Water, Fire & Mold Damage FAQ

Your call is connected with an independent local restoration provider who works in Charleston and Kanawha County. They can talk through what happened and arrange an inspection.

No. Calling is free. You only pay a provider if you decide to hire them, at a price you agree with them directly.

Yes. The same number works for every type of damage: (304) 990-0185.

All 14 Charleston-area ZIP codes, including Charleston, South Charleston, Cross Lanes, Sissonville, Malden and Rand, Marmet and North Charleston. See the service areas page for every neighborhood.

Yes. Homes, rental properties, apartment buildings, offices and shops can all call the same number.

Water spreads across floors and wicks into drywall within minutes. Within a day, flooring swells and carpet pad saturates. Within 24 to 48 hours, mold can begin growing on wet materials.

Clean water comes from supply lines and faucets. Gray water comes from appliances like washing machines and dishwashers. Black water is sewage and floodwater from rivers and creeks, and porous materials it touches are removed rather than dried.

Surfaces dry quickly, but framing, subfloors and wall cavities hold water much longer. Equipment runs until moisture readings show every material is back to normal.

Not always. Drywall wet with clean water for a short time can often be dried. Drywall that is sagging, moldy or touched by sewage or floodwater is removed.

Do not wipe soot off walls or furniture, do not run the HVAC system, do not use appliances exposed to heat until they are checked, and do not eat food that was near the fire.

Many can. Clothing often comes clean with specialized laundering, and hard furniture cleans well. Upholstered furniture and mattresses depend on how much smoke they absorbed.

Smoke particles trapped in porous materials, ductwork and wall cavities release odor when humidity rises. The sources have to be cleaned, removed or sealed.

A malfunction in an oil furnace that blows oily soot through the ductwork and into the house. It is cleaned like heavy soot from a fire.

Moisture, usually from damp basements and crawl spaces, past flooding, leaks, poor attic ventilation and the valley’s humid summers.

No. Visible mold should be removed whatever the species. Testing helps when you smell mold but cannot find it, or to confirm cleanup worked.

Not if the moisture that caused it is fixed. That is why mold removal includes finding and correcting the water source.

The EPA suggests homeowners can usually handle less than about 10 square feet on hard surfaces. Larger areas, or mold inside walls, HVAC systems or crawl spaces, call for professional removal.

You should. Ask the provider for a written scope and estimate before agreeing to the work. Emergency extraction or board-up may start first, with the full scope written once the damage has been mapped.

The type of water or smoke, how many rooms are affected, how long the damage has been there, which materials have to be removed, and how easy the area is to reach.

Cost depends on the type of water or smoke, how much area is affected, how long it has been there and which materials need removing. A firm price comes after an inspection.