Pumping and vacuuming standing water out of basements, garages and lower floors across Colorado Springs and El Paso County, with the call answered at any hour.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Emergency water extraction is the first stage of any water loss in Colorado Springs. Pumps and extraction vacuums take the standing water off the floor so the building can begin to dry. The job is measured in hours, but the decisions made during those hours decide how much of the structure is saved. The phone line is answered 24 hours a day, every day, and the caller is connected to the local company that performs the extraction.
Start with the water source, because the source sets the whole job. A supply line, a water heater, a washing machine hose, a floor drain that backed up, a window leak during a hail storm and water running in from outside after a cloudburst each leave a different pattern on the floor and in the walls. Before anything is pumped, the first question is whether the water is still coming. If it is, the main shut-off or the appliance valve comes first, and the rest of this page waits until that is done.
Extraction is the removal of water that is lying on surfaces and soaking into carpet, pad, boxes and the bottom of wall board. It is a different job from drying. Once the water is out, the wet materials still hold moisture inside them, and that moisture is pulled out over days by air movement and dehumidification. A Colorado Springs home that has been pumped and looks dry can still have a wet subfloor, a damp wall cavity and a ceiling that will stain weeks later, which is why the readings matter as much as the pumping does.
Do not stand in water near outlets, cords, a plugged-in freezer, the water heater or the electrical panel. Do not switch breakers unless the panel is dry and you know which breaker feeds the wet area. Keep children and pets out of the room until it has been cleared.
The first job is to shut off whatever is feeding the water and to keep anyone out of standing water near outlets, cords, a wet panel or a gas appliance. The crew confirms what has been shut off and notes what caused the loss, so the record starts with a cause rather than a guess.
Clean water from a supply line is handled differently from water that has passed through a drain, a sewer connection or a floor that has been contaminated by outside runoff. The category decides which protective gear is used, which materials can be dried in place and which must be removed.
Depth decides the equipment. A submersible pump moves bulk water to a discharge point that will not return into the space. Once the depth drops to a few centimeters, extraction vacuums work the surface and the carpet pad, which holds more water than most people expect.
Soaked pad, wet cardboard, swollen particleboard shelving and the toe of baseboard all hold water against the floor. These are lifted, and where water has wicked up into a wall cavity, a small inspection opening may be made low in the wall so trapped moisture can be drawn out and air can reach the stud space.
Moisture meters and a thermal camera show how far the water traveled under flooring and into the wall board. The readings and the photographs taken at this stage are the record an insurer asks for later, and the drying equipment is set from those readings rather than from appearance.
As soon as the source is stopped and the space is safe to enter. Federal mold guidance treats the first day and a half as the window in which wet materials can be dried before mold starts to take hold, so the pumping is the start of that clock.
The window is a general guide and not a promise about any one room. Carpet over a dense pad can stay wet at the center long after the surface feels dry, and a sheet of drywall that wicked water up a few centimeters can look sound while the inside of the board is still soft. What the window does tell a homeowner is that standing water is the part of the loss that changes fastest, so the first call should be made at the first sign of water rather than after a day of watching it.
A call made at night or on a holiday is handled the same way as one made at noon. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and the caller is connected to the local company that does the extraction. What happens on site is then set by that company, which decides which equipment it can bring and when it can attend.
Water first, then any material that is holding water and cannot be dried back to a usable state. In a Colorado Springs basement that usually means carpet pad, loose boxes, the lower foot of wall board and anything stored on the floor.
Carpet is the item most often saved and the one most often lost. A carpet that has been extracted and lifted can sometimes be dried and reinstalled, but pad that has absorbed a full cellar's worth of water is generally removed, because it holds moisture and feeds odour long after the carpet looks clean. The decision is made on the readings, and the homeowner sees them before anything is thrown away.
Cardboard and paper are removed in almost every case, along with particleboard shelving that has swelled. Upholstered furniture is lifted off the floor and moved to a dry area for cleaning, and photographs of each item are taken before removal so the list can go to the insurer with the rest of the record.
Because water runs under finished surfaces and below grade, where it is slow to evaporate and easy to trap. The cellar floor itself may be uneven or sloped away from the drain, which leaves pools that are hard to reach with a squeegee.
