24/7 emergency water damage · Austin, TX

Water Damage Restoration in Austin, TX

Burst pipe, leak or flooded floor? We answer 24/7, extract the water, dry the structure with moisture readings you can see, and rebuild—one IICRC Certified Firm from the first call to the final walkthrough.

Call (512) 838-4236 Request an inspection

Answered around the clock. Anthony Schlessinger, IICRC WRT and Certified Master Inspector, is on-site for every job.

Restoration technician removing wet insulation from an opened wall during water damage restoration in Austin, TX — **Wet insulation comes out; the framing gets dried, not covered up.** We open only what the moisture readings say is wet.

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Request a water damage inspection

Water in your Austin home? Tell us what happened.

Share the property details and we will follow up. For active water, calling is faster.

Call (512) 838-4236 →

Who shows up at your Austin property

A husband-and-wife team—not a franchise call center.

We have inspected homes since 2007 and run water and storm restoration since 2014—side by side. That is why our restoration starts with an inspection, and why your claim paperwork reads like an inspector wrote it.

Anthony Schlessinger

Co-Owner · IICRC WRT · InterNACHI Certified Master Inspector

On-site for every job. Anthony collects the wet-bulb readings, moisture mapping and daily moisture measurements himself, and inspects the dry-out to make sure it is drying properly and efficiently—moving air movers or adding equipment when the numbers call for it.
Inspecting homes since 2007 for real estate transactions and insurance—an InterNACHI Certified Master Inspector since 2014.
IICRC Water Damage Restoration Technician (WRT)—trained on the IICRC S500 standard our drying follows.
A year of formal electrical, HVAC and plumbing training, so the source of the water gets found, not just the wet spot.
Veteran. Used the GI Bill to study home building science—how water, air and heat actually move through a house.

Jessica Acosta-Schlessinger

Owner · Insurance & Claims

Water and storm restoration since 2014 alongside Anthony.
Builds your scope of work. A complete, line-item scope compared against your insurer's loss report—anything missing gets documented and supplemented, so you are not left paying for it.
Uses Anthony's readings and inspections to get your scope of loss approved by your insurer.
She has been on the other side of a claim. In 2013 a fire took a third of the couple's two-story home—military awards, family photos and personal belongings, gone. Jessica inventoried every item and learned firsthand that a good contractor doesn't always know the insurance documentation and procedures. Your claim gets the knowledge she had to earn the hard way.
Cal State Fullerton graduate, and the first in her family to earn a college degree.
Minority Female Business Owner, and your point of contact on the paperwork from the first call to the final walkthrough.

If water is spreading right now

Five things to do in the next ten minutes.

Call (512) 838-4236

Stop the source. Close the fixture's shut-off valve, or the main if you can't find the leak.
Kill power to the wet area at the breaker if water is near outlets or appliances. Never stand in water to do it.
Stay out of dirty water. Sewage and outdoor floodwater are Category 3—no bare skin, no household vacuums.
Photograph everything before you move it. Your insurance claim starts here.
Call us, then your carrier. Most policies expect you to prevent further damage, so drying can start before an adjuster arrives.

Water damage in Austin

Why water damage spreads in Austin homes.

From Hyde Park bungalows and Northwest Hills ranch homes to newer builds in Mueller and Circle C, water rarely stays where it starts. Austin's expansive clay, layered renovations and attic HVAC give a leak plenty of places to travel before anyone sees it.

Slab leaks on expansive clay
Much of Austin sits on clay that swells and shrinks with the seasons, stressing supply and drain lines under the slab. Warm spots on the floor, a spiking water bill or damp baseboards with no visible source are the usual signs.
Burst and frozen pipes
Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 split supply lines in thousands of Austin homes, most in attics and exterior walls. A frozen-pipe loss usually means wet insulation and ceilings on the water's way down.
HVAC condensate overflows
Austin air conditioners run most of the year. A clogged condensate line on an attic unit can quietly soak the ceiling below for weeks.
Upstairs leaks in multi-story homes
In two-story and hillside homes, a bathroom or laundry leak upstairs migrates through wall cavities and shows up first as a stain on the ceiling below.
Storm water and runoff
Intense rain moves fast across Austin's terrain. Roof drainage, grading and low spots can push water inside even outside mapped flood areas.

Find it before you dry it

The water you can see is rarely all of it.

Water follows framing, wiring and gravity into wall cavities, under flooring and into the ceiling of the room below. We map it with thermal imaging and moisture meters before anything is removed, so the scope is based on readings—not on the size of the stain.

