Water damage restoration in Newmarket, Ontario, for basements old and new
The town is built around a river valley, the oldest basements are near it, and the newest homes are suites stacked above one another at Yonge and Davis. Basement flooding in Newmarket comes in through the drain, the slab or the ceiling, and each one is handled differently.
Free quote. Price confirmed before we start.
Streets we are on most
Newmarket, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
- Central Newmarket
- Gorham-College Manor
- Bristol-London
- Huron Heights-Leslie Valley
- Glenway Estates
- Summerhill Estates
- Woodland Hill
- Stonehaven-Wyndham
- Armitage
Not on the list? We still come. See every area we cover, or call and ask.
Working here
When the sanitary sewer pushes back
In severe storms the town's sanitary sewers can fill faster than they drain, and when that happens the water looks for the lowest opening, which is often a basement floor drain. The Town's own 2018 report on sanitary backwater valves was written about exactly this, for higher risk areas. Water that comes up a floor drain is sewage, whatever it looks like, and everything porous it touched is treated as contaminated.
A leak from the suite above
Yonge and Davis is one of the places Newmarket is building up rather than out, and the new mid-rise there changes the kind of call we get. In a stacked building the water often starts in someone else's unit and arrives through your ceiling. Tell us both unit numbers when you ring, and call the management office at the same time, because they hold the keys to the shut-off valves.
Ask how old the sump pump is
Many houses in Newmarket's newer subdivisions have a sump pump in the basement floor, and a pump is a machine with a working life. If yours is original to the house, nobody may know how old it is until it stops. When we dry a basement after a sump failure we will tell you what we saw, but the pump itself is a job for a plumber, and it should be fixed before we leave equipment running.
Basement flooding in Newmarket, and where it starts
The old town grew around the East Holland River and Fairy Lake, and the town has seen localized street flooding in heavy rain. In the older houses around Main Street and Gorham-College Manor, the floor drain is the usual way in when the sanitary system is overloaded, unless a backwater valve has been fitted. The sewer backup clean-up guide explains what comes out after that kind of flood and why.
The subdivisions built from the 1980s on are a different case. There the water is more often clean to begin with: a sump pump that stopped, a supply line to a basement bathroom, a water heater that let go. That does not make it harmless. Clean water left on a finished floor for a couple of days turns into a mould problem, and a wet basement that smells musty is past the easy stage.
Ring first, then photograph, then dry
The line is answered 24 hours on 647-697-7435. Shut off the water if you can, stay off wet floors near outlets, and leave the room as it is. We document water damage for an insurance claim, and the record is strongest when it shows the room wet. The flooded basement guide covers the first hour, and the post on home insurance and water damage covers what policies in Ontario usually separate.
After that the work is in order: standing water out, wet underlay and baseboard lifted, drywall opened at the bottom where the meter reads wet, then dehumidifiers and air movers until the readings come down. How the price is set depends on how far the water reached, and the price is confirmed before work starts. If you are in a suite, the post on condo leaks is worth a read.
Aurora and East Gwillimbury
We take restoration calls from Aurora and from Holland Landing, Sharon, Queensville and Mount Albert as well as Newmarket. Much of East Gwillimbury is newer housing, so the same questions about the sump pump and the supply lines apply there. Once the basement is dry, carpet cleaning in Newmarket and the rest of the house is a separate visit, and our general water damage restoration page has the full method.
Water damage and emergencies
Get a price in Newmarket.
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 Newmarket
- Water damage restoration in Barrie
- Water damage restoration in Bradford
- Water damage restoration in Brampton
- Water damage restoration in Etobicoke
- 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 Newmarket
Water came up through the floor drain in our older house near Main Street. Is it sewage?
Treat it as sewage. Water rising from a floor drain during a storm has usually come back out of the sanitary line, so it carries what the sewer carries. Carpet, underlay and the bottom of the drywall it reached come out. Ask the Town of Newmarket whether a backwater valve subsidy is open for your street before you book a plumber.
Can you start before the insurance adjuster has seen the basement?
Yes, and you should not wait. We photograph and record the damage first, the standing water, the wet walls and the soaked contents, and then we extract and start drying. We document the damage for your claim. Leaving water down for days while you wait for a visit only makes the claim bigger.
Heavy rain came in under a basement window. Is that clean water?
No. It has run across the yard, the window well and sometimes the street, so it carries soil and whatever was on the ground. It is not sewage, but it is not clean either, and carpet and underlay that sat in it for long usually come out. The cause, a blocked well drain or poor grading, is worth fixing before the next storm.