Allen houses after a leak alert, a hailstorm or a hard freeze

Our record here

One Allen job in our current log, and a return to North Texas

Our job log shows 1 logged job in Allen, from 2026. Before that log, we worked across Dallas–Fort Worth in earlier years, and we are reopening in the area now.

A single job is not a body of work, so this page makes no claims about what Allen houses usually need from us. There are no Allen photos on it yet: job photos are published only once a job is cleared for it, and never with a street or a house number. What the page does offer is what we looked up about Allen before writing it, each fact linked to the agency that published it, so you can check every line.

The services are the full list we offer in both of our areas: water mitigation, mold remediation, fire and smoke cleanup, air duct cleaning, the rebuild after the damage is handled, and construction and remodeling. One phone number covers all of it.

Allen's water meters

What should you do when Allen's water meter flags a leak?

Take it seriously and look for the water. Allen's smart meters send customers who sign up two kinds of alert, and both can point to damage you cannot see yet.

The city explains the alerts on its smart water meter page. A continuous leak alert goes out when a single-family home uses at least 3 gallons every hour for at least 24 hours. A burst leak alert goes out when use jumps suddenly, which the city says could be a burst pipe or a water heater and should be checked right away. Owners enroll through the city's WaterSmart portal, which also shows hourly use.

When the water has reached floors or walls, we document what it touched with photos and moisture readings, take the water out and dry the house, and rebuild once it is dry. The leaking pipe itself is fixed by a licensed plumber.

The houses

A city that mostly went up after 2000

The Census Bureau puts the median Allen home in 2003. Of 39,094 homes, 23,279 were built in 2000 or later.

Those numbers are from the American Community Survey for 2020–2024 (median year built, table B25035, margin of error one year; year structure built, table B25034). Another 9,107 homes date from the 1990s. Only 2,694, about one in fifteen, were built before 1980.

A newer house still has a first big repair ahead of it, and for many Allen owners a water loss or a hail claim is that first one. Often nobody has opened those walls since the builder closed them. Our estimate starts from our own photos, moisture readings and measurements of the house, new or old.

Storms on record

Hail the size of tennis balls, and a tornado across west Allen

The federal Storm Events Database lists Allen by name again and again. Two entries show what a North Texas storm can do to a roof here.

On the evening of May 19, 2023, storms along a cold front dropped large hail over the part of Collin County around Allen. One hailstone measured near the middle of the city was 2.5 inches across (NOAA NCEI event record), and the Weather Service summary describes hail up to tennis ball size causing considerable damage around Allen. On the night of October 20, 2019, during the storms that brought tornadoes to the Dallas area, an EF0 tornado formed in west Allen and ran east-northeast, pulling shingles off a number of houses, snapping large limbs and blowing down wood fences (NOAA NCEI event record).

After hail, the damage people notice first is the dented gutter or the broken skylight. The damage that matters more can be a bruised shingle that lets water into the attic later. We repair roofs, siding and gutters after storms and hail, and document the damage for the claim the same way we do for water: photos, measurements and a line-item estimate.

Winter

Below zero in Collin County: February 2021

During the February 2021 storm, Collin County spent most of a week below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and February 15 and 16 brought lows between 5 and minus 5.

The county's entry in the Storm Events Database (NOAA NCEI, extreme cold, February 2021) says the cold caused an extreme amount of damage to pipes, infrastructure and power. A pipe that freezes in an exterior wall or an attic usually does not leak until it thaws, which is why the water often shows up on the first warm day.

1. Know your curb valve. Allen's meter page says customers with a water meter wrench and meter key may lift the smart meter lid and use the shut-off valve near the curb, a method used in freeze emergencies to stop burst pipes.
2. Expect the alert. The same page notes that a dripping faucet left on during a freeze can set off a continuous leak alert. That one is yours; a burst alert is not.
3. Plumber first. A licensed plumber repairs the split pipe.
4. Then the house. We take out the water, dry the structure and rebuild ceilings, walls and floors.

The ground

Houston Black clay under much of the city

Look up points across Allen in the USDA's soil data and the answer keeps coming back the same: Houston Black clay, with Austin silty clay on some slopes.

You can check your own lot in the Web Soil Survey. The USDA's official description of Houston Black lists a high shrink-swell potential: when it dries, cracks up to about 4 inches wide open a foot or more deep, and water enters fast while it is cracked and very slowly once it is wet. A slab on ground that behaves like that can shift between a dry summer and a wet spring.

For a repair, that matters in two ways. A leak under or beside the slab wets the clay in one spot, so a crack in the drywall or a door that sticks can be part of a water problem, not a separate one. And when the house has moved, the rebuild should not simply patch the crack. Foundation repair for clay-soil movement is part of what we do, and we handle permits and plans on remodels.

Flood zones

Rowlett Creek, Cottonwood Creek and Watters Branch on the flood map

FEMA's flood map for Allen follows its creeks. Its data names Rowlett Creek, Cottonwood Creek and Watters Branch, with their tributaries, among the streams studied inside the city.

Along those streams the map shows Zone AE, the 1-percent-annual-chance floodplain with base flood elevations, including a regulatory floodway, plus some Zone A and shaded Zone X areas with a 0.2-percent annual chance. Most of the city is unshaded Zone X, an area of minimal flood hazard. The map panels covering Allen carry effective dates from June 2009 and June 2017. Search your own address at the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.

Building in the mapped floodplain takes a floodplain development permit from the city's engineering staff, listed on Allen's land development page. Water that comes in from a rising creek is also a different kind of claim from water out of a pipe: flood damage is usually covered by a separate flood policy, so check which policy you have before the adjuster visits.

The city's rules

Where Allen's permit exemptions stop on a water repair

Allen publishes the residential work it exempts from permits. For plumbing, the line falls between stopping a leak and replacing hidden pipe.

According to the city's residential services page, stopping a leak in a drain, water, waste or vent pipe needs no permit. If a concealed pipe is defective and has to be removed and replaced with new material, that counts as new work and needs a permit and an inspection. Replacing windows and doors without changing the structural opening is also exempt. Every contractor must register with the city, owners doing their own work fill in a homeowner's affidavit first, and construction is allowed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The city's Building and Permitting Division takes every application through its online Citizen Self-Service portal and has adopted the 2024 ICC building codes, effective September 26, 2026. If you hire anyone for a repair, the city's own advice is to make sure the contractor has applied for and received the permit before work starts.

Mold in Texas

If the leak ran long enough to grow mold

Texas splits mold work in two. On any project we remediate, an independent licensed mold assessor does the assessment; we never assess and remediate the same Texas project.

That is set by the Texas Occupations Code (section 1958.155). In practice, the assessor inspects and writes the plan, we do the removal, and everything the mold touched is replaced with new material, never cleaned and reused. A continuous leak alert that went unnoticed for a while is a good reason to ask for that assessment before the walls are closed again.

Paying for it

The deductible, the adjuster and our estimate

For a covered repair, you pay only your deductible, and your insurer pays us the rest directly. Upgrades you choose are priced separately.

We are the repair contractor, never the adjuster. We send the adjuster our itemized estimate, written in Xactimate with photos, moisture readings and measurements, and answer questions about our scope; the claim and the settlement stay between you and your insurer. We never waive, cover or rebate a deductible. Without insurance, the first consultation and quote are free, financing is available through our lending partner, and our work carries a written warranty with its terms in each job's contract.

Asked in Allen

Allen leak alert, curb valve and flood map questions