Pumping and vacuuming standing water out of floors, stairwells and lower rooms across Panama City, around the clock.
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Emergency water extraction removes standing water from a building with pumps and extraction vacuums, so the structure can begin to dry. It is the first stage of a water loss, and it is measured in hours rather than days. In Panama City, extraction usually covers a ground floor, a garage, a stairwell or a crawl space. Calls are answered 24/7.
Before anything else, shut off the source. If the water is coming from a supply line, the fixture valve or the main shut-off stops it. If it is coming from outside, through a door or a window, the source is the storm and no valve will close it. Either way, the first job is to keep standing water away from outlets, cords and gas appliances while the crew is on the way.
Extraction is not drying, and the two are often confused. Taking the water off the floor is a mechanical job that a crew can finish in a few hours on a single room. Getting the water back out of drywall, insulation, carpet pad and a subfloor takes days of controlled air movement, and it has to be measured as it goes. A crew that treats extraction as the end of the job leaves the rest of the building wet inside.
A crew arriving on a Panama City loss sorts two questions before the first pump runs. The first is how much water there is and where it is standing. The second is what sort of water it is. Clean water from a split feed line is handled one way. Water that came up a floor drain or in from a storm is handled another way, with protective gear, and with porous materials treated as waste rather than as something to save.
Do not enter standing water until the power is confirmed off at the panel, and keep clear of any outlet or cord in the water. Do not run a generator indoors. Do not use a wet vac or a pump with a damaged cord. Wear boots and gloves if you have to step into water, and do not walk on the subfloor where it is soft.
A split or failed supply line puts clean water on the floor. Once the source is closed, the water is pumped out and the materials are dried. It is usually the simplest extraction, although water left standing for a long time can change what is needed.
Rain or surge water that comes in through an opening is treated as contaminated. It is pumped out with protective gear, and porous materials it touched are assessed for removal rather than drying alone.
Water that rises through a drain is handled as sewage. It is extracted in a controlled way, the materials it touched are removed, and the surfaces are cleaned and sanitized before drying begins.
Water that has pooled under a floor is removed through an access opening, and the space is kept clear while the pump runs. The insulation and the subfloor above it are checked for moisture before the floor is closed.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent emergency water extraction, send the form and we'll call you back.
Standing water should come out as soon as the source is controlled and the electrical is confirmed safe. Every hour it sits, it soaks further into the materials it touches, so the speed of extraction affects how much has to be removed later.
Water on a hard floor can be pumped out in a few hours. Water on carpet and pad takes longer, because the pad holds the water and the pump only reaches the surface. The crew lifts an edge to check how far the water went, and the extraction is planned around what is under the surface.
The first hours matter most for the materials at the bottom of a wall. Baseboard, drywall and insulation take on water quickly from a flood, and the wicking line rises past the visible water level. A fast extraction shortens the wicking, and the readings show how much has been avoided.
Extraction is a short, equipment-heavy part of the job, and drying is the longer, measured part. Neither is priced here. The scope for each is explained and approved on site before any equipment runs.
A crew can quote an extraction from the size of the wet floor, the depth of the water, the number of rooms and the access. Drying is priced from the wet materials, the number of readings and the equipment needed to dry the structure, which depends on the building and the air.
Ask for the two parts to be listed separately in the scope. That lets you see what the extraction covered and what the drying will still need, and it helps when the claim file is written up.
A household wet vac can pick up a small spill on a hard floor. It is not a substitute for extraction after a flood, because the water it leaves behind soaks into the materials it cannot reach, and it is not safe to use near live power.
A wet vac on a small spill, with the power off and the cord kept out of the water, is a reasonable first response. Empty it outside the building, and keep the room ventilated. Do not use it in water that has reached an outlet or a switch.
After a larger loss, a wet vac will leave the carpet and the subfloor wetter than they were, and it can spread water to rooms that were dry. The crew uses equipment built for the volume and the depth, and it reads the materials as it goes.
Move valuables, documents, medicines and electronics out of the water and onto dry surfaces. Keep the power off to any room with standing water, and clear a path to the entry and the source valve.
