Emergency water extraction in Hollywood, FL

Most small extraction jobs fall around $500 to $3,000, depending on the area and depth of the water, according to restoration company price guides. HomeAdvisor's standing-water page shows most people paying $1,611 to $6,770, but that range includes yard drainage jobs. HomeGuide's February 2026 guide puts a restoration job with up to 12 inches of standing water in at least one room at $1,500 to $5,000. Category, floor type and building access all move the number, and we quote after seeing the job.

Both methods are used. Some companies bill by the hour, reported at about $75 to $200 for the first hour and $50 to $100 for each hour after. Insurance-style estimates usually list extraction per square foot as a line item in Xactimate, the estimating software many insurers use. Equipment makers even list their extractors under Xactimate's WTR EXT codes. Ask which method applies before work starts, and get it in writing.

It can be. HomeGuide's 2026 cost guide notes that after-hours emergencies carry added costs, and many restoration companies add a night or holiday call-out charge. We tell you the rate on the phone before we send a crew. Waiting until morning usually costs more in damage than the call-out fee, because water keeps moving into baseboards, cabinets and drywall overnight.

Often, yes. Homeowners policies generally cover sudden and accidental water damage even when you caused it, such as a tub you forgot to turn off or a washer hose you never tightened. What is typically excluded is long-term seepage, neglect and rising floodwater. Read your own policy, because the wording varies by insurer. Report the loss quickly and keep your photos. This is general information, not legal or insurance advice.

It depends on the company and your policy. Under section 627.7152(13), Florida Statutes, you cannot assign post-loss benefits on a residential policy issued on or after January 1, 2023. You stay in control of the claim, and the insurer pays you, or you and the contractor together. Ask us how payment works when you call. Keep every invoice and photo for the adjuster.

No. Policies expect you to take reasonable steps to stop further damage, and waiting days for an adjuster lets water spread into walls and cabinets. The EPA advises drying wet materials within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold. Photograph and video everything first. Keep removed materials or cut samples if your insurer asks for them, and let the extraction crew document the rest with photos and moisture readings.

It depends on where the water came from. A burst water heater or supply line in the garage is usually treated as sudden and accidental, so it is often covered. Rain or storm water rising from outside is flood, which homeowners policies exclude. That needs a National Flood Insurance Program policy or a private flood policy. Tell your insurer the source when you report the loss, since the source decides which policy responds.

Removing standing water from one to three rooms usually takes a few hours on the first visit. Larger or deeper losses take longer. Square footage, carpet and pad, water depth and the contents that have to move all change the time. For scale, the product listing for the Dri-Eaz Rover HVE ride-on tool claims it can pull water from 1,200 square feet of carpet and pad in under two hours. Extraction is only day one; drying usually runs several more days.

We dispatch a crew as soon as you call, 24 hours a day, and give you an arrival window on the phone. Traffic on I-95, US-1 and A1A can stretch that window. Building access can too, since a condo tower may need a service elevator booked and a certificate of insurance on file first. Shut off the water and take photos while you wait.

Extraction is one step: physically removing standing water with pumps and extractors. Mitigation is the wider job of stopping further damage, which covers extraction plus removing wet materials, antimicrobial treatment, drying and monitoring. Insurers usually pay mitigation as one phase and repairs as another. On your paperwork, extraction shows up as its own line inside the mitigation estimate, and repairs come later on a separate estimate.

No. Extractors remove standing water from floors, carpet and pad. Water that wicked into drywall, baseboards and wall cavities has to be dried in place, or the wet material comes out, and that happens in the drying phase. The EPA's cleanup table says wallboard can be dried in place if it shows no obvious swelling and the seams are intact. The extraction crew marks wet walls with a moisture meter so drying starts in the right places.

Sometimes. Swollen MDF baseboards are usually removed because they rarely recover. Pulling them also lets the crew extract water trapped along the wall and check the bottom of the drywall. Solid wood or tile baseboards may stay on if moisture readings allow it. Removed trim is photographed for the claim before it goes in the dumpster, so the adjuster can see what was taken out.

Not always. Truck-mounted extractors carry their own engine, so they work even when your breakers are off. Portable extractors and drying equipment need working circuits or a generator, and a unit like the HVE 3000 draws up to 13.5 amps, so each one needs its own 15-amp circuit. Any generator runs outdoors, away from windows. Water service can stay off at the main until a plumber repairs the leak.

No, and no honest company will say it does. Extraction removes standing and free water so the floor feels damp rather than wet. Moisture remains in the pad, grout, slab and bottom of the walls. That moisture comes out during drying, which is measured with meters until readings reach normal levels for each material. Expect a technician to come back and take those readings.

