Water removal and structural drying for homes near Red Chute Bayou after bayou flooding and heavy rain.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Red Chute Bayou flood damage in Bossier City is water that rose from the bayou or ran into homes nearby after heavy rain. A technician removes standing water, checks the foundation edge and wall bottoms, and dries the structure to readings. Homes along the bayou were among those flooded in March 2016. Calls are answered 24/7.
Red Chute Bayou runs through the part of Bossier City that flooded in March 2016, when more than 20 inches of rain fell across northwest Louisiana in a few days and the bayou rose. Local news coverage of that month described areas along the bayou and the Golden Meadows neighborhood under water. That history is why a bayou-side home is treated as a case of water from the ground and the sky, not only from a pipe.
Bayou water and storm water behave in similar ways once they reach a house. They pool on the low side of a lot, they press against the foundation, and they find the gaps where the house meets the ground. The first visit is about finding where the water came in and how far it travelled under the building, and only then about what is wet on the surface.
The work on a bayou-flooded home is a structural job. Crawl spaces, slab edges, the bottom plates of the walls and the insulation are the places that hold water after the surface has dried. The crew checks each one with a meter, and it keeps the readings in a log so the owner can see when the house has reached the dry goal.
Do not wade into floodwater or moving water near the bayou, and keep children and pets out of it. Bayou water can carry sewage and chemicals. Do not restore power to a flooded garage or crawl space until a qualified person has checked it. Do not run a gasoline generator in or near the house. Do not open a crawl-space hatch that has water behind it, and do not pull out wet insulation to check it yourself.
The crew checks the power, the gas and the entry route before anyone walks in. Standing water near the panel or the water heater is left alone until it has been assessed.
Water is pumped out of the house and the garage, and silt or sand left on the floor is removed. The crew notes the depth and how long the water stood, since that decides the drying plan.
The crew reads the sill plate, the bottom of the walls and the crawl-space ground cover with a meter. It records where the water entered, because the repair has to close that route as well as dry the damage.
Soaked insulation, carpet pad and drywall to the moisture line are removed where the readings show they cannot be dried. Each removal is photographed and explained before it happens.
Drying equipment runs until the structure reaches the dry goal across several checks. The report lists the readings, the removals and the dates, so the owner has a complete record.
The March 2016 rain fell across northwest Louisiana in a few days, more than 20 inches in total, and the bayou rose. Local news coverage reported that Bossier City neighborhoods were flooded, including areas along the bayou, and that more than 3,500 families were forced from their homes across the region.
A bayou rises when the ground can no longer take the rain and the water moves toward the lowest channels. Houses on the low side of a lot, or near a channel, take in water at the foundation and along the sills before the water reaches the rooms.
The lesson for the homeowner is that bayou water is not always a river crest. It can arrive from the rain running off the lot and the streets as much as from the bayou itself, so the cleanup and the repair both need to look at the outside of the house as well as the inside.
Bayou water usually enters through the foundation edge, the crawl-space vents, the bottom of the doors and any gap where the house meets the ground. It can also come up through a floor drain when the drainage system is overloaded, and that is a separate job from the rest.
Once inside, the water runs along the sill plate and under the floor, and it reaches the wall cavities through the bottom plates. A house can look nearly dry on the surface while the framing near the foundation is still holding water.
The crew traces the route from the wet areas to the entry point. Tracing the route matters because the repair has to close it; drying a wall without closing the gap means the next rain brings the water back.
Hard surfaces such as sealed concrete and some tile can often be cleaned and dried in place. Carpet pad, soaked wood subfloors and insulation are usually removed where the readings show they cannot be dried back to a safe state.
Solid-wood flooring may be saved if it is dried quickly and its moisture readings fall back, but it can cup or lift if the water has been held under it for long. The crew reports what it sees and explains the choice before any board is lifted.
Subfloor panels that have swelled or softened are removed and replaced, because they cannot support a finish floor until they are dry and sound. The replacement is planned once the structure reaches the dry goal.