Thermal imaging to find cold, wet areas behind finished walls and ceilings.
Moisture readings logged at the same points every day until materials reach dry standard.
Selective removal—flood cuts and insulation only where the readings say.
Led by an InterNACHI Certified Master Inspector, so the second source and pre-existing problems get flagged.

FLIR thermal camera tracing hidden moisture in a wall and ceiling during a water damage inspection in Austin, TX — Thermal imaging shows where the water traveled inside the wall—before we open it.

The IICRC S500 standard, in plain English

How we decide what to dry, what to remove, and when it is done.

The IICRC S500 is the industry standard for professional water damage restoration. It is also how your adjuster judges the work. Here is how it shapes every Austin job we take.

1. What kind of water is it? (Category)

Category	Typical source	What it means for your home
Category 1 · clean	Broken supply line, water heater, ice-maker line	Many materials can be dried in place if we start fast.
Category 2 · significant contamination	Washing machine or dishwasher discharge, toilet overflow without feces	More cleaning; carpet pad and some porous materials usually come out.
Category 3 · grossly contaminated	Sewage, outdoor floodwater, rising creek water	Porous materials it touched are removed, not dried. Protective gear and containment.

Category is not fixed. Clean water that sits in a warm Texas house for a day or two can degrade to Category 2 or 3—one of the biggest reasons speed matters.

2. How much is wet? (Class)

Class 1—a small area with little absorption into surrounding materials.
Class 2—a significant share of floors and walls has absorbed water.
Class 3—the largest share of wet surface area, often ceilings, walls, insulation and floors together.
Class 4—water bound deep in dense materials like hardwood, plaster or concrete. Slower, specialty drying.

The class drives how much dehumidification and airflow the job needs, which is how we size equipment instead of guessing.

3. The drying science

Drying is three things working together: airflow across wet surfaces to evaporate water, dehumidification to pull that water out of the air, and temperature to speed evaporation. Household fans only do the first part—they move wet air around the room and leave the moisture in the house.

We measure the air every day—temperature, relative humidity, grains per pound and dew point—inside the drying area and outside it, and adjust equipment based on those numbers.

4. How we know it is dry

“It feels dry” is not a standard. We take moisture readings of the same material in an unaffected part of your home—your dry standard—and keep drying until the wet materials match it.

Readings are logged at the same marked points every day, so you and your adjuster can see the numbers fall. Nothing gets closed up until they are there.

Find the cause, not just the wet spot

Trained in the systems that cause water damage.

Drying a room without finding the source means drying it twice. Anthony's electrical, HVAC and plumbing training means we read the house the way a tradesman and an inspector would—then make sure the right repair gets made before we rebuild.

Plumbing
Supply lines, shut-off valves, water heaters, drain lines and slab leaks. We pinpoint where the water came from so the repair fixes the cause.
HVAC
Clogged condensate lines, overflowing drain pans, failed float switches and sweating attic ductwork—one of the most common hidden sources in Central Texas.
Electrical safety
Wet outlets, wiring in soaked walls and water near the panel. We identify what is unsafe before anyone works around it.
The building envelope
Roof penetrations, flashing, windows and grading. Inspecting homes since 2007 teaches you where water gets in.

How it works

From the first call to the rebuild in Austin.

Our water damage restoration follows the IICRC S500 standard, backed by IICRC Certified Firm status and Water Damage Restoration Technician (WRT) certification.

Call and dispatch
One number, answered 24/7. We ask what happened and what the water touched, tell you what to do until we arrive, and give you an arrival window.
Inspect and map
Thermal imaging and moisture readings show where the water went. You get photos and a written scope.
Extract and contain
Standing water comes out, wet materials are removed only where needed, and work areas are sealed off from the rest of the house.
Dry and document
Dehumidifiers and air movers run until every reading meets its dry standard. Readings are logged daily for your adjuster.
Rebuild
The same team puts it back—drywall, flooring, cabinets, paint—so you are not hunting for a second contractor.

A real Austin job, before and after

From opened walls to a finished kitchen—one team.

Water reached the wall and flooring behind this Austin kitchen range. We opened the wall where the readings said it was wet, pulled back the damaged flooring, dried the structure, then rebuilt the kitchen: new white shaker cabinets, new counters and luxury vinyl plank flooring through the kitchen and living area.

Before: wall opened behind the range and flooring pulled back after water damage in an Austin, TX kitchen — Before: wall opened behind the range, damaged flooring pulled back.

After: Austin, TX kitchen rebuilt with white shaker cabinets, new counters and luxury vinyl plank flooring — After: new cabinets, counters and flooring.

After: finished kitchen and living area with new flooring throughout following water damage restoration in Austin, TX — After: flooring run continuously into the living area.