Usually, yes. Cement terrazzo that was installed correctly generally tolerates clean water and dries out without replacement; refinishers often grind it wet. The problems are cracked sections, a failed bond to the slab and Category 3 water. The National Terrazzo & Mosaic Association's restoration specification has the owner and contractor walk the floor and mark each crack for no action, repair or replacement. After drying, a terrazzo specialist can regrind and polish any staining or haze.

A hollow sound when you knock on a tile usually means it has lost its bond with the thinset. Sometimes water getting underneath caused it, and sometimes the installation was weak from the start. Mark those tiles with painter's tape. They may stay down after drying, or they may need resetting. Cracked or lifting tiles over a wet slab are flagged for the drying team, because water trapped under them dries slowly.

Often, if the water was clean Category 1 and extraction started within a day or two. The pad is usually replaced because it holds water and dries slowly. The EPA's cleanup table calls for drying carpet and its backing within 24 to 48 hours. Carpet soaked by Category 3 water, or wet long enough to delaminate or smell, is discarded under IICRC S500.

Yes. Laminate has a fiberboard core that swells within hours, so it is rarely saved. Click-together vinyl plank is waterproof on top but traps water on the slab underneath, so planks are usually lifted to extract the water and check the concrete. Glue-down vinyl may be left in place if readings allow. If you have spare boxes of planks in the garage, keep them dry, since matching a discontinued style later is hard.

The crew pulls the toe-kick panel at the bottom of the cabinets, extracts with low-profile tools and checks the cabinet floor. Particleboard cabinet bottoms that have swollen usually need replacing, while plywood often dries. Water left under cabinets is a common source of hidden mold. Empty the sink base before the crew arrives so they can reach the back panel and the shutoff valves.

Rugs are lifted off the wet floor first so water can be extracted from the floor underneath. Wool, silk and hand-knotted rugs need careful off-site cleaning and drying to avoid dye bleeding and shrinkage. That work is handled as contents cleaning rather than floor extraction. Don't dry a wool rug in the sun. Move it to a dry room until it goes out for cleaning.

Extraction itself doesn't, but removing or scraping the tiles can. The EPA lists vinyl floor tiles, sheet vinyl backing and flooring adhesives among materials that may contain asbestos, and you can't tell by looking. Leave old tiles and black mastic in place until a trained professional takes a sample for an NVLAP-accredited lab. If it tests positive, a licensed abatement contractor removes it before any flooring work.

Only if no outlets, cords or appliances are in or near the water and the power to that area is off; federal flood guidance on Ready.gov says not to touch electrical equipment that is wet or while you are standing in water. Wet tile and terrazzo are very slippery. A soaked ceiling above the leak can also fall. If the water may be sewage, stay out of it and keep it off your skin.

Water is treated as Category 3 black water when it contains sewage or comes in from outside. Under IICRC S500, that covers toilet backups with feces, sewer line backups, wasteline backflow from beyond a trap whatever its color, all seawater flooding and rising water. King tide water on Hollywood Beach falls in this group. Clean water that sits for days can also become Category 3. Black water extraction requires PPE and discarding porous materials.

If it has pooled on the floor or soaked the carpet, yes. A clogged condensate line on a closet air handler can overflow for days before anyone notices, and condensate is usually treated as Category 1 or 2 water. Extraction comes first. An AC technician then clears the clog and checks the overflow switch or secondary drain pan, which is separate work from the extraction.

Switch off breakers for the wet rooms only if you can reach the panel while standing on a dry floor. If the panel is in a wet garage or you are unsure, don't touch it; call FPL or a licensed electrician and wait outside. Ready.gov says to turn off electricity only if it is safe to do so. The crew checks the power again on arrival before any extraction starts.

Clean and gray water from portable tanks is usually emptied into a toilet or another sanitary drain. Truck-mount waste tanks are emptied at approved disposal points. Contaminated water never goes into a storm drain, because Hollywood's storm drains feed canals, lakes and other water bodies, and the city's stormwater code bars dumping non-stormwater into that system without approval. Category 3 waste stays sealed in its tank until disposal.

For Category 2 and 3 water, yes. IICRC S500 calls for contamination controls on those jobs, with cleaning and treatment of affected surfaces before drying starts. For a fresh Category 1 leak, antimicrobial is often optional. Ask which product is used and whether it is EPA-registered. Keep a note of the product name for your claim file.

Keep them out of the affected area, and away from the home if sewage spread widely. Category 3 water can carry bacteria and viruses, and Ready.gov advises that children should not take part in disaster cleanup. The crew sets containment around the work area. People with weak immune systems, pregnant women and young children should stay elsewhere until cleaning is complete. IICRC S500 says an indoor environmental professional should be brought in when occupants are high-risk.