Interior water cleanup and emergency tarping after a roof leaks from wind or hail, including older slate and tile roofs in Columbus.
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A roof leak becomes water damage once it reaches ceilings, walls or flooring. A technician stops the water at its source where that is safe, covers the opening with a tarp or boards, pulls out standing water, and dries the structure. Repairing the roof itself is not part of this service and goes to a roofer.
Wind and hail are the usual reason a roof in central Ohio opens up. A storm lifts a shingle or cracks a tile, rain runs down the rafters, and the first sign is often a brown stain on a bedroom ceiling a day or two later, after the insulation above it has soaked through. Most calls are less about the roof than about what the water did once it got inside.
Upper Arlington and Bexley have many pre-war houses with slate and tile roofs, and those roofs leak in their own way. An intact slate or tile field sheds water well, but one broken piece exposes the layer beneath it, and water can travel along that layer for some distance before it shows through the plaster below. In older houses the lath-and-plaster ceiling is often the first finish to fail, so the crew may need to open a section to find where the wet has spread.
The crew's job is the interior. It isolates water where that can be done safely, covers the opening, removes standing water, opens wet ceilings and walls where the meters show moisture, and sets air movers and dehumidifiers until readings come back to normal. Phones are answered 24/7 and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. A roof repair or replacement is a separate trade and is not part of this work.
Do not climb onto a wet roof, and do not try to tarp it yourself, because slate, tile and wet decking are dangerous to walk on. Keep away from any ceiling that is bulging, sagging or dripping near a light fixture, since water and wiring together can cause a shock. Do not cut into a wet ceiling to find the leak, because that can expose electrical wiring and spread water into new areas. If you cannot shut the power off safely, call the crew and stay out of the room until it arrives.
Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. The caller is asked where the water is coming in, whether it is near a light fixture or the electrical panel, and whether a ceiling is bulging, since a water-loaded ceiling can fall. Those answers help the crew decide what to bring.
Standing water near outlets, a fixture or the panel is a shock risk, so the crew keeps well clear of it until power to the affected circuits is off. If a supply line or fixture was pulled loose by the storm, the crew can help shut the water off at the valve. Anyone standing in water should step back and let the crew handle it.
A tarp or boards keep the next rain out, and they are the step that limits further damage while the roof is waiting for its own repair. The cover is temporary. It does not fix the roof, and it does not replace the roofer's work. Hail-cut tile and cracked slate can be covered without being repaired.
Standing water is pulled out first. Moisture meters and thermal imaging then show where water is still inside the wall, ceiling or floor framing. Wet drywall, plaster and insulation are opened where needed, because water left in a cavity keeps the wood damp long after the surface looks dry.
Air movers and dehumidifiers run until readings in the framing and subfloor return to normal, and the crew re-checks them as it goes. The crew can give you photos and moisture readings to share with your insurer. Whether the loss is covered is decided by your insurer under your own policy.
Coverage is decided by your insurer under your own policy, not by this site or the crew. A standard homeowners policy generally responds to sudden and accidental damage, and generally does not respond to long-term leaks.
Ask your agent how your policy treats wind and hail, and whether a leak that built up over months is handled differently from a sudden tear. The answer depends on your policy wording, so do not assume.
Take photos before anything is moved, and call your insurer early. The crew can give you moisture readings and photos for your claim, and it can document what it finds, but it cannot tell you what your insurer will pay.
The size of the wet area, how many floors the water reached, how long it sat, and whether the finishes are plaster or drywall all matter. The price is confirmed on site, and the emergency stage is explained and approved before any work starts.
Plaster ceilings and old lath take more time to open and dry than drywall, and an attic with little room to work adds time too. A leak that reached a finished room, carpet or hardwood has more materials to dry and possibly to remove.
Repairs after drying are quoted separately, after someone has seen the wet area. Nobody can price the rebuild honestly over the phone, and the emergency work is explained before it begins.
No. Wet slate and tile are slippery, and the decking beneath them can be soft after a leak. Standing water near ceiling fixtures also carries an electrical risk.
A ceiling that is bulging or sagging can give way without warning, and wet insulation is heavy. Stay out from under any spot that is dripping or swelling, and keep people and pets out of the room.
If you can do so safely, move furniture and valuables away from the wet area and take photos. Leave the tarping, the roof and the wet materials to the crew and the roofer.
Slate and tile shed water well while they are intact, but a single broken piece exposes the layer beneath. Water can then travel along that layer before it appears on the ceiling, so the stain is often not directly under the damage.
