Foster's Quality First

Water and fire damage in San Francisco

Most of San Francisco is served by a combined sewer system, which carries stormwater and wastewater in the same pipes. When heavy rain pushes it past capacity, the city can see street flooding, especially in low-lying areas that were once creeks or bays, and property damage follows. Property owners who get sewage backing up inside every time it rains can apply to a city grant program for protections such as backwater valves. Sewage in a building is a different kind of water loss from a clean leak, and it should not be handled as one.

The city's other defining loss is fire. Before 1906 more than 90 percent of its buildings were wood-frame, and after the earthquake about 80 percent of the city burned over four days. The fires, not the shaking, did most of the damage.

What a water, storm and fire job involves

Clean-water leaks can often be dried in place. Sewage or storm runoff contaminates what it touches, so porous materials are removed and hard surfaces are cleaned and disinfected. After a fire, the work is soot and smoke removal, and odor that returns when only the surface is treated.

Ask what category of water or type of smoke damage the company has identified and what will be removed. Our guides on water extraction and drying and smoke damage you can't see describe how each should go.