Extraction, drying and cleanup for Columbus homes and businesses, with phones answered 24/7 and a crew dispatched as fast as one is available.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Water damage restoration is the work that follows water in a building: removing it, finding wet materials behind walls and under floors, drying the structure, and cleaning or repairing what cannot be saved. In Columbus most of it happens in basements. A technician extracts standing water, sets air movers and dehumidifiers, and checks moisture readings until materials are dry.
Water in a Columbus building usually comes from a few places: a basement after heavy rain, a sewer backup through a floor drain, a supply line that split, or a ceiling that let go after a freeze. Calls to Columbus Water Damage Restoration are answered 24/7 at (833) 490-5225, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. The first conversation is usually about the water still in the house, so that is where the crew starts.
Most of this work is in the basement. Full basements are standard across central Ohio, in pre-war brick houses in Clintonville and Franklinton, in post-war cottages and ranches, and in the newer finished basements of suburbs such as Dublin and Hilliard. The water heater, the furnace, the electrical panel, the washer and the floor drain are usually down there too. A basement leak is rarely only a floor problem, so technicians look at the walls, the sump pit and the drain before deciding how far the wet area reaches.
The job has three parts: remove the water, find the moisture still held in the structure, and dry it out. Drying is time-sensitive. EPA guidance is to dry water-damaged areas and items within 24 to 48 hours to limit mold. Repairs after drying, such as drywall, trim and flooring, are quoted separately once someone has seen the wet area. Repairing the pipe or the water heater itself goes to a licensed plumber.
Most basement water here comes in through the floor drain and sewer line during heavy rain, through the wall and floor edge when groundwater is high, or from a failed sump pump or water heater. Each route leaves a different pattern on the floor and the walls.
Columbus is built on glacial till, and some of the ground is slow to shed water. Bennington soils are somewhat poorly drained, with a perched water table close to the surface in normal years. Pewamo soils in low spots are very poorly drained, with a seasonal high water table near the surface from about December to May. That stretch is when wall and floor seepage is most likely, and it is the season to check the lowest corner of the basement after a wet week.
Sewer backup is the signature local call. The city's sewer system was the subject of two consent decrees with Ohio EPA, and a backup through a basement drain is usually a wet-weather event. Stormwater and sewage share the same lines in older parts of town, so a backup in a heavy storm is a sign the system is overloaded, not a sign of a fault inside the house.
Often not by a standard homeowners policy. The Ohio Department of Insurance lists sewer backup and basement leaks among typical exclusions on common homeowners forms, so coverage usually depends on an added endorsement. Check your policy or ask your agent.
A standard policy generally responds to sudden and accidental water damage, such as a burst supply line. It generally does not cover long-term leaks, flood from rivers and creeks, or sewer and drain backup. Flood is a separate policy, through FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program or a private insurer. Ohio's insurance regulator takes consumer complaints if a claim is handled outside the policy terms.
Coverage is decided by your insurer under your own policy, not by the restoration crew. The crew can document the damage with photos and moisture readings for your claim, and it can explain what it did and why. Take photos before anything is moved, and call your insurer early.
Stop the water at its source if you can do so safely, and keep out of standing water near outlets, the furnace or the electrical panel. If the water is from a sewer backup, treat it as contaminated and keep children and pets out of it.
Turn off the water at the main or at the appliance valve, and unplug or switch off electrical equipment that is standing in water only if you can reach it without wading in. Do not walk through a flooded basement to reach the panel. If the water is rising from the floor drain, do not run more water into the house, such as laundry or a dishwasher, until it has been checked.
Take photos and video before you move furniture or start pulling up materials. Then call the phone line, describe where the water came from and whether it is still running, and let the crew arrive before you start removing wet materials. Photos made before cleanup are the record your insurer will want.
They map the moisture with meters and thermal imaging, then re-check readings until the materials reach a dry standard. Drying is not finished when the floor looks dry, because water often sits in the subfloor and the wall cavity.
Technicians use industry guidance from the IICRC, the non-government body that publishes ANSI/IICRC S500 for water damage restoration. The standard sorts water by category, from clean supply water through gray and black water, and sorts the drying work by class. A crew can explain those terms, and readers may ask any company which certifications its technicians hold.