Photograph the water and the damage before anything is moved. Take wide shots of each room and close-ups of the tide line, the source and the damaged items. Those photographs are useful for the claim file.
Do not carry heavy furniture through standing water, and do not stand on wet carpet to reach a high shelf. A crew can move heavy items safely once the power and the water are under control, and that is part of the scope.
The water is discharged in a way that suits what it carries. Clean water can often go to a drain. Storm water and sewage are handled under the rules that apply to them, and the technician agrees the discharge route with the homeowner before the pumps start.
The discharge route is a real decision, and a crew should explain it before the work starts. A large volume of water pumped onto a lawn or into a street drain may need a different route than a small volume pumped into a sink or a tub.
Ask where the water is going. A crew that cannot answer that question on the first visit has not finished planning the extraction.
The crew checks the electrical before entering standing water, and confirms whether the source is still running. If the source is an open supply line, the water is shut off at the main or at the nearest valve before any extraction begins.
Submersible pumps are used where the water is deep enough to submerge them. Extraction vacuums and wet vacs pick up the rest from floors and carpet. The discharge route is chosen with the homeowner, based on what the water carries and where it can safely go.
Where carpet is soaked, the crew lifts an edge to see how far the water reached under it. Carpet and pad that sat in water are usually removed, because drying them in place is slow and the pad often holds the water longest.
Once the standing water is out, the crew takes moisture readings in the walls, the subfloor and the baseboards. The readings show where the drying has to reach, and they set the first point on the drying log.
Air movers and dehumidifiers are placed to move air across the wet surfaces. The crew explains what the equipment does and how long it will run, and it is checked on each visit against the readings taken the day before.
In Panama City, the usual extraction call is a ground floor, a garage, a stairwell or a low room that took water from a storm or from a split line. The lower rooms are the first place standing water collects, and they are the rooms where the extraction is most often needed.
The humid Gulf coast air that this area gets slows the drying that follows the extraction. Pumping the floor dry is only the first stage, and the readings after it show whether the walls and the subfloor have caught up with the air in the building.
Towns on this site's list run from the Gulf beaches to the inland Panhandle, and the water a crew removes changes with the place. Storm water on the coast can carry sand and debris, while water in an inland building more often comes from a pipe or a fixture. The crew identifies the source before it plans the removal.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Surge water pulled out of Panama City homes, then the wet materials sorted and the structure dried before anything is closed up.
A burst supply line in Panama City is shut off, the water removed and the floors, walls and framing dried in order.
Air movers and dehumidifiers dry wet walls, subfloors and framing in Panama City, with readings logged until the structure is dry.
Wet carpet and pad in Panama City are checked for a remove-or-dry decision, and the subfloor is read before any floor covering goes back.
No honest price list exists for water damage work in Panama City, because the same loss can cost very different amounts depending on the water, the time it sat, the materials it reached and the access.
Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane on October 10, 2018, near Mexico Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.
When surge water leaves a home, the first hours decide how much is saved.
A storm damage claim is built from a record: dated photographs of the water line and the damage, moisture readings, a list of removed and kept contents, the restoration scope and receipts for emergency work.
Calls are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as soon as one is free. No arrival time is promised. The first thing the crew needs is the state of the building and whether the power and the source are under control.
That depends on the policy and on what caused the water. A standard homeowner policy generally covers sudden water from a supply line and generally excludes flood. The crew can supply a written scope and photographs for the claim, but cannot say how the claim will be decided.
Stop using the drains and the toilets in the building, and keep people away from the drain area. Water coming up through a drain is treated as sewage, and the crew handles it that way. Call and say where the water is coming from.
Carpet and pad that sat in water are usually removed, because the pad holds water and the drying is slow. Carpet that was only lightly wet over a hard surface can sometimes be dried in place. The crew checks the backing and the pad before deciding.
It depends on the room and on the equipment. Pumps and dehumidifiers are loud and warm the room. The crew can say which rooms are safe to use during the work, and they keep the power and the equipment clear of the wet areas.
The standing water is gone, and the readings in the walls and the subfloor show the drying has started to fall. The crew should show you the readings and the log, so you can see what is still wet and what is dry.