Water Damage Restoration in San Antonio, TX

You want the house back the way it was: dry, solid, and finished. Getting there takes five steps, and when someone skips one, a single leak tends to turn into a second claim. Step one is finding the source and shutting it off. Two, the standing water comes out along with anything soaked through, like carpet pad. Three is mapping the moisture, because water travels further inside walls, subfloors and ceilings than you'd guess. Four, we dry what can be saved and tear out what can't, which usually means swollen particleboard, wet insulation and any drywall that wicked water up past the baseboard. And five is the rebuild. New drywall, texture, paint, trim and flooring, plus new decking and shingles if the roof caused it. Texas-RRR takes San Antonio homeowners through every one of those steps, and each job starts with a free estimate and photos.

The roof has pages of its own. Got a drip right now? Our roof leak repair crew follows it back to where it's getting in. This page is about the inside of the house once water's already there: water extraction and drying, ceiling water damage, flooring, and the rest of the water damage repair.

The national lists don't quite fit here. Lots of San Antonio homes keep the air handler in the attic, and sometimes the water heater too, and that changes what we run into. These are the ones we see most.

• Roof leaks after hail and wind. This is our number one call for roof leak water damage. A bruised shingle or a lifted piece of flashing can let water in for months before any stain shows up downstairs. Bexar County has taken big hail years, and the roof side of that is on our storm damage page.
• Attic AC condensate. An air handler pulls a lot of water out of August air. If the drain line clogs, the pan overflows, the insulation soaks it up, and it comes through the ceiling of the room below.
• Plumbing failures. Supply lines under the sink, washer hoses, a water heater that's past its prime. Fast, loud and messy. At least you find out right away.
• Frozen pipes. Rare here, until they aren't. The February 2021 winter storm burst pipes in attics and outside walls all over town, and a lot of contractors rushed those repairs.
• Rising water. Central Texas floods fast. Your insurance treats floodwater as its own category, which we get to further down.

Honestly, the slow leaks worry us more than the dramatic ones. Somebody notices a burst pipe within minutes. A pipe boot that's been weeping into the attic for two summers has rotted the decking and soaked the insulation long before anyone spots that brown ring.

Speed isn't about hustle for its own sake. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says to dry water-damaged materials within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth. Miss that window and a drying job can turn into a mold remediation job, which costs more and comes under separate Texas rules.

A few things you can do before we get there:

1. Stop the water if you can. For a plumbing leak, shut off the main. For a roof leak, set a bucket under the drip, and if the ceiling is bulging, poke a small hole at its lowest point so it drains rather than caving in.
2. Cut power to wet rooms at the breaker when there's water near outlets or fixtures.
3. Shoot photos and video before moving anything. Wide shots first, then close-ups, with the date on your phone.
4. Lift belongings off wet floors and pull up area rugs so the dye doesn't bleed into the carpet.
5. Hang on to receipts for anything you buy to protect the house. Carriers usually expect you to head off further damage.

Roof open after a storm? Call us about emergency roof repair and tarping, because the drying can't really start until it's covered.

No two houses are alike. The order we work in barely changes, though, and here's how a typical job goes.

1. Inspection. We walk the house and the attic, track down the source, and get on the roof if there's any chance it played a part. You'll get photos of everything we find.
2. Stop the source. Depending on what failed, that's a roof repair, a tarp, a capped line, or a call to your plumber.
3. Water extraction. Standing water and soaked carpet pad go first. Nothing dries with those sitting there.
4. Moisture mapping. Moisture meter readings let us mark the wet boundary on walls and floors, so we know where to cut and where to leave well enough alone.
5. Tear-out. Usually the drywall comes out in a straight line just above the wet mark, with the wet insulation and any baseboard or cabinet toe kick that swelled.
6. Drying. Air movers and dehumidifiers run, and we keep re-checking until the framing and subfloor are back to normal readings. We won't close a wall over wet studs.
7. Rebuild. If the roof was to blame, decking and shingles come first. Then drywall, texture matched to the rest of the room, paint, trim and flooring.

Curious how we schedule and keep you in the loop? That's on our our process page.

How bad the room looks matters less than you'd think. Cause and timing are what water claims turn on. According to the Texas Department of Insurance, most homeowners policies cover sudden and accidental water damage, say a burst pipe or storm-driven rain through a damaged roof, but not a slow leak that went on for a long time or damage from poor maintenance. TDI and FEMA both note that standard homeowners policies don't cover flooding from rising water. You'd need a separate flood policy for that, usually through the National Flood Insurance Program. Hail or wind punches a hole and the roof leaks? Usually covered. A roof that leaked for years through worn-out shingles usually isn't.

This is where having former insurance adjusters in-house pays off. With 30+ years of insurance claim experience on staff, we know what a carrier wants in front of it: the cause of loss, dated photos, moisture readings, and a line-by-line scope that keeps the roof repair separate from the interior work. We'll meet your adjuster at the house so the two scopes get compared right there, not over email weeks later. Yvette D. wrote this about a roof claim: "After RRR roofing inspected my roof with the claims adjuster, I was able to obtain what I needed to get my whole roof fixed with very little out of pocket."

One thing to be clear on. You file the claim, and you're the one dealing with your carrier. We hand you the documentation to do it well. The full claim process is on our insurance claims page.

Our crews cover every corner of San Antonio, and the city's housing isn't one type. In Alamo Heights and the older central neighborhoods you'll find plaster walls and pier-and-beam floors, which don't dry like a slab house with drywall, so we plan the tear-out differently. Out in the newer subdivisions on the far West and North sides, the air handler usually lives in the attic, and condensate overflow ends up near the top of our call list there. We also work in New Braunfels, Boerne and around the rest of the San Antonio metro. For homes in Austin, our Austin line reaches the same crews.

Water rarely shows up alone. After a kitchen fire, the hoses leave plenty behind, and our fire and smoke damage restoration page covers that. Not sure where to begin? Send us a message or call (210) 802-6906 and we'll set up a free estimate.