Scottsdale Water Damage Restoration lists water extraction, drying, flood and sewage cleanup, mold remediation and leak detection. Its website names Old Town Scottsdale, McCormick Ranch, DC Ranch and Grayhawk among the areas served, and says it has IICRC-certified technicians and over 20 years in business.

Listed since 10/07/2020

Water damage in Scottsdale

Scottsdale sits in the Sonoran Desert, so the water that damages a house here is usually sudden rather than steady. The monsoon season, which runs from mid-June to the end of September, brings short, violent storms: wind-driven rain that finds gaps in tile roofs, and flash flooding in washes and low streets. The rest of the year the trouble tends to be plumbing. Homes built before the mid-1990s may still have polybutylene supply lines, a material that fails without much warning, and a slab-on-grade house hides a leak under the floor until the flooring lifts.

The dry air helps and hurts. Drying a wet room is faster than on the humid Gulf Coast, but a wall that looks dry can still hold moisture, and a closed-up house in summer heat can grow mold within days if the water is not removed. Because most houses here have no basement, the water spreads across one level and into every room that shares the slab.

What a water damage job involves

A crew removes standing water, opens the affected walls or floors where needed, and runs air movers and dehumidifiers while taking moisture readings until the structure reads dry. Sewage or flood water from outside is handled differently from a clean supply-line leak, and the difference decides what can be dried and what must be removed. Our guide to what to expect from water extraction and drying walks through it, and the first 24 hours covers what a homeowner should do before anyone arrives.