Pumping and vacuuming standing water out of floors, stairwells and lower rooms across Lafayette and Lafayette Parish, around the clock.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Emergency water extraction removes standing water from a building so drying can start. In Lafayette that usually means a ground-floor room, a utility room or a shop floor under a few inches of water. Calls are answered 24/7, and Lafayette Water Damage Restoration sends the nearest crew free to Lafayette Parish as soon as one is available.
The first hour of a water loss decides how much has to be torn out later. Standing water soaks upward into drywall, carpet pad and the bottom plate of a wall, and every hour it sits adds to the replacement list. Extraction is the step that stops that climb by taking the free water out of the building.
Before you call, shut off the water if you can do it safely. Find the main valve, usually where the service line enters the house or the shop, and close it. If the water is rising from outside, through a door or under a threshold, stay out of it and move people and pets to dry ground. Turn off the electricity to the affected rooms at the breaker panel only if the panel is dry and you can reach it without standing in water.
Lafayette Water Damage Restoration answers the line at any hour. The person who picks up will ask which room the water is in, where it came from, whether it is clean or has come from a drain or a toilet, and whether the power is still on. Those four answers decide what kind of crew and what equipment go out, so have them ready. A crew is dispatched as soon as one is free, and the call does not include a promised arrival time.
Do not wade into floodwater or standing water that has reached an outlet, a cord, an appliance or the electrical panel. Water carries current through a building in ways that are easy to miss, and the power to the wet area should be off before anyone steps in. Do not run a generator or a gas appliance in a closed room. Water that came from outside or from a drain can carry bacteria and other contaminants, so wash your hands after touching it and keep it away from food preparation surfaces.
A split supply line, a failed hose or a washing machine hose that has let go is usually the cleanest kind of loss. Extraction is quicker because the water has not picked up anything from the floor or the drain. The crew still checks the subfloor and the wall base, because clean water soaks into those just as readily and goes on wicking up the wall after the floor looks dry.
Water that has come up through a drain or out of a toilet is treated as contaminated from the first minute. Extraction in that case is done with the room closed off, with protective gear for the crew, and with the removal of anything that cannot be cleaned safely. The sewage backup page explains that work in more detail.
When rain or a rising ditch pushes water into a building, the water is treated as the most contaminated category because it has picked up mud, soil and whatever else was on the ground. Extraction in this case starts with the outside water still coming in, which is why the crew asks where it is entering before it starts pumping.
A few inches of water in one room, from a dishwasher or a tub overflow, can often be taken out in a single visit. The job is still measured by the readings. If the water has reached a shared wall or a hallway, the crew moves the extraction into those areas as well, because water follows the floor.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent emergency water extraction, send the form and we'll call you back.
Close the main water valve if it is safe to reach, turn off power to the wet rooms at the breaker if the panel is dry, and move people, pets and valuables out of the water. Photograph the water and the damage before anything is moved, and write down the time you found it.
Photographs made in the first hour are the record that counts later. Take wide shots of each affected room, close shots of the water line on the wall, and a few of the source if you can see it. Keep the time and date on them. Do not pile wet items in the middle of the floor, and do not start pulling up carpet yourself, because that spreads the water to new areas and can hide where it came from.
Keep children and pets away from the water and from any cords lying in it. If you have to step into standing water to reach the valve, wear rubber boots and keep one hand on a dry surface. If the panel is wet, or the water is above the bottom of an outlet, leave the power off at the meter or call your utility, and do not reach in to switch things on.
Extraction should start as soon as a crew can reach the building, because water that sits for hours soaks into the materials below the surface. The timing depends on the water source, the surfaces it reached and how much of the building it covers, and the crew explains the plan on site.
Carpet pad and the bottom of a drywall sheet can take up water quickly, and once the material is saturated it stops holding its shape and starts to lift. Hard floors hold water on the surface longer, but the water still goes under the flooring if the seams are open. The crew measures the moisture in those layers so the decision about what to remove rests on readings and not on how the surface looks.
Crews are sent as soon as one is free, and the time from call to arrival is not something Lafayette Water Damage Restoration can promise in advance. What you can control is the time between finding the water and calling, and the steps you take in the meantime. Those steps, the valve, the power and the photographs, are the ones that cut the amount of work later.
Water wicks up through drywall, insulation and the wood sill plate, so a wall can stay wet for days after the floor looks dry. The crew checks the wall base with a meter and opens the wall where the readings stay high.
Drywall paper acts like a wick. A few inches of water at the floor can climb several inches up the wall, and the paper keeps the wet line moving after the surface has dried. Paint bubbles and a stain line often show up days later, which is how many owners first learn that the water went higher than they thought.
The fix is measurement, not guesswork. The technician reads the moisture in the wall at several heights, and a cut is made where the reading stays above the level of dry material. Insulation that is soaked is removed, and the framing is dried in place with air movement. The cut is small, and the cavity is photographed before it is closed.