The depth of water, how long it stood, the number of materials that must be removed, whether the crawl space and the garage were affected, and how many visits the drying takes all change the cost. No price figure is published, and the price is explained and approved before work begins.
Crawl-space work and foundation-edge drying take more time than work on a finished floor, because access is tight and the readings have to be taken at several points. Those hours are part of the price, and the crew explains them.
Keeping as much of the house as the readings allow lowers the total. The crew's decisions on removal and retention should be explained to you one by one, with the reasons, before any work starts.
Repairs can start when the readings in the framing, the subfloor and the foundation edge have reached the dry goal and stayed there across more than one check. Starting before that can trap moisture behind new finishes.
Some repairs need a permit, particularly where structure, wiring or plumbing is replaced. The Bossier Parish and City of Bossier City permit offices answer repair-permit questions for their own jurisdictions. Fees and permit types have not been verified for this page, so confirm them before work starts.
The crew sends the drying report to the owner, and that report is what a contractor will want to see before closing up walls. Keep a copy with the repair paperwork.
A house that sits lower than its neighbours on a lot is more likely to pool storm water against the foundation. The crew checks the foundation and the crawl space first, and it records the water line on the outside of the house if the owner can show it.
Detached structures often have concrete floors and open framing, and they take water in differently from the house. The crew measures each space on its own, so a dry house is not declared dry while the outbuilding still holds moisture.
Where a house has a lower finished level, the water can reach it through the foundation and the walls at the same time. The crew treats each level as its own area and records the readings there separately.
Red Chute Bayou is named in the local record of the March 2016 floods, and homes near it were among those flooded. That is why this service is written for bayou-side houses specifically, and why the foundation and crawl space are checked on every visit, not only the rooms that show damage.
The March 2016 flooding in Golden Meadows and the other neighborhoods followed heavy rain, not a river crest. For a homeowner in Bossier City, that means heavy rain alone can reach the inside of a house, and the cleanup should be planned around storm water as much as around river water.
Insurance questions for a bayou-flooded house go to the policy and the insurer. The Louisiana watershed notes for the Region 1 flood risk presentation of July 2020 record that the Red River does not take part in the National Flood Insurance Program, so the maps show no designated flood zone along it. That is a statement about maps and insurance, and it does not say whether a house near the bayou is at risk. The crew's logs and photographs go into the claim file.
Tell us what's happening and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a quick fix, and what red chute bayou flood damage should cost.
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Water removal, moisture mapping and structural drying for homes and shops flooded by high Red River water.
Storm water extraction, entry tracing and drying for homes flooded by heavy rain in Bossier City.
Water removal and moisture readings in crawl spaces and under slabs, with drying logged to the dry goal.
Air movement and dehumidification placed by moisture readings, with a log that shows when the building is dry.
At Shreveport-Bossier, flood stage on the Red River is 30 feet and major flood stage is 33 feet, as reported in local news coverage.
After a heavy rain flood in Louisiana, the first steps are safety, stopping more water if it is safe, photographing the damage before anything is moved and calling for a crew.
This page cannot say that. The local record shows that homes along the bayou were flooded in March 2016, and it names the bayou as one of the areas affected. It does not map individual streets or say which houses are at risk, so ask the insurer and the parish or city office for mapping questions.
Move valuables up, keep clear of the water, and call (833) 490-5225. Calls are answered 24/7 and a crew is sent as soon as one is free. Do not walk along the bank or into moving water to check on it.
Only where the readings show the water has reached a place that cannot be dried from the outside. Any opening is explained, photographed and planned before it is made, and it is closed again after the drying is complete.
The crew works on the address it is booked for. If water has come from a shared drainage path that affects a neighbouring property, tell the crew, and it will note the observation. Any work on another property is a separate arrangement with that owner.
It depends on the depth of the water, the ground cover, the ventilation and how much of the framing was wet. The crew sets the target from the readings and reports progress at each visit. The space is not declared dry until the readings stay at the dry goal.
The Bossier Parish and City of Bossier City permit offices answer repair-permit questions for their own jurisdictions. Fees and permit types have not been checked for this page, so confirm them with the office before any wall or foundation work starts.