The Cost of Water Damage Restoration

If you have had water damage in your home, you are understandably concerned about how much it will cost to have everything dried, fixed, and back to how it was. At Enviro Clean, we work with homeowners in the Phoenix and Tucson areas every day. Every situation is different; water damage from a broken pipe in the bathroom is a far different story than water damage from firefighters fighting a house fire. This is why it would be impossible to give you a price quote without seeing the extent of the damage. Here are some things to consider when you are thinking about the cost of water damage restoration.

There are a few factors that contribute to the cost of your restoration process. The first is the type of water damage that you’ve had. In most cases, the damage from small leaks are going to be much less expensive to mitigate than the damage from an incident that led to whole-house flooding. This is not always necessarily the case, however.

First, the type of water that has flooded the area is a consideration. Clean water would be fresh water coming into the home, such as a leak in a pipe supplying fresh tap water to your sink or shower. Grey water is water that is produced by the sink and dishwasher; this would be an issue when there is a leak in the pipe that is used to drain your sink, tub, shower, or washing machine. This water can have some contaminants and is not fit for drinking. Finally, black water is wastewater from your toilet. This is highly contaminated and requires measures to keep disease from spreading.

The next question is how much water has damaged your home. A tiny leak of fresh water behind your shower might not actually be so tiny after all if you didn’t know it was leaking for months. During that time, mildew and mold might have started to grow and the wood might be completely rotted.

A larger flood, such as from a broken water heater, might look like a lot of damage when in reality it might not have impacted very much other than the floor. If it is cleaned up quickly and the flooring is dried well, it could, in some cases, be a relatively inexpensive restoration project.

One cause of extensive water damage is a house fire. Not only is there fire and smoke damage to contend with but the damage caused by the efforts to put out the fire can be extensive. When a fire is in the attic of a home, the large quantities of water used to put out the fire can leak through the sheetrock into many rooms at once, causing damage to the ceiling, the walls, furnishings, and the flooring.

If you notice a leak during its earliest stages and you’re able to get the problem under control and call us right away, it’s likely that the cost will be less than if you don’t notice it for several weeks or months. This is because water moves quickly; it will not just stay in one space for long. If the water has time to seep into wood or drywall and stay there, it will continue to saturate other areas. In addition, mold and mildew can form. We understand that you can’t always detect a leak right away, but if you do suspect one, we urge you not to allow much time to pass before you get it addressed.

In most cases, drying out your carpet or furniture is going to be less expensive than replacing it. If a material is salvageable, we usually recommend going through the process to dry it out as a way to save money. Of course, not everything is able to be saved after extensive water damage; in that case, some of the expense will be replacing these items.

Many of our clients are concerned about whether their homeowners’ insurance policies will cover water damage restoration. The answer is that it depends on your policy as well as what happened. If your hot water heater burst and there was a sudden gush of water, many policies will cover that. If there has been a weather event that caused flooding, however, many policies will require that you have a separate riderfor that and might not cover the damage. The best thing to do is to allow Enviro Clean to contact your insurance company to find out what your policy says and what it will cover.

If you have had a small leak or a sudden flooding event that didn’t cause a lot of damage, it’s possible that you won’t even need the services of a water restoration company. In that case, a local handyman can often handle the project. For example, if the main issue is that a piece of drywall needs to be replaced, you would not need a full-service water damage restorationcompany to fix the problem. Instead, you could do it yourself if you are handy or you could hire a less-expensive professional.

But how do you know if you need our services? We can come and inspect the area to let you know if you need us. There are times when we tell homeowners that they will save money handling small issues themselves or hiring a handyman. There are other times, however, when the damage is more extensive than it looks at first glance and remediation services really are needed. At Enviro Clean, we take pride in our honesty; we will not mislead homeowners into thinking that they need more services than they actually need. If you don’t need us, we are happy to tell you so.