Some flooring can be saved after extraction if it was not soaked through and the subfloor dries to a normal reading. Carpet over pad that is saturated usually cannot be saved, and laminate and engineered wood that has swelled often cannot be returned to its original shape.
Solid hardwood, sheet vinyl and tile can sometimes be kept when the water is removed quickly and the subfloor underneath is dry. The crew checks each surface and decides which ones can stay. Where a board has cupped or lifted, it may flatten as it dries, and that is recorded for the owner to judge.
What the crew cannot promise is the final look of the floor. Wood that has taken water can change color or leave a stain line, and that is part of the job that is explained before any decision is made. The price of replacing a floor is never given on the phone. It is explained and approved on site, once the readings are in.
Extraction is done when the free water is gone, and drying is done when moisture readings in the floor, the wall and the framing come back to normal levels. The crew compares each reading with the dry reference taken on the first visit.
Visual checks are not enough. A floor can look dry while the subfloor under it stays wet, and a wall can look dry while the cavity behind it still holds water. The technician records readings in each layer, and the same points are read again on each return visit so the trend is visible.
A record of the visit is left with you. It shows where the water went, what was removed, what was dried in place and what the readings were on each day. That record is also what an insurer or a contractor will ask for, so keep it with your other papers.
The first call asks where the water is and whether the power is on. A crew is not sent into a room with live circuits in standing water until the power to that zone is confirmed off. Stay out of water that is near outlets or a wet electrical panel while you wait.
The technician finds where the water is still coming from and whether it is clean, from a supply line, or has come from outside or from a drain. The category sets how the water is handled, and a drain or outside water is not treated the same as a split supply line.
Submersible pumps take out the bulk of the water and wet vacuums take the rest from carpet, pad, hard floors and the base of the walls. Where water has run under a floor or into a wall cavity, the crew checks how far it went before deciding what comes out.
Wet carpet and pad that cannot be dried in place are lifted and removed, and the lowest section of wet drywall is cut so the cavity can dry from inside. Only the wet material is removed. Sound material stays where it is unless the readings say otherwise.
Air movers and dehumidifiers go in once the free water is out. Moisture readings are taken in the floor, the wall and the framing before equipment is set, and they are written down so the next visit can show whether the building is drying.
The August 2016 rain is the reference point for extraction across Lafayette Parish. The Lafayette station of the US Climate Reference Network recorded 22.89 inches over 11 and 12 August 2016, and a city-parish public works estimate put more than 1,500 homes, businesses and other structures under water in the first week. A loss of that size shows why the first hour matters: the same water that is pumped out in a few hours can soak a wall for weeks if it is left.
Standing water in Lafayette can come in through a door, a garage opening or a low entry point, and the crew asks about that first. A split supply line at a water heater or an ice-maker line is a different call, with a different valve to close. Knowing where the water entered changes which material is cut and how far the drying plan has to reach.
Crews are dispatched as soon as one is free, which means a busy night can mean a longer wait for some calls. Keep the water from spreading while you wait, move valuables up, and photograph the damage. The work is the same once the crew arrives, and the readings it takes are the same too.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Drying the framing, subfloor and wall cavities after water, with moisture readings taken on every visit until the building is dry.
Lifting, drying and reading wet carpet, pad and hard floors from below, so that flooring which can be saved is kept.
Opening, drying and reading wet ceilings and drywall after a leak or flood, with the lowest wet section cut so the cavity can dry.
Contained cleanup of sewage that has come up through a drain, toilet or floor drain, with the room closed off and the materials assessed.
No price for water damage restoration in Lafayette can be known before the building is measured.
In the first days after a flood, make the building safe, stop the water still coming in, photograph everything before it moves, and then let the crew remove the wet material in order.
Verify a Louisiana contractor through the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors, which is the state body that licenses contractors.
A household pump or a wet vacuum can lower the level, but it does not replace extraction, and it can spread water into areas that were still dry. If the water is near power or from outside, leave the pumping to the crew. Take photographs before you move anything, because the first record of the water is the one that matters most later.
No. A price is not given over the phone, because the size of the water, its source and the surfaces it reached decide the work. The price is explained on site and approved by you before any equipment runs.
Most of the water is out within the first visit, but the job continues while the building dries. How long depends on the water and the materials it reached, and the crew explains the timing on site. Drying visits are scheduled as the readings require.
The phone line is answered 24 hours a day, every day. A crew is sent as soon as one is free, and Lafayette Water Damage Restoration does not promise an arrival time, because the crew may be on another call when yours comes in.
Wait until the crew has looked. Some items can be dried and saved, and the crew will tell you which ones have to come out. Keep a list and photographs of anything you move, so the record shows what was removed and why.
Extraction removes the free water that mold needs to start, which is the most important step. It does not by itself stop mold that has already started inside a wall, so the drying plan has to reach the cavities. The mold page covers what happens when that growth is found.