Water and sewage damage.
Burst pipes, flooded basements, ice dams, sump pump failures, and sewer or septic backups. Once the source is stopped, call any hour: our on-call technician answers and gets a crew to you within 2 hours.
What to do until help arrives.
Your insurance policy expects you to do what you safely can to limit further damage. Until we arrive, these steps help speed up the drying and protect your things.
Do
- Stop the water at the shut-off valve if you can find the source. Call your plumber or roofer to fix the source. We are second responders and cannot start until it is stopped.
- If the breaker panel is safe to reach, turn off power to the wet areas.
- Blot and mop up what you can with clean towels.
- Pick up books, magazines, and newspapers from wet carpet and rugs so the ink does not stain.
- Wipe dry any wet wood furniture, and set foil or plywood under the legs to lift it off wet floors.
- Take cushions off wet furniture and prop them up to dry. Pin up furniture skirts and drapes so they stay off wet floors.
- Move photos, electronics, and anything else that water can ruin to a dry room, if you can do it safely.
- Turn off the furnace or air conditioning and cover vents in the wet areas.
Do not
- Do not touch outlets, switches, breakers, or equipment in wet areas. You could be shocked.
- Do not turn on ceiling fixtures or fans in wet rooms.
- Do not use a household vacuum, shop vac, or fans to dry the area yourself.
- Do not walk through water that looks dirty. Wash right away if you touch it.
If water is near electrical panels or outlets, stay out of the room and call us.
Fast response keeps a small loss small.
Water that sits turns into warped floors, soaked drywall and insulation, ruined cabinets, and mold. The sooner the water is out and the drying starts, the less of your home has to be torn out. That is why water and sewage are the two services we answer around the clock.
We are mitigation specialists. Our goal on every loss is to dry and restore what can be saved, with as little tear out and reconstruction as possible. That gets you back to normal faster and helps conserve your insurance policy limits.
What happens when you call.
Answered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Emergency responses do not require an estimate. If you want one, it is $150, and the fee goes toward your final bill if you move forward with the mitigation.
- 1
Stop the source, then call
We are second responders. Shut off the water, or have a plumber fix the leak or clear the sewer line. Then call (231) 347-7707 day or night. Our on-call technician asks what happened and walks you through what to do until the crew arrives.
- 2
Inspect and measure
We find where the water went with moisture meters, including behind walls and under floors, and make a drying plan.
- 3
Extract, demo, and dry
Standing water comes out, necessary demo is done to dry the structure properly, then air movers and dehumidifiers go in. Sewage-affected materials are removed safely and the area is cleaned and disinfected.
- 4
Monitor every day
We check readings daily until every material is dry to the IICRC S500 standard. You and your insurance company receive regular updates on progress.
- 5
Document and close out
You get a record of the loss from cause to completion, showing it was restored to the proper Standard of Care.
Commercial drying equipment, sized to the loss.
Standing water comes out first. Then centrifugal air movers and Phoenix DryMAX dehumidifiers go in, as many as the loss calls for, and we meter the drying every day until every material is dry to the IICRC S500 standard.
See the equipment in the galleryClean water, gray water, black water.
Not all water losses are the same. A broken supply line is clean water. A washing machine or dishwasher overflow is gray water. Sewer and septic backups, toilet overflows, and outside flood water are black water, the most serious category, and they call for protective gear, removal of contaminated materials, and disinfection.
Our technicians are trained to handle each category to the IICRC S500 standard so the job protects the health and safety of everyone in the building.
Northern Michigan water losses.
Most of our water calls come from the same handful of causes, many of them made worse by winter.
- Frozen and burst pipes in January and February
- Ice dams pushing water under shingles and into ceilings
- Spring melt in basements and crawlspaces
- Sump pump failures during heavy rain
- Supply lines, water heaters, and dishwashers that let go
- Cottages and second homes opened in spring to a surprise
- Sewer and septic backups
Your insurance claim, documented.
The cause of loss and every step we take is recorded in the Xactimate claim software. You and your insurance company receive regular updates on progress, and everyone involved gets the documentation they need to move the claim along. You have one point of contact from the first call to the final walk-through.
From recent jobs.
What customers say.
“Our ceiling flooded due to an incomplete roof replacement. Clean Care was at our house within 30 minutes. Jeremy, Zack, and Rodney were competent, professional, and friendly. They brought in industrial fans and dehumidifiers to dry everything out, which took a week. Jeremy was here every day checking the progress. If I could give Bay Area Clean Care more than 5 stars I would.”
“Just a note of thanks to everyone at Bay Area Clean Care for the help we received! Amazing professional people from your company! I can't say enough about the wonderful people who work at BACC.”
Questions.
Water damage and sewage backups. Our on-call technician answers (231) 347-7707 around the clock, every day of the year, and gets a crew to you within 2 hours. We are second responders, so the source has to be stopped before we can start: shut off the water, or have a plumber fix the leak or clear the sewer line, then call. After a fire, once it is out, we can also come after hours for a first response: we set up air-cleaning and odor-removing equipment and wipe down surfaces, and the full job follows a complete inspection during business hours. Mold is handled during business hours after an inspection. Emergencies are handled by phone only, so please call rather than filling out a form or sending a text.
Yes. Most of our restoration work is an insurance claim. We work directly with your insurance company, record the cause of loss and every step of the restoration in the Xactimate claim software, and send you and your insurance company regular updates on progress, so your adjuster has what they need to move the claim along.
When water runs inside a wall, it can stay trapped in the cavity long after the surface feels dry. In those cases we may drill small holes near the base of the wall so air can move through and dry the framing. We check moisture readings first and explain it before we do it, and we only do it when the readings call for it. The goal is to avoid tearing out the whole wall later because of hidden moisture or mold.
Emergency responses do not require an estimate. If you want one, it is $150, and the fee goes toward your final bill if you move forward with the mitigation.
Yes. Work done outside regular business hours is billed at a higher rate. Water and sewage emergencies are still answered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, because waiting until morning usually makes the damage worse.
Both. We fix the damage, not the source. If a pipe or fixture is still leaking, shut off the water and call your plumber to repair it, then call us to start the drying. If you cannot stop the water, call us and we will talk you through it.
No. We do not handle death, trauma, or crime scene cleanup. We can clean up smaller everyday accidents, like a nosebleed on carpet or upholstery.
Water and sewage near you.
From our shop in Petoskey to 58 towns within about an hour.
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Need help?
Water or sewage damage? Once the source is stopped, call, day or night. For everything else, request an estimate and we reply within 24 hours.