From our job sites

What the work actually looks like.

Commercial dehumidifier drying a room opened to the studs during water damage restoration in Austin, TX — Dehumidifier running in a room opened to the studs.

Plastic containment and an air mover drying an opened wall cavity in a Austin, TX home — Containment up and an air mover aimed into the wall cavity.

Water-damaged ceiling sagging and peeling after a leak in a Austin, TX home — A sagging ceiling is water that has been sitting above it.

Moisture meter reading 32.6% on a wet wall during a water damage inspection in Austin, TX — 32.6% on drywall—far above dry. We keep measuring until it is.

Insurance claims

Documentation your adjuster can use.

You open the claim with your insurer. Anthony collects the wet-bulb readings, moisture maps and daily moisture logs in the field; Jessica turns them into a file written the way carriers expect. She builds a complete line-item scope, compares it to the carrier's loss report, and supplements anything missing—so you are not paying for work the first estimate left out. How we help with insurance claims.

Questions

Water damage in Austin: common questions

Reviewed by Anthony Schlessinger, IICRC WRT · InterNACHI Certified Master Inspector

Why are slab leaks so common in Austin?

Austin is built largely on expansive clay that expands when wet and shrinks in hot, dry summers. That movement stresses the plumbing lines under the slab, and over time joints and lines fail. We find where the water went with moisture readings and thermal imaging, dry what is wet, and coordinate the repair.

How do you handle water damage in an older central-Austin home?

Older homes in neighborhoods like Hyde Park and Travis Heights often have decades of layered renovations—new tile over old subfloor, a remodeled bath above an original ceiling. We trace the water through each layer, open only what the readings say is wet, and rebuild to match the original finishes.

How fast can you get to my Austin property?

We answer around the clock, including nights, weekends and holidays, and give you a real arrival window on the first call. While you wait, stop the source and photograph everything.

Will my homeowners insurance cover water damage?

Usually, if the cause was sudden and accidental, like a burst pipe or failed supply line. Usually not for rising floodwater, long-term leaks, or deferred maintenance. We document the loss the way carriers expect and meet your adjuster on site, but coverage decisions come from your policy.

Do I have to use the restoration company my insurer recommends?

No. In Texas you choose your contractor. You can hire an independent company and your claim is handled the same way.

Can you do the repairs too, or do I need a second contractor?

We do both. Extraction, drying and the rebuild are one scope with one point of contact, so nothing gets lost between a mitigation company and a separate builder.

Who will actually be at my property?

Anthony Schlessinger—co-owner, an IICRC Water Damage Restoration Technician and InterNACHI Certified Master Inspector—is on-site for every job. He takes the moisture readings himself, checks the dry-out every day, and moves fans or adds equipment when the readings call for it. Jessica Acosta-Schlessinger, owner, builds the scope of work for your insurance claim. You are not handed off to a subcontractor you have never met.

What do water categories and classes mean?

Under the IICRC S500 standard, category describes how contaminated the water is (1 is clean, 3 is sewage or floodwater) and class describes how much of the space is wet and how deeply water soaked in. Together they decide what can be dried in place, what must be removed, and how much drying equipment the job needs.

How do you know when my home is dry?

We measure the same material in an unaffected part of your home to set a dry standard, then log readings at marked points every day until the wet materials match it. You get those readings for your insurance claim.

Do you fix the leak that caused the damage?

We find and document the source—plumbing, HVAC condensate, roof or envelope—and make sure the right repair is made before we rebuild, so you are not drying the same room twice.

Nearby

Water damage restoration near Austin.

Planning a remodel instead?

Remodeling in Austin

24/7 emergency response · Austin

The damage is still spreading while you read this.

Call now for a real arrival window—or request an inspection if the water has stopped and you want to know what it did.

Call (512) 838-4236 Request an inspection

Water Damage Restoration in Austin, TX

Water in your Austin home? Tell us what happened.

A husband-and-wife team—not a franchise call center.

Anthony Schlessinger

Jessica Acosta-Schlessinger

Five things to do in the next ten minutes.

Why water damage spreads in Austin homes.

Slab leaks on expansive clay

Burst and frozen pipes

HVAC condensate overflows

Upstairs leaks in multi-story homes

Storm water and runoff

The water you can see is rarely all of it.

How we decide what to dry, what to remove, and when it is done.

1. What kind of water is it? (Category)

2. How much is wet? (Class)

3. The drying science

4. How we know it is dry

Trained in the systems that cause water damage.

Plumbing

HVAC

Electrical safety

The building envelope

From the first call to the rebuild in Austin.

Call and dispatch

Inspect and map

Extract and contain

Dry and document

Rebuild