Checking and drying water-stained ceilings and soft drywall, with the insulation and framing above them, across Wichita and Sedgwick County.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Ceiling and drywall water damage is water that has soaked into plaster or drywall from above or from a wall cavity. In Wichita a crew checks the cavity and the insulation above the stain, dries the framing to readings and removes gypsum that cannot be dried. Calls are answered 24/7.
A ceiling stain is the top of the problem, not the whole of it. Water that has reached a drywall ceiling has usually moved into the insulation above it and along the framing, and the stain is only the place where the water has come through the surface. A crew that paints over the stain without checking what is above it leaves the wet material in place.
Drywall is made of gypsum board with paper on its faces, and it reacts to water in a predictable way. It swells, softens, loses strength and can crumble when it is wet for long. Once it has soaked, it does not return to its original state, so a soft ceiling or a wall that has bowed is usually replaced rather than dried back into shape.
Call (833) 490-5225 at any hour. Describe the stain or sag, where it is in the house, whether it is dripping and whether it changes after rain. Do not press on a soft ceiling or try to puncture it. A technician checks the area on arrival, reads the cavity behind the ceiling and walls, and explains which materials are staying and which are coming out.
Do not stand under a sagging or bulging ceiling, and do not push on it or try to puncture it. Wet plaster and lath are heavy and can fall without warning. Cut the power to a room with water coming through a light or ceiling fan, and do not touch a wet fixture. Wear a mask and eye protection when cutting into wet gypsum, because dust from wet and crumbling board is unpleasant to breathe.
A sagging ceiling is released in a controlled way, under a container or a sheet, so the water and the wet gypsum do not come down all at once. Any fixture in the area is checked, and its circuit is cut if the water has reached it.
Where the stain or sag is largest, a small opening is made in the ceiling or wall. The opening lets the crew see the insulation, the joists and the wall cavity, and take readings from the material that is wet.
Moisture meters are run through the insulation, the framing and the wall cavity around the opening. The readings show how far the water has travelled and whether the insulation above can be dried or has to come out.
Gypsum that has soaked, softened or crumbled is removed to a clean edge, because it will not return to a sound state. Where the paper faces have lifted, the board is taken out and not left to dry in place.
Air movers and dehumidifiers are set in the room and the cavity. Readings are taken on each visit until the framing and the remaining materials are dry, and the log is handed to you for the repair and the insurer.
Not until the moisture is gone. Painting over a stain traps water in the gypsum and can hide the fact that the material above is still wet. The stain is photographed, the readings are taken, and paint is one of the last steps of the repair.
A stain can look dry from below while the insulation above it is still holding water. Primer and paint do not dry a wet cavity, and they can peel or blister when the moisture behind them keeps moving. The surface may look fine for a week and fail after the next rain.
Keep the stain as it is until the crew has photographed it and taken readings. Those photographs are part of the record your insurer and the repair contractor will want to see.
Gypsum that is only lightly damp, with its paper faces intact and its shape unchanged, can sometimes be dried in place. Gypsum that has softened, bowed, crumbled or lost its paper facing is removed, because it will not return to a sound condition.
The test is what the board does, not how it looks. A ceiling that is only stained may still be firm and can be dried with the air moving across it. A ceiling that gives under a finger, or a wall whose seams have opened, has lost its structure.
Where a board is removed, the edges are cut back to the first sound line of material, and the new board is set only when the framing behind it reads dry. Replacing the gypsum before the framing is dry traps moisture and leads to the same damage again.
The scope should list each material to be removed or kept, the readings that support each choice, the framing to be checked, and the finish to be applied. You should approve it in writing before the repair starts, and it should be checked against the drying log.
A clear scope protects both sides. It tells you what will be done and what it is based on, and it gives the repair contractor a record to work from. Ask for the scope in writing, and ask what is excluded from it.
The price is explained and approved before the repair begins. If the crew finds more damage once a ceiling is opened, the new work is explained to you first, and nothing is added without your approval.
Until the readings in the insulation and framing reach the dry level, which depends on how much water came in and what it reached. Drying is measured in readings rather than days, and the equipment stays in place until those readings are met.
