Water damage restoration in Etobicoke, where the basement is half the bungalow
Post-war bungalows from Alderwood to Rexdale, most with a basement somebody finished decades ago. When that floor floods, half the living space is wet and the old finishes hide how far the water went.
From $1,500. Price confirmed before we start.
Streets we are on most
Etobicoke, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
- Mimico
- New Toronto
- Long Branch
- Alderwood
- Islington
- The Kingsway
- Rexdale
- Humber Bay
Not on the list? We still come. See every area we cover, or call and ask.
Working here
In a bungalow the basement is not spare space
A two storey house can lose its basement for a fortnight and carry on upstairs. A bungalow in Alderwood or Rexdale cannot, because the lower level is the second bedroom, the family room, the laundry and often a separate apartment. So we plan the drying around people still living in the house. Equipment goes where it does the most work, cables are kept off the stairs, and we tell you which rooms are usable and which are not while the machines run.
Old finishes hide the water
A basement finished decades ago is built in layers. Wood panelling on strapping against the foundation wall, carpet glued or laid straight on the slab, sometimes a second floor laid over the first. Water gets behind and between those layers and the surface can feel nearly dry while the wall cavity is soaked. We check behind the panelling and under the flooring before we say what can stay, because guessing from the surface is how a basement ends up smelling in a month.
Old floor tile under the carpet stops the job
Lift a carpet in a house of this age and there is sometimes an older layer of small square floor tile stuck to the slab. We do not break that up or scrape it. Tile of that era needs testing before anybody disturbs it, and that is a specialist's job, not ours. We dry what can be dried around it, photograph it, and tell you plainly that the next step belongs to someone else.
What we do in Etobicoke, and how to reach us
AllCleaner extracts standing water, dries the structure and documents the damage for an insurance claim, in houses and apartments across Etobicoke from Long Branch up to Rexdale. The emergency line is answered 24 hours on 647-697-7435. Call it first. Then move what is easy off the wet floor and leave the rest as it is, because the room needs photographing before anything changes.
The record matters as much as the drying. An insurer wants to see standing water, the tide line on the wall, the soaked contents and what was under the flooring. Once air movers have run for a day none of that exists any more.
The housing here, and why it floods the way it does
Most of Etobicoke was built as detached bungalows and storey and a half houses, older near the lake in Mimico, New Toronto and Long Branch, post-war through Alderwood, Islington and north into Rexdale. Nearly all of them have a full basement, and in a bungalow that basement is half the floor area of the house. Over the years most have been finished, usually by an owner rather than a builder, and usually more than once.
That history is what makes the job different. There is rarely a raised subfloor. Carpet sits on the slab, panelling sits on strapping against the wall, and a later renovation may have gone straight over both. Water that comes up a floor drain or out of a failed tank spreads under all of it. We lift a corner and open the bottom of a wall before we tell you what can be saved, and we say so when the honest answer is that the old finishes have to come out.
Towers at Humber Bay are the other kind of call. There a leak reaches the unit below, and the property manager and a service lift booking are part of the job from the first minute.
Cost
A single small area is $1,500 to $3,500. A whole room flood is $4,000 to $7,500. A full basement is $5,000 to $25,000. Where a bungalow lands depends on how much of the lower level is finished and how clean the water was. You get the number before work starts, after we have seen it.
Water damage and emergencies
Get a price in Etobicoke.
Tell us what needs doing and where. You get a figure before anyone is booked.
- The price comes first. You hear the figure before any work starts.
- Insured, background checked cleaners. Confirmed in writing if you ask.
- Answered 24 hours. For standing water, the phone is faster than any form.
While the van is here
Rarely the only thing that needs doing.
Also nearby
Other places we work.
- Carpet cleaning in Etobicoke
- Water damage restoration in Brampton
- Water damage restoration in Markham
- Water damage restoration in Mississauga
- Water damage restoration in North York
- Water damage restoration in Richmond Hill
- Water damage restoration in Scarborough
- Water damage restoration in Toronto
- Water damage restoration in Vaughan
Asked in Etobicoke
My basement was finished in the 1970s. Will the panelling and carpet have to come out?
Often some of it, yes. Panelling on strapping holds water against the foundation wall where no air reaches it, and carpet laid straight on a slab stays wet underneath. If the water was clean and we are in within hours, more can be dried in place. We open a small section first and show you what is behind it before deciding.
Can we stay in the house while the basement is being dried?
Usually, yes. The equipment is loud and it runs day and night, so sleeping directly above it is not pleasant, but the main floor of a bungalow stays usable. A basement apartment that has flooded is a different matter and its occupant should plan to be elsewhere. We tell you which rooms are out of use before the machines go on.
What does a flooded bungalow basement cost in Etobicoke?
The published tiers apply. A single small area such as a laundry corner is $1,500 to $3,500. A whole room flood is $4,000 to $7,500. A full basement is $5,000 to $25,000, and a finished lower level with a bathroom and a kitchen sits higher in that range than a bare one. The figure is confirmed before work starts.