Water, storm and mold repair for Garland homes

Creek water first

Three creeks, one flood map, and the streams it leaves out

We did a lot of work across Dallas–Fort Worth in earlier years, and we are reopening there now. No Garland job is in our current records yet, so this page starts where Garland's own engineers start: with the water.

FEMA's flood maps show about 4,200 acres of floodplain in Garland, mainly along Duck Creek, Rowlett Creek, Spring Creek and the streams that feed them, according to the city's floodplain and drainage page. Most of the land along the big creeks is set aside to carry floodwater and keep wildlife habitat. The same page says a major channel widening along Duck Creek in the late 1990s cut the flood risk for hundreds of homes and businesses in central and southern Garland, and that a number of homes in the city are still at risk.

For homes that flood again and again, Garland runs a voluntary flood-prone property buyout program under Ordinance No. 7382: the city can offer to buy frequently flooded homes in the floodplain or floodway, and the city posts each new application window on its site. For everyone else, the job after creek or storm water is the same one we do across the region: get the water out, take out what cannot be saved, dry the structure until the meters say it is dry, then rebuild. The steps are on water damage restoration.

Storm record

What the December 2015 tornado tells you about storm repairs here

The National Weather Service office for North Texas rated the tornado that crossed Garland on December 26, 2015 an EF-4, the highest rated and deadliest December tornado on its list for Dallas County, and the one with the most intense damage of the twelve tornadoes confirmed that day.

That record is on the weather service's summary of the outbreak. Most storm calls in Garland are far smaller than that night: hail that bruises shingles, wind that lifts a row of them, a limb through the roof, and then the rain that follows. The question after each one is the same. What got wet behind the damage you can see? Water that comes in at the roof soaks attic insulation, runs down inside the top of a wall and shows up days later as a stain on a ceiling.

We board up and tarp first, then repair the roof, siding and gutters, and we document the storm damage for the claim the way we document every loss. If you need the date of the storm that hit your street, the weather service's reports are searchable by county in NOAA's Storm Events Database. More on storm damage repair.

The houses

More Garland homes went up in the 1970s than in any other decade

Of 86,216 housing units in Garland, 23,773 were built between 1970 and 1979, and the median home dates from 1978, give or take a year. Just over half, 47,274, were built before 1980; about 15,600 have gone up since 2000.

Those counts are the Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2020–2024 (year structure built, table B25034; median year built, table B25035). They describe a city where most of the walls we open were framed, plumbed and wired a long time ago, and that changes how a water job starts.

• Two homes in three are detached houses

  The survey counts 58,992 single-family detached homes (units in structure, table B25024). A leak in a detached house stays in one household's rooms, so the drying plan follows one family's floor plan.

• About six in ten are lived in by their owners

  Of 81,954 occupied homes, 50,491 are owner-occupied and 31,463 rented (tenure, table B25003). Garland also requires single-family rental houses to be permitted by its Code Compliance staff, the city's residents page notes, which matters to landlords planning a rebuild.

• Older walls, read before they are opened

  In a house of that age, what sits behind the drywall is often original. We take moisture readings room by room and look before we cut, so only wet material comes out.

• New material, not cleaned-up old

  Drywall, insulation and flooring the water ruined are replaced. If mold has started, everything it touched is replaced with new material, never cleaned and reused.

Freeze and thaw

February 2021 in Garland: the burst pipes, then the water bill

Winter Storm Warnings covered the entire State of Texas on February 14, 2021, and on February 15 the high temperature at DFW Airport was lower than the record low for that date, according to the National Weather Service.

Garland's response shows what a freeze costs after the thaw. The city council proposed a one-time 2,000-gallon credit on residential water bills for the dripping faucets, for single-family and multifamily homes, and the city's Utility Customer Service offered to work with residents whose bills showed excessive use from broken pipes, asking for evidence such as photos and repair receipts (city notice, March 2021). The lesson for the next freeze: photograph the break and the wet rooms before anything is cleaned up.

Learn where your shut-off is before you need it; the city's winter preparedness notice points to its water utility's guidance on turning off water to your home. A burst pipe itself is repaired by a licensed plumber. We take out the water, dry the house to the readings and rebuild what came out; see water damage mitigation.

Ground and permits

Clay ground, slab leaks, and the permits that follow

The creek bottoms of this part of Texas hold clay that cracks open when it dries. The USDA's official description of the Trinity series, a very deep clay soil of stream flood plains whose type location is in neighboring Kaufman County, records cracks at least 1 cm wide reaching more than 20 inches down in dry weather.

That is the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's Trinity soil series record. Not every Garland lot sits on it; the soil under your own house, and how much it shrinks and swells, is a free lookup in the Web Soil Survey. Clay that moves can move a slab, and the plumbing inside a slab moves with it. Slab leaks are part of our water work, and foundation repair for clay-soil movement is part of what we do.

Garland's Building Inspection Department lists foundation repair, roof replacement and garage conversions among the major renovations that often need a residential building permit, along with plumbing repairs including water heater replacement, electrical work and heating and air conditioning (city residents page). Permit fees are set from the value of the project, and the city's building permit page says work is done by city-registered contractors, with state-licensed trades for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and irrigation work. On remodels we handle the permits and the plans, and design is included.

How a Garland job runs

From the first call to the finished room

1. You call

   A person answers 24/7. Tell us which rooms, what you saw and whether water is still coming in. The first consultation and quote are free.

2. We measure

   Moisture readings in every room the water reached, photos and measurements. If there is mold, Texas law (Occupations Code 1958.155) means an independent licensed mold assessor does the assessment on any project we remediate; see mold remediation.

3. Your adjuster gets our estimate

   We are the repair contractor, never the adjuster. Our itemized estimate goes to your adjuster; for a covered repair you pay only your deductible and your insurer pays us the rest directly. More on insurance restoration.

4. We rebuild

   Once the readings say dry, we put the house back. Upgrades you choose are priced separately, our work carries a written warranty with its terms in your contract, and financing is available. See rebuild after damage.

Asked in Garland

What Garland homeowners ask about creeks, permits and pipes