Water Extraction and Removal to Dry your Basement or Business Quickly

We hope that water damage never strikes your home or building or basement, but once water gets inside, it becomes our job to extract that water. ("Ex" means out, "Tract" means pull, like in tractor). We do physically pull that damaging water out of your house, quickly, to minimize the degree to which your property is water damaged.

Every water damage situation is different and we adapt our water extraction approach for your particular situation. In general there are six main steps in water extraction.

Water extraction begins by determining the source of the water

Where is it coming from? A broken water pipe? A river? A backed-up sewer? A roof leak? A washing machine? A water bed?

Find out what type of water it is

What category is the water. (1. Clean water, 2. slightly contaminated water or 3. severely contaminated / sewage water).

Stop any more water from flooding or causing damage

Turn off the water source if possible. In the case of river flooding, there may not be much we can do but advise you on insurance claims while we wait for the river level to drop. In the case of a backed-up city sewer line, it might be possible to plug the house drains to prevent more sewage from coming in. The actual water extraction process begins when we have no more water coming in.

Handle electricity

Wiring and wall outlets may be below water level, causing a danger of electrocution. We may have to turn off power to the building to make it safe to walk in and work in.

Water removal - Pump out standing water

Our truck-mounted pumps and smaller portable pumps suck out the water that is standing in the basement and on the floors. Pumping out water means we must have some place outside to put that water. We can pump Category One and Two water into storm drains, but we must pump sewage water into an intact sewer or into a sewage truck for safe transport. We must make sure the extracted water we worked so hard to remove cannot simply run right back into the building again.

Vacuum out moisture

Water extraction goes much faster by vacuuming out the water using extreme suction, compared to using air blowers and fans to slowly dry out the floors. Faster drying means much less water damage. We use industrial-strength super vacuum cleaners to suck up the last of the loose water from the floors. Then we bring in the extremely powerful suction machines like riding vacuum cleaners to wring moisture out of carpet. They compress the carpet and carpet pad to squeeze water out, then send it away through the vacuum hose. Depending on the types of carpet and carpet pad, the extreme suction machines may allow drying the carpet in place, saving the expense of replacement. This generally takes several passes over the whole wet carpet to suck out the moisture.

We also use traditional blowers and dehumidifiers to move moist air out of the building. The water extraction technology is constantly advancing and we keep up with the latest improvements.
After we have extracted water from the floors, we begin drying the structure. We can quickly return your wet basement, house, or business back to a dry and sanitary condition.