Black discharge hose running out the front door of a one-story brick home across the walk

Water Extraction and Emergency Water Removal in Dallas

Water on the floor and more coming in? Shut it off if you safely can, then call. The line puts you through to an independent DFW company that owns the pumps and extractors.

Call (469) 649-7066 How to stop the water first

What water extraction means in a Dallas house

Extraction is the first physical step after a flood inside a home: getting liquid water out of the carpet, off the floor and out of the cavities it has run into, before the drying starts.

Most of the water in a soaked room is not the puddle you can see. It is held in the carpet pad, wicked up the bottom of the drywall, pooled under the toe kick of the cabinets, and soaked into the tack strip along every wall. A company that does water extraction in Dallas uses equipment built to pull that water out in bulk, because a dehumidifier can only remove water that has already turned to vapor. Taking out the liquid first cuts the drying time by days. Some people call the whole job water remediation; in Dallas listings you will see it called water removal, water mitigation or extraction, and they usually mean the same first stage.

Water Damage Pro Dallas does not own any of that equipment. It is a free phone line. Your call goes on to a locally owned DFW restoration company, independent of the line, that does own it. This page explains what that company is likely to do, so you know what you are agreeing to.

Worker pulling water out of a living room carpet with an extraction wand and hose

Before any extractor arrives: stop the water and stay safe

Removing water is pointless while more is still coming in. These steps come first.

Find your private shutoff. Dallas Water Utilities asks owners to locate their private cut-off valve before an emergency; it is often near an outside faucet close to the house. Turn a round handle clockwise until it stops, or set a lever handle crosswise to the pipe.
Call the city if you cannot find it. Inside Dallas, call 311 and Dallas Water Utilities can turn the water off at the meter at any hour. Fort Worth's 24 hour water line is 817-392-4477. Other towns have their own numbers.
Treat the water as live. Do not wade into standing water near outlets, cords, a water heater or a washer. Flip the breaker yourself only when the panel sits over dry floor you can stand on; if it does not, phone Oncor or an electrician.
Gas smell means out. If a water heater or furnace area smells of gas, leave and call 911 and Atmos Energy from outside.
Photograph before anything moves. Wide shots of each room, then close-ups of the waterline, the source and damaged belongings. Your insurer will want them.

Where the water usually comes from

Restoration companies in DFW see the same handful of sources again and again. The source matters because it sets the water category, which in turn sorts materials into those worth drying and those headed for the curb.

Supply lines and appliances

A split washing machine hose, a failed ice maker line, a cracked toilet supply or a dishwasher connection can release water at full house pressure until someone shuts it off. These are usually Category 1, clean water, at the start, which is good news if work begins quickly.

Water heaters

Many North Texas homes keep the tank in a garage, a hall closet or the attic. A tank that rusts through can empty its full contents onto the floor, or into the ceiling below if the drain pan overflows.

Storms and rising water

Water that comes in under doors from a flooded yard or street is Category 3. Extraction still happens, but more material is removed and everything is cleaned before it is dried. The flood damage page covers that job.

Laundry room with a front-loading washer beside a closet holding a tank water heater

The equipment and what each piece does

You do not need to know the brands, but it helps to know what you are looking at when the company starts unloading.

Truck-mounted extractor

A powerful vacuum unit that stays in a van or trailer outside, with long hoses run through the door. It moves a lot of water fast and keeps the noise and exhaust outside. Good for whole-house jobs where hoses can reach.

Portable extractor

A rolling unit carried inside, used in high-rise units, upstairs rooms or anywhere a truck hose cannot reach. Slower than a truck mount, but it goes where the water is.

Submersible pump

Used when water is deep enough to stand in, such as a sunken living room or a garage. It pushes water out through a discharge hose to a drain or the yard.

Weighted or wand extraction

A hand wand pressed into carpet, or a tool the operator stands on, squeezes water out of carpet and pad so the vacuum can pull it up. It is how carpet sometimes gets saved.

Moisture meters

Pin and pinless meters read how wet drywall, wood and subfloor are behind the surface. Readings are mapped room by room so the company knows where water traveled.

Thermal camera

An infrared camera shows cooler, damp areas on walls and ceilings. It suggests where to measure; the meter confirms it. A camera picture alone does not prove a wall is wet.

Carpet and pad: save it or pull it?

Gloved hand pushing a moisture probe into a damp carpet near the wall

This is the decision callers most often ask about, and it turns on the water, not on how nice the carpet is.

Clean water, caught early: the carpet can often be extracted, lifted and dried in place, and sometimes the pad too. Many companies replace the pad anyway because it is cheap and holds water.
Gray water (washer discharge, a toilet overflow without feces): the pad usually goes. The carpet may be cleaned and kept, depending on the company's judgment and your insurer.
Sewage or floodwater: carpet and pad that it touched are normally removed and thrown out. Cleaning them is not considered safe.
Glued-down carpet or carpet over hardwood: often removed, because water trapped between the layers cannot dry.

Ask the company to explain its call for each room, and to photograph anything it throws out. Your adjuster may want to see it.

Why emergency water removal in Dallas cannot wait a week

Two clocks start the moment water lands on the floor.

The first is mold. EPA guidance says mold usually does not take hold when damp materials are dried in the first 24 to 48 hours. Treat that as a rule of thumb, not a promise, and North Texas summers, with warm, humid air inside closed walls, do not give much extra time.