Air movers and dehumidifiers run for as many days as the readings require. Readings are recorded so the drying can be tracked, and the same record can be shared with your insurer. Drying fast is the main way to limit mold, which is why the crew moves quickly even when the water looks minor.
The size of the wet area, the category of the water, the materials it reached and how long it sat before anyone found it all move the price. The price is explained and approved before work begins, and repairs are quoted separately after drying.
Access matters: a basement with stairs only, a crawl space, or a third-floor apartment takes more time to set up and to clean out. Older houses add their own work. Plaster walls, cabinetry, old subfloor and pre-war hardwood over a crawl space each take a different approach, and an older house may need asbestos or lead checks before demolition, which the crew cannot do itself. Ask the company to explain how it will handle those questions before any work starts.
After-hours, weekend and holiday callouts are priced differently from daytime work. If a plumber must fix the source first, that plumbing work is not part of the restoration quote. Nobody can price a flooded basement honestly over the phone, so the crew confirms the price on site, before equipment goes in.
Do not stand in water near electrical outlets, the furnace or the panel, and do not wade into a flooded basement to reach the shut-off. Do not use a wet vacuum or extension cords in standing water, and do not run appliances that are sitting in it. Treat sewage and sewer backup as contaminated: wear gloves and keep children and pets away from it. Do not try to remove mold yourself beyond a small area, and do not cut into walls or pull up flooring in a pre-1980s house until asbestos and lead have been considered.
Calls are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. The dispatcher asks where the water is coming from, whether it is still running, and whether water is near electrical equipment. Those answers decide what the crew brings to the house.
If it is safe, the water is shut off at the main or at the appliance valve. On arrival the technician checks what kind of water it is, since clean supply water and sewage need very different handling. Power to wet areas is kept off until the electrical side is confirmed safe.
Standing water is pulled out with pumps and wet vacuums. In a sewer backup the crew treats the water as grossly contaminated, uses protective gear, and removes carpet, pad and soaked materials that cannot be cleaned and dried.
Moisture meters and thermal imaging find wet material behind walls, under flooring and in the subfloor. Air movers and dehumidifiers are placed for the room and the materials, and the crew records readings. The emergency-stage price is explained and approved before this equipment goes in.
Readings are checked again until materials reach a dry standard, and the drying log is kept as the job goes. Once the structure is dry, repairs such as drywall, trim or flooring are quoted after someone has seen the wet area. The crew can also give photos and moisture readings to share with your insurer.
Finished and unfinished basements both flood here, and finished ones take the most work. Carpet and pad usually come out first, drywall is cut above the wet line, and the masonry or poured wall is dried before anything is rebuilt. Stone and rubble cellar walls in older houses can hold water for longer, so the readings there take more time.
A backup through a floor drain is treated as contaminated water from the start. Porous materials that soaked it are usually removed, and the area is cleaned and dried in that order. If the house is enrolled in or eligible for the city's Project Dry Basement program, the backflow device is a city-run item, not part of this work. See the sewage cleanup page and the city guide for how to report it.
A split supply line or a washer hose is usually clean water at first, but it can pick up contamination as it sits on the floor. Upstairs bathrooms and ice-maker lines often leak into the ceiling below, so the work may be a second floor and a first-floor ceiling at once. The leaking part is repaired by a plumber or appliance technician, and the crew handles the cleanup and drying.
Here the frozen pipe often leaks only when it thaws, which is why calls spike on the warm-up. Exterior walls, unheated garages, crawl spaces and vacant rentals are the common locations. The crew cleans and dries the area, and the pipe itself is repaired by a licensed plumber.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent water damage restoration, send the form and we'll call you back.
Columbus sits where the Scioto and the Olentangy meet downtown, and Alum Creek, Big Walnut Creek and Blacklick Creek drain the east side. Heavy rain on the clay soils runs off fast into those streams, and it is why the flood history here matters even for homes far from the river. The 1913 flood broke the levee on the west side and hit Franklinton hardest. On 19 and 20 August 2026 the National Weather Service measured 4 to 7 inches of rain in the heaviest parts of Franklin and Licking counties, with significant river and overland flooding. Franklinton and the creek corridors are the places to look hardest after a storm like that.
