Most Orlando houses sit on a concrete slab, so the water lines run under the floor or up through the walls. When one of those lines fails, the first sign is often a warm spot on the tile, a hissing sound with every faucet off, a water bill that jumps, or baseboards that turn soft. A pipe that splits inside a wall or ceiling is louder: water runs at line pressure until someone closes a valve.
We connect your call with an independent company. We don't vet or certify them, so here is what to check. It takes five minutes and protects you.
Supply water starts out clean, which helps. If drying starts within a day or two, drywall and cabinets often dry in place. The hard part on a slab home is the floor. Tile, wood and laminate trap water against the concrete, and a slab holds moisture for a long time. That is why a plumber fixes the pipe and a restoration company measures and dries what the water reached.
Water category:Category 1 (clean water) when found early
Step 1
Moisture meters and a thermal camera trace how far the water spread under flooring and inside walls. It is almost always wider than the stain you can see.
Step 2
Slab leaks are usually found with electronic leak detection and repaired by a plumber, either through the slab or by rerouting the line overhead. Drying waits for the leak to stop, not for every repair to finish.
Step 3
Wet baseboards, soaked carpet pad and sometimes a few rows of tile or laminate come up so air can reach the slab and the bottom of the walls.
Step 4
Dehumidifiers and air movers run with daily readings until the slab, framing and drywall reach normal levels. Concrete is slow, so slab jobs can run longer than other leaks.
Step 5
Photos and daily moisture logs show what was wet and when it was dry. Ask for copies. They belong to you.
Local notes
Past the meter, the pipes are the owner's responsibility, according to OUC. If you are an OUC customer and water is coming up at the street or the meter itself, call OUC at (407) 423-9018 any time. If it is inside the house or under the slab, close your main and call a licensed plumber, then get drying started.
Insurance
Water from a sudden plumbing failure is usually treated as a covered loss on a standard Florida HO-3 policy, after your deductible. The pipe repair itself usually is not covered. Some policies treat the cost of breaking out floor or wall to reach the leak differently, so check that wording. Damage from a slow leak that went on for weeks is commonly excluded. Read the water damage section of your own policy, and ask your agent if anything is unclear.
Read the Florida water damage insurance guideNo honest company can price this over the phone. These are the things the crew measures on site. Read the full cost guide.
Talk to a local restoration company
One call connects you with an independent company that serves your part of Orlando. Ask for its Florida license number, get a written estimate, and you decide whether to go ahead.
(689) 220-7672Or estimate your drying scope firstCommon signs are a warm or damp spot on the floor, the sound of running water with every fixture off, a water meter that keeps moving, a bill that jumps for no reason, mildew smell, or flooring that lifts or cracks. A plumber with leak detection equipment can confirm it.
Shut off the water yourself first. Then you need both: the plumber finds and repairs the line, and the restoration company dries the house. Drying is the time-sensitive part, so it can start while the repair is being scheduled.
Often, yes. Tile itself does not absorb much water, but the grout and the slab under it do. Sometimes only a few tiles come up to give air a path. Wood and laminate floors are more likely to cup and need replacing if they stayed wet for days.
