Grand Prairie water, storm and flood repairs

Where we stand in Grand Prairie today

We did a lot of work across Dallas–Fort Worth in earlier years and we are reopening there now. Our current job records do not list a Grand Prairie job yet, so you will not find Grand Prairie photos or job stories here, only what we know about the city's houses and the rules that apply to them.

The services are the same ones we offer everywhere: water mitigation, mold remediation, fire and smoke cleanup, air duct cleaning, the rebuild once the damage is handled, and construction and remodeling. You call one number and deal with one company from the first wet floor to the last coat of paint. We are insured, and the first consultation and quote are free.

A city built mostly after 1980, with an older core

More Grand Prairie homes went up between 2000 and 2009 than in any other decade: 16,176 of them. Another 22,287, about 31 percent, were built before 1980, and most of those date from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Those counts come from the Census Bureau's year structure built table (B25034). The split matters once a wall is open. In a newer house we expect plastic supply lines, a slab and drywall throughout. In a house built before 1980 there may be older plumbing, earlier repairs layered on top of each other and materials that call for care before anything is cut. We take moisture readings and look first, and we price the work after we have seen it.

Most homes are houses on their own lot: 44,357 detached single-family homes, about 62 percent. Of 68,406 occupied homes, 40,183 are lived in by their owners and 28,223 are rented (tenure, table B25003). In a rented home the owner and the tenant both need to know what got wet; our readings and photos give both of them the same record.

Water damage in a manufactured or mobile home

Yes, we repair and restore manufactured homes. A factory-built home takes water differently from a slab house: a leak runs along the floor decking and into the space underneath, where it can sit unseen.

The city's Building Inspections Division draws a clear line between the two kinds. A manufactured home is built to the federal HUD code; a mobile home is a factory-built home made before June 15, 1976, to other standards. Its manufactured and mobile home permit page says every one of them, regardless of size, needs an approved permit.

• Under the floor first

  We check the decking and the area beneath it with a meter before the flooring comes up, because the wettest spot is often not where the water showed.

• Replace what the water ruined

  Wet insulation and swollen decking are taken out and replaced. If mold has started, everything it touched is replaced with new material, never cleaned and reused.

• Higher ground in the floodplain

  The city's floodplain rules set mobile homes 3 feet above the 1-percent-annual-chance flood elevation, where other new buildings sit 2 feet above it (Build Responsibly).

When does a flooded Grand Prairie house count as substantially damaged?

When the cost to restore it to its condition before the flood reaches 50 percent of its pre-damage market value. The city's floodplain office applies that test to damage of any origin, regardless of the repair work actually done, and a substantially damaged building must meet the same rules as a new one.

That is on the city's substantial improvement and damage page, which also says such a repair needs a building permit. A separate floodplain development permit is required for proposed development within 200 feet of a special flood hazard area. Our estimate is itemized line by line, so the repair cost the city compares against market value is easy to read.

Hail, wind and the city's re-roof permit

In Grand Prairie a residential re-roof permit is required for any roof replacement, re-cover or repair. There is no small-patch exception on the city's page, and the contractor must be registered with the city as a general contractor.

The Building Inspections Division's residential re-roof page adds that inspections follow the 2021 International Residential Code and that work may not go past each inspection point until it is approved. The application asks for the manufacturer's specifications for the new roof covering.

The storms behind those permits are in the federal record. NOAA's Storm Events Database lists quarter-size hail in Grand Prairie on October 10, 2019, hail up to 1.5 inches across on May 22, 2024, and the 80 mph gust of March 13, 2019. When a storm opens your roof, we tarp it, dry what got wet inside and repair the roof, siding and gutters, documented for the claim like the rest of our damage work. More on storm and hail damage repair.

One freeze, then another: February 2021

At DFW Airport the temperature sat at or below freezing for 93 hours, rose to 33 degrees for three hours on February 13, 2021, then dropped again for 139 more. On February 15 the day's high was lower than the record low for that date.

Those figures are in the National Weather Service Fort Worth summary of the event. A short thaw between two hard freezes is when pipes that split the first time start to leak, often inside a wall or the attic, before anyone sees water. A licensed plumber repairs the pipe; we remove the water, open only what has to come out, dry the house to the readings and rebuild. The steps are on water damage mitigation.

Clay soil, slab leaks and the foundation permit

The USDA's record for Houston Black clay places it in the Blackland Prairies and in the eastern part of the Grand Prairies land area of Texas. It notes that water enters the soil quickly when it is dry and cracked, and very slowly once it is moist.

That is the official soil series description from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. For a house on a slab it means a leaking supply line in a dry summer can feed the soil under one corner while the rest stays dry, and uneven soil moves a slab unevenly. The soil under your own lot is in the free Web Soil Survey.

The city's residential permit page says any foundation repair needs an approved permit, and so does all residential plumbing work. We find the wet area with meters, dry it and rebuild; foundation repair for clay-soil movement is part of what we do.

What the Grand Prairie building office permits

On housing rehabilitation work, the city says no repair may start until a building permit has been issued. Its residential list is long, and much of a damage rebuild is on it.

1. Rehab and remodel

   A rehab permit asks for a scope of work and a floor plan showing each room. Changes to the home's footprint need a remodel permit.

2. Trades

   All plumbing, electrical and mechanical work needs its own permit.

3. Openings

   Replacing a window or an exterior door needs an approved permit.

4. Our side

   On remodels we handle the permits and plans, and design is included.

Mold after a Grand Prairie leak: who tests and who removes

Texas keeps the two jobs apart. On any project we remediate, an independent licensed mold assessor does the assessment, and we never assess and remediate the same Texas project.

That separation is set by Texas Occupations Code 1958.155. Once the mold is out, everything it touched is replaced with new material, never cleaned and reused. The full process is on mold remediation.

How the insurance side works with us

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 document the loss with photos, moisture readings and measurements, write a line-item estimate in the industry's standard estimating format, send it to your adjuster and answer their questions about our scope. The claim and the settlement stay between you and your insurer. More on working with insurance.

Grand Prairie questions we answer