A finished basement is a sandwich of carpet, pad, a subfloor, a stud wall and insulation, and water can travel through every layer before it shows. The layer that matters most is often the one underneath, so the crew lifts the surface at the lowest point and checks the subfloor there rather than trusting what looks dry at the edge of the room.
Water that has entered through a foundation wall or a cold joint behaves differently from water that came from a pipe. It is drawn into the concrete and block, and it can keep feeding moisture into the room for a time after the surface is clear. The readings are taken on the wall as well as on the floor for that reason.
The policy and the insurer decide, and the cause generally drives the outcome. A sudden discharge from a supply line or an appliance is generally treated differently from water that has been seeping for a long time.
Standard homeowner policies typically respond to sudden and accidental water discharge and typically exclude gradual leakage, seepage and water that enters from outside through the ground, unless an endorsement adds it back. The Colorado Division of Insurance is the state regulator for insurers in Colorado, and it is the place to take a complaint if a claim is denied. This page does not describe a specific policy, and the insurer's own wording governs any given claim.
The record taken during extraction helps whichever way the claim goes. Keep photographs of the water before it was removed, copies of the moisture readings, a list of the items taken out and the invoice for the work. Hold any damaged item until the insurer has seen it or has said in writing that it may be discarded.
This is the most common call in Colorado Springs homes with a basement or a below-grade room. A failed water heater, a split supply line or a backed-up floor drain puts water across a floor that sits below the rest of the house and drains slowly, so the water spreads under the walls before it reaches the surface.
A garage floor is a slab that slopes toward the door. Water from a hose, a freezer or a leaking water heater runs to the lowest point, which is often the threshold. Extraction here is usually quick, but the water can run under the wall plate into the room beside the garage, so the readings have to cover the wall as well as the floor.
When a ceiling leak or a dishwasher failure reaches the main floor, extraction has to follow the water through several rooms. Each room is checked separately, because water finds the gaps at door thresholds, along the baseboard of a kitchen run and under a hardwood or laminate floor laid over a plywood subfloor.
Basement water in Colorado Springs often arrives from above rather than from the ground. A water heater or a supply line in a finished basement is the common source, so the first readings should cover the ceiling and the wall at the top of the room as well as the floor.
After a heavy storm the water that reaches a Colorado Springs basement can come through a window well, a door sill or a cold joint at the foundation. Storm water is handled as its own category, because it carries silt and debris that an appliance leak does not.
Colorado Springs has a long record of hail and rain storms. The July 2016 hailstorm and the June 2018 overnight storm both damaged roofs and windows across the city, and a window leak that started during a storm can keep running into the wall for days before anyone sees a stain.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent emergency water extraction, send the form and we'll call you back.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Air movement and dehumidification that dry the framing, subfloor, insulation and wall cavities of a Colorado Springs building after water has been removed.
Removing water from a flooded basement, lifting the finished surfaces it reached and drying the walls and framing in Colorado Springs and El Paso County.
Cleanup after a hose, a valve or a drain on a washing machine, dishwasher, icemaker or refrigerator leaks into a Colorado Springs home.
Water released by a leaking or failed water heater in a Colorado Springs home, and the cleanup of the floor, the wall and the storage beneath it.
A water damage claim is usually judged on three things: the source of the water, whether the policy covers that kind of source, and the record of what was damaged and how it was dried.
No price is published on this site, because a figure given before the damage is seen would be a guess.
A water damage company should be able to explain its method, its credentials, its insurance and its written estimate before any work begins.
The first three days after a water loss set most of what follows.
For a small amount of clean water on a hard floor, a wet-dry vacuum can help, provided it is rated for water and the power is off to the room. It will not reach water held in carpet pad or in a wall, and it can spread contamination if the water is not clean. Stop and call if the water is deep or has come from a drain.
Drying is measured in days rather than hours, because the materials hold moisture after the water is gone. The readings decide when the equipment comes off, not the date on a calendar, and the homeowner is shown the readings at each check.
Items in the path of the work are moved to a dry area, and heavy pieces that sit in standing water are lifted where it is safe to do so. Photographs are taken before anything is moved, and the homeowner is asked before any item is removed from the building.
Yes. The line is answered 24 hours a day, including weekends and holidays. The person who answers will ask where the water is, what has been shut off and whether anyone is in danger, and will connect you to the local company that performs the extraction.