Many older houses in Upper Arlington and Bexley have plaster ceilings over lath, and water soaks into the plaster and holds there. The plaster can look fine for a while and then drop, which is why the crew checks above and around a visible stain.
Upper Arlington and Bexley are independent cities, not part of the City of Columbus. A question about roof permits or building rules goes to that city's building department, and it is worth asking before any roofing work starts.
There is no fixed number of days. Drying runs until moisture readings in the framing, subfloor and drywall return to normal, and the crew re-checks those readings as the job goes.
EPA guidance is to dry water-damaged areas and items within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold. Fast, complete drying is the main way to limit that risk, and it is why the first hours after a leak matter.
Mold can trigger allergy and asthma symptoms in some people. If mold is already visible, the job becomes a containment question, and the crew will say so before it goes further. For the drying itself, see structural drying.
This is the most common call after a severe thunderstorm. Wind can lift a shingle or slide a tile, and hail can crack a piece so that it no longer sheds water. The water usually enters at one point and then spreads sideways along the decking, so the stain may appear several feet from the actual opening. The crew covers the spot and checks the whole ceiling below it.
Slate and tile are heavy, and the layer under them is often old and hard to reach from inside. A single broken piece can let water into the space above a plaster ceiling for days before anyone notices. Upper Arlington and Bexley have many houses like this. The crew works from the inside, opens the ceiling only as far as the moisture readings show, and leaves the roof to a roofer.
Water often follows a path around a chimney, along a valley where two roof planes meet, or at the metal flashing around a vent. These leaks can be intermittent, showing up only in heavy rain from one direction. The stain may sit on a wall rather than the ceiling, which makes the source harder to find without moisture readings.
Columbus has a large rental market, and the caller is often a tenant or a landlord, not the owner who would deal with the roof. A top-floor unit takes the full force of a roof leak, and the water can reach the ceiling of the unit below. Clear photos of the damage and a fast tarp help everyone involved agree on what happened.
Central Ohio roofs take their hardest hits from spring and summer storms. The NWS measured 4 to 7 inches of rain across the heaviest parts of Franklin and Licking counties on 19 and 20 August 2026, and June is a common month for severe thunderstorms with wind and hail. A roof that held through one storm can leak after the next one lifts a shingle or cracks a tile.
Many of the older houses in the city and in neighboring Bexley and Upper Arlington have plaster ceilings, slate or tile roofs and attics that were never built for much water. Those ceilings can show a stain long after the leak started, so the crew looks above the visible spot as well as at it. Clintonville and Grandview Heights have similar pre-war stock.
Roof leaks also tend to coincide with power loss, which matters for basements. When a storm knocks out electricity, a sump pump can stop while water is still coming in through the same wall or floor. If you have both a roof leak and a wet basement, mention both on the call so the crew arrives ready for each.
Tell us what's happening and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a quick fix, and what roof leak water damage should cost.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Extraction, drying and cleanup for Columbus homes and businesses, with phones answered 24/7 and a crew dispatched as fast as one is available.
Standing water comes out first, then the drying starts. How a crew handles emergency water removal in Columbus basements and ground floors.
Water through a ceiling from an upstairs bathroom, laundry or neighboring unit, traced, dried and cleaned by a local restoration crew.
Meltwater that backs under roof edges and into Columbus ceilings and walls. Phones answered 24/7; a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available.
An ice dam forms when snow on the roof melts from underneath, runs down to the cold eave, and refreezes into a ridge.
No. Water often travels along the roof layers, the rafters or the top of a ceiling before it shows as a stain. The spot below the stain may be dry, while the actual opening is several feet away. The crew uses moisture readings to follow the water to its source inside the structure.
No. This service covers interior water cleanup, emergency tarping and board-up, and drying. Repairing shingles, slate or tile, flashing and replacing a roof belong to a roofer. The crew can cover the opening until a roofer can get to it.
Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. The site does not give an arrival time, because availability changes with the storm load. Tell the call taker about any active dripping or sagging so the crew can prioritize.
Move what you safely can away from the wet area, such as furniture, rugs and electronics, and photograph everything before you move it. Do not move anything that is near a live fixture or outlet until power is off. Keep records of what was moved for your insurer.
Mold can start in wet materials that are not dried quickly. EPA guidance is to dry water-damaged areas within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold. Mold can trigger allergy and asthma symptoms in some people, so if you see or smell mold, tell the crew when it arrives.
Your insurer decides coverage under your own policy. The crew documents the damage, gives you photos and moisture readings, and explains the work. The Ohio Department of Insurance handles consumer complaints about how an insurer handled a claim, and it does not decide how much damage is worth.