Emergency
Storm Surge & Tidal Flooding Homestead, 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 does steam from another apartment end up in a Homestead bathroom?
Through a shared exhaust shaft. About a fifth of Homestead's homes are in buildings of ten or more units, and in some of them the bath fans of stacked units all empty into one vertical shaft. Each connection should have a damper that closes when the fan stops. Where one sticks open, warm, wet air from a neighbor's shower flows back in and settles as water on the cooled ceiling and mirror.
What do dark grout lines along the outside wall of a Homestead house mean?
Often, water coming up through the slab edge. In a house of around 2001, the median age here, that still has its original ceramic tile, the grout is the porous part of the floor. After August storms soak the soil against the wall, water wicks into the slab's edge and shows first as a darker band of grout along the outside wall, well before the tile itself lifts.
How long does a heavy August storm leave water around a Homestead building?
Long enough to matter at ground level. Homestead's center lies only about 3 feet above sea level, so after a heavy downpour the lawns and parking areas around a building hold water until the ground can take it. Where paving slopes toward the building, that water can reach the sills of ground-floor doors and soak the base of the walls before it goes down.
For the figures behind these answers, see Homestead.