Emergency
Storm Surge & Tidal Flooding Chiefland, 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
Why is the paint blistering low on the inside of a Chiefland block wall?
Plaster or paint applied straight to concrete block, wherever a house of the mid-1970s was finished that way inside, leaves no air space between the masonry and the room. Water the block takes in through the wet months moves through to that finish, and the paint lifts in blisters, usually low on the wall where the block stays wettest. The outside face of the same wall is where to look for the cause.
Can the afternoon sun push water through the walls of a Chiefland house?
It can. Through August, sun on a rain-soaked block wall warms it, and the water it holds moves toward the cooler side, which in a cooled house is the inside. On the sunniest walls the inside finish can stay damp into the evening even on a day without rain. Damp that shifts from wall to wall with the sun points to this rather than to a leak.
After a stormy week, what makes a Chiefland toilet bubble when the shower runs?
After a week of August storms the soil around a drain field can be full, and the tank's level rises until it backs into the pipe from the house. Water from the shower then pushes the air in that pipe out through the nearest fixture, and the toilet bubbles. Chiefland has some 90 homes with septic systems on record. Easing off water use until the ground firms up lets the line clear.
For the figures behind these answers, see Chiefland.