BFC Elite is listed as a water damage restoration company in Iowa City, Iowa. Its earlier text says a restoration technician can be reached by phone for emergency help.

Listed since 07/20/2014

Water damage in Iowa City

The Iowa River decides how Iowa City thinks about water. On June 15, 2008, it crested at a record 31.53 feet, the largest flood in Johnson County's recorded history, and water reached downtown streets and buildings across the University of Iowa campus. The Coralville dam, finished in 1958, holds the river back upstream, but in 2008 the reservoir rose five feet above its emergency spillway. The earlier test came in August 1993, when the river crested at 28.52 feet.

Most days the threat is smaller and closer to home: a basement after a heavy spring rain or a fast snowmelt. Iowa guidance points to one common mistake, which is tying a sump pump into the sanitary sewer. That adds clear water to a pipe that is already full, and the result can be sewage backing up into the next basement.

What a water damage job involves

Crews first identify the water: clean supply water, or water from a sewer, a drain or a river, which must be treated as contaminated. They remove standing water, pull wet carpet and pad where needed, and dry the structure with air movers and dehumidifiers until moisture readings match dry material. Ask how readings will be taken and recorded, and what will be removed rather than dried.

Our guides on the first 24 hours and extraction and drying explain the sequence.