Emergency
Storm Surge & Tidal Flooding Winter Haven, 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.
Switch off the air handler if it is dripping
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
What stains the top of the kitchen cabinets in an older Winter Haven house?
Often a duct in the soffit above. In some houses of around 1990, the boxed soffit over the cabinets carries a supply duct and is open to the attic. Hot, humid attic air settles inside it, reaches the cooled duct, and water forms on the metal and drips onto the cabinet tops. Sealing the soffit from the attic stops that air from reaching it.
How are Winter Haven's lakes connected?
By the Chain of Lakes and by flow-ways. The city's lakes page lists 8 lakes in the North Chain and 14 in the South Chain, plus 13 more public lakes that boats cannot pass between but that water can, through hydrologic connections and flow-ways. After heavy July rain, water moves from lake to lake, and lots sloping to the shore keep their lowest ground wettest.
Where should a damp slab in a Winter Haven house be traced first?
Indoors and overhead. The city's center stands some 166 feet above sea level, beyond the reach of any tide, which changes where to look when a slab is damp: the cooling system's drain line, the supply pipes in the walls and the rain running off the roof are the likelier sources, and a moisture reading along each one finds it.
For the figures behind these answers, see Winter Haven.