Emergency
Storm Surge & Tidal Flooding Balm, FL
Surge and tidal water rise from the ground up and carry salt and silt with them. Anything porous they soaked is treated as contaminated. Outside water that rose into the building is treated as contaminated, and porous material it reached is removed. Salt left behind in materials keeps pulling water from the air, so it is cleaned out with the rest.
Shut off the water, then pick up the phone
Often needed alongside
- Emergency Water Extraction
Standing water removed before it soaks into slab, block and flooring - the first step after any failure, and the one humid air makes urgent.
- Wind-Driven Rain Intrusion
Wind pushes rain sideways through window frames, stucco and the base of the wall. The roof can hold and the house still take water.
- Sewer & Septic Backflow Cleanup
Heavy rain and a high water table can push sewage back through the lowest drain in the building. Clear or murky, it is handled as sewage.
Frequently asked questions
How can a yard that sloped away from a new Balm house end up sending water toward it?
Through the fill. A recent house stands on soil hauled in and packed around its foundation, and that soil keeps settling for several wet seasons. The median Balm house was built in 2014, so many yards are still in that stage. Where the strip beside the wall sinks below the lawn beyond it, August's rain collects against the slab edge and the base of the stucco instead of running off.
Can an open walk-in shower make a newer Balm bedroom damp?
Yes, when it has no door. A shower that size puts a great deal of steam into the bathroom, and with nothing to hold it there, the steam drifts into the bedroom and the closet beyond. It meets the coldest surfaces, the supply grilles and the walls nearest them, and turns back into water. A bath fan ducted outdoors and run during and well after each shower carries most of it away.
What becomes of a Balm septic system in a stormy August?
It fills the ground the drain field depends on. Balm has 124 homes with septic systems on record, and at about 98 feet above sea level the land is well above any tide, yet a week of heavy August rain still leaves the soil around the trenches full. Household water then leaves the tank more slowly, and the tub or shower lowest in the house is the first to drain sluggishly.
For the figures behind these answers, see Balm.