A small stain in a single room may dry quickly once the source is stopped and the insulation is removed. A large stain that has crossed several rooms or soaked a thick layer of insulation takes longer, and the readings may need several visits to confirm.
The crew explains the progress at each visit and tells you when the materials are ready for repair. Repairs that are started before the readings are met are the most common reason a stain comes back.
A stain that has not yet softened the ceiling is often the easiest case, because the water is near the surface and the cavity may be dry or only lightly wet. The crew still checks the insulation above, since a stain can be dry on the surface while the material above it stays wet.
A ceiling that sags has lost its strength and usually holds water in its middle. It is released and the gypsum over the wet area is removed. Plaster with lath is handled differently from drywall, because lath can hold a great deal of water and come down in sheets.
Water running down a wall cavity leaves a stain low on the wall, often at the corner or along a stud. The wall is opened where the readings are high, and the gypsum is taken out to the first clean line of material above the wet zone.
Water from a bath, a shower or an upper-floor fixture can soak the ceiling below and run along the joists. The check starts at the fixture and works down, and the ceiling is opened over the whole path the water could have taken.
Ceilings are commonly drywall over joists, but houses built before drywall was common may have plaster over wood lath. Plaster and lath behave differently in a leak: plaster can hold a great deal of water before it lets go, and it comes down in heavy sheets. The crew checks which material is present before the ceiling is opened.
Hail is part of the local weather history, and a roof damaged by a storm can let water into the top of a ceiling without a visible hole. The 1992 storm that damaged more than 10,000 homes across Sedgwick County is a reminder that ceiling stains can have a cause far above the room, and that the roof is worth checking when a stain appears after a storm.
Heavy rain and river flooding have shaped the city's history, and water in a house can come from above or from the side. The Halloween Flood of October 1998 brought up to eleven inches of rain and record flooding on the Arkansas River, and rain of that kind can drive water into a wall and a ceiling at the same time. The crew reads both the ceiling and the wall that meets it.
Call any hour and explain what is going on. You get a clear price before any work starts.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Water that comes through a roof, into ceilings, insulation and wall cavities, extracted and dried across Wichita and Sedgwick County.
Testing wet attic, wall and floor insulation, removing what will not dry, and replacing it before the house is closed up across Wichita and Sedgwick County.
Setting air movers and dehumidifiers for wet framing, subfloor and wall cavities, run to moisture readings across Wichita and Sedgwick County.
Finding slow leaks inside walls, under floors and behind cabinets with moisture meters and a thermal camera, across Wichita and Sedgwick County.
No honest price list exists for water damage work in Wichita, so this guide explains what moves a quote instead: how much water came in, how long it sat, whether it was clean or came from a drain, how many rooms it reached and how much framing must dry.
A roof leak usually shows as a ceiling stain some distance from its entry point, because water runs along the framing before it appears.
Start a water damage claim with your own insurer, in writing, and keep the records from the first day: dated photographs, drying readings, the written scope and every invoice.
Yes, because a small stain can mean wet insulation above it. A short call is quick, and the crew can check the cavity and the readings before you decide what to do. Photograph the stain first and note whether it changes after rain.
Not always. Only the gypsum that has softened, bowed, crumbled or lost its facing is removed. Sound board around the affected area can often be kept, and the crew explains what is staying and why before any board is cut.
Patching should wait until the readings say the cavity is dry. Patching early seals moisture inside the ceiling. The crew will tell you when the repair can start, and a licensed contractor can finish the patch and the paint.
A stain shows water, not mold, but a wet ceiling that stays damp can develop mold. Drying promptly is the best protection. If mold is visible after the structure has dried, the crew reports it, and the mold section of this site explains what happens next.
The insurer decides the claim under your policy, and the repair is a separate job from the drying. Keep the drying log, the photographs and any roofer's or plumber's report, and ask your insurer what it needs. The Kansas Insurance Department is the state insurance regulator, and its Consumer Assistance Division is the place to take a claim complaint.
A stain can keep spreading in the days after the water stops if water is still sitting in the insulation above. A growing stain after drying means the readings were not yet at the dry level, and the crew should be called back to check the cavity.