Canada says, what to do with the time, and where the line sits between a cleaning job and a specialist one.
The leak shows up on a ceiling in the middle of winter, often with no rain in sight. Where the water is really coming from, what to do inside while it drips, and why the stain is the smaller problem.
Water that came up through a floor drain is sewage, however clear it looks. What that changes about safety, about what can be kept, and about the claim.
A sump pump is quiet until the night it is not needed most. Why they stop, what to do in the first hours, and why the insurance answer lives in your endorsements, not in the main policy.
Most toilet overflows end with a mop and a bad mood. Some end in the ceiling of the room below. How to stop it, how to tell clean from contaminated, and where the line is between a clean-up and a restoration job.
The claim is decided on the record, and most of the record has to be made before the room is dry. A checklist in the order the work actually happens, from the first phone call to the proof of loss.
Two words that turn up on every water damage estimate and every claim form. One stops the damage getting worse, the other puts the house back, and they happen at different times for different reasons.
It depends on where the water came from, and on what was added to the policy before it arrived. What the Insurance Bureau of Canada says, and why the photographs come before the fans.
The order matters more than the effort. What to do before you go down the stairs, who to tell, and why the kind of water decides what can be saved.
What decides whether a water job is a quick extraction or a strip-out, how the price is put together, and the one factor you control. Most of it is settled before anyone arrives.
The water is on the floor and it is still arriving. What to do in the next sixty minutes, in order, and the one habit that turns a dry-out into a rebuild.
When it is a job, not a read
Water damage and restoration Extraction, drying and restoration for leaks, floods and backups. The line is answered around the clock. 
24/7 emergency Burst pipes, sewer backups and floods do not keep office hours, so neither does the emergency line. 
Carpet cleaning Hot water extraction that lifts dirt, grit and allergens out of the pile rather than pushing them further in. Water damage and emergencies
Extraction, drying and restoration for leaks, floods and backups. The line is answered around the clock. Free quote, and the price is confirmed before we start. How we do it