Most of the housing stock is old and full of basements. Pre-war houses in Clintonville, Franklinton, Bexley and Grandview Heights often have cast-iron waste stacks that rust through, galvanized supply lines, clay sewer laterals cracked by street-tree roots, and cellar walls that weep. Post-war cottages and ranches in Whitehall and Northland commonly have block basements. Suburban homes in Dublin and Hilliard are often finished, with carpet and drywall that will hold water until someone looks. For sewer backup questions, see the sewage backup page and the city program guide.
The seasons set the calls. The normal first freeze is 27 October and the normal last freeze is 18 April, so pipes in exterior walls, garages and crawl spaces are at risk from late autumn into spring. Burst and frozen pipes peak roughly from December to February. Ice dams on shallow-eave roofs of pre-war houses cause ceiling leaks from January to March. In the canal villages of Groveport and Canal Winchester, and in the older parts of Lockbourne and West Jefferson, crawl spaces are common, and Clintonville and Franklinton are where the older basements and street-tree laterals most often show up in the same call.
Standing water comes out first, then the drying starts. How a crew handles emergency water removal in Columbus basements and ground floors.
Water removal, drying and moisture checks for flooded basements across Columbus and central Ohio, with phones answered 24/7.
Cleanup after sewage or sewer backup, treated as contaminated water. Phones answered 24/7; a crew dispatched as fast as one is available.
Cleanup after a sump pump fails or loses power in a storm, covering the pit, the basement floor and the materials that stayed wet.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
No honest dollar figure can be given before someone sees the wet area in Columbus.
Heavy rain can overload the sewer system, and sewage can then rise through a basement floor drain.
In Columbus, the normal first 32°F reading arrives on 27 October and the normal last one on 18 April.
An ice dam forms when snow on the roof melts from underneath, runs down to the cold eave, and refreezes into a ridge.
Columbus sits where the Scioto and Olentangy meet, and Alum Creek, Big Walnut Creek and Blacklick Creek drain the east side.
A standard Ohio homeowners policy generally responds to sudden, accidental water damage, like a burst supply line.
Older houses in German Village, Clintonville, Bexley, Grandview Heights and Upper Arlington tend to fail in a few predictable places: cast-iron drain stacks, clay sewer laterals, stone cellar walls and old water service lines.
The restoration crew cleans and dries the area, but the pipe or water heater is repaired by a licensed plumber. Plumbing work is licensed in Ohio. The state board licenses commercial plumbing contractors, and city building departments handle residential registration. In Columbus, plumbing contractors are registered with Building and Zoning Services, and you can ask any company which license it holds and check it with the issuing office.
A property owner may pull a plumbing permit only for work they do themselves on a single-family home they live in. A permit cannot be bought for work that a contractor will do. Trade permits are pulled by the registered contractor, after the building permit has been issued. Check the current rules with the building department where the house is.
The city's Project Dry Basement program pays for an approved backflow prevention device on eligible homes, including rentals. That device only stops sanitary sewer backup through a basement drain, not seepage through walls or windows. Eligibility is checked with the City of Columbus, and the installation is done by the city's certified plumbing contractor, not by this service.
A backup should be reported to the city within 24 hours of the incident, so the city can determine whether rainwater caused it. You can call 311, or reach the 24-hour Sewer Maintenance Operations Center at 614-645-7102. The city also has an online wet basement questionnaire. Keep your photos and the restoration crew's records with your report.
Ohio does not license mold remediation the way some states do. Ask any company what standard it works to, such as the ANSI/IICRC S520 guidance for mold remediation or EPA mold guidance. Mold can trigger allergy and asthma symptoms in some people, so an area over about 10 square feet, or any mold tied to sewage or HVAC, is a job for professional help.
Ohio law gives homeowners a three-business-day right to cancel many contracts signed at home. Ask the company for the written agreement and the cancellation notice. If you are unsure whether the right applies to an emergency job, check with the Ohio Attorney General's office before you decide.
That decision belongs to your insurer and your own policy, and no restoration company can promise an outcome. A standard homeowners policy generally responds to sudden and accidental water damage, and generally does not cover flood or sewer backup without an added endorsement or a separate flood policy. The crew can give moisture readings and photos for your claim, and your agent can explain what your policy covers.