The second is the water itself getting worse. The IICRC's S500 standard for water damage restoration notes that time and temperature can turn clean Category 1 water into Category 2 or even Category 3. A supply line that ran all through a holiday weekend may be handled very differently from one shut off quickly. The longer it waits, the more material ends up in the dumpster instead of on the drying list.

Found water on the floor late at night? The line answers at any hour. Tell the assistant your town, where the water came from and whether it is still running, and you are transferred to an independent restoration company that serves DFW.

Call (469) 649-7066

What happens after the water is out

Moisture map. The company records readings for each room, often on a sketch, so there is a starting point to compare against.
Removal of what cannot dry. Wet pad, swollen baseboards, and sometimes the bottom of the drywall. Cutting a strip off the bottom of a wall lets the cavity behind it breathe.
Drying setup. Air movers push air across wet surfaces and dehumidifiers pull the water out of that air. A dehumidifier takes water out of the air; an air mover just moves it, so you need both.
Daily checks. Readings are taken again each visit, and equipment is moved or added. Ask for those readings in writing.
Dry standard reached. Equipment comes out only when materials read at normal levels for that house, not after a fixed number of days.
Repairs. New pad, carpet, baseboard, drywall and paint. Some companies do this, some hand it off. The water damage repair page covers that stage.

Several blue air movers and a dehumidifier drying an empty room with the lower wall opened

Questions to ask the extraction company

Which water category are you calling this, and what told you so?
Which items are you removing, and will you photograph them before they leave the house?
Will I get a written estimate before the work goes past the emergency stage?
How many air movers and dehumidifiers will run, and for roughly how long?
Will you share your daily moisture readings with me and my insurer?
Do your technicians hold IICRC Water Damage Restoration Technician (WRT) certification, and is your firm on the IICRC Global Locator?
Can you send me a certificate of insurance from your insurance carrier?

The answers are yours to check. The line does not vouch for any company's credentials. Our hiring checklist for DFW homeowners shows where to verify each one.

Ask your insurer, not the contractor. Guidance from the Texas Department of Insurance separates water that shows up suddenly and by accident, like a split pipe, an overflowing toilet or a failed washer hose, which most home and renter policies include, from slow leaks and seepage, which they usually leave out. Flooding is excluded from home policies altogether and needs a separate flood policy. Insurers can also refuse a claim when the owner did not take reasonable steps to limit further damage. Before you sign for any work, pull out your policy and call the insurer about what it includes. More on water damage and insurance.

How the free line connects you

Call the numberAn automated assistant answers (469) 649-7066 at any hour and asks what you need help with. The same number answers other home service calls too, so start with "water damage" or "mold".
Describe what happenedA burst pipe, standing water, a wet ceiling, a slab leak, a sewage backup or mold, plus your town and whether water is still coming in.
Get transferredWater damage calls go to an independent, locally owned DFW restoration company; mold removal calls go to an independent mold remediation company. Each hears a short summary before it picks up. Mold testing calls are taken as a message for now.
Deal with that company directlyIt inspects, quotes and does the work, and you pay it (or your insurer does, as you arrange). If it cannot answer, it gets your name, number, city and problem so it can call you back.

About this line: Water Damage Pro Dallas is a free phone line, not a restoration or mold company. It answers your call and connects you with an independent local company, which inspects, quotes and does the work, and which you pay directly. Companies may pay a referral fee. Calling the line costs you nothing. See how a call is handled.

More pages that may help

DFW towns the line takes calls from

Water removal questions from Dallas callers

How much does water removal cost?

There is no single price, and the line does not quote one. The bill depends on how many square feet got wet, whether the water was clean, gray or sewage, how long it sat, how much carpet, pad and drywall has to go, and how many days the drying equipment runs. Ask the company for a written estimate that lists each of those items. The water damage cost guide shows published ranges with their sources, and real quotes vary.

Can I just use a wet vac and fans?

For a small spill of clean water on a hard floor, a shop vacuum and towels may be all it takes. Once water has soaked carpet, pad, drywall or the space under cabinets, shop equipment usually leaves moisture behind where you cannot see it, and that hidden water is what feeds mold. Never run a vacuum or fan in standing water near outlets, and stay out of sewage or floodwater entirely. When in doubt, have a company measure the moisture.

Who do I call in Dallas to turn off my water at the meter?

Inside the City of Dallas, call 311. Dallas Water Utilities handles emergency turn-offs at the meter around the clock. In Fort Worth, the water department's 24 hour line is 817-392-4477. Other DFW cities run their own water departments, so look up your town's number now and save it in your phone. Your own private shutoff valve, if you can find it, is faster than waiting for a city crew.

Is it an emergency if the water is already stopped?

Usually it still needs attention soon. According to the EPA, drying wet materials inside a 24 to 48 hour window is what normally stops mold before it starts. Water that has stopped spreading is still sitting in carpet pad, baseboards and wall cavities, and clean water can turn dirty as it sits. Calling as soon as you find it, at any hour, gives a company the best chance to dry what can be saved. See the first 48 hours guide.

Does Water Damage Pro Dallas send someone to remove the water?

No. The line is a free phone service, not a water removal company. When you call, an automated assistant picks up, gets a short description of the problem, and hands the call to a DFW restoration company that is independent and locally owned. That company decides what equipment the job needs, gives you its estimate, and does the work. Payment is between you, that company and any insurer you bring in. See how a call is handled.

Standing water in a Dallas home? Call and get connected

Say what happened and which town you are in. The automated assistant passes a water damage call to an independent, locally owned DFW restoration company, and a mold removal call to an independent mold remediation company. That company comes out, sees the damage and prices the work itself.