Pumping and vacuuming standing water out of basements, stairwells and lower floors in Hammond and Lake County, with the source closed first.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Emergency water extraction removes standing water before it soaks deeper into flooring, framing and wall cavities. In Hammond that usually means a basement that took river or storm water, or a cellar with a split supply line. The water comes out with pumps and extraction vacuums, and the source is closed before anything else is decided.
The first thing to do is close the water at its source, not to start pumping. In most Hammond houses the main shut-off sits in the basement near the point where the service line comes through the wall. If the water is coming from outside, through a window well, a door sill or a floor drain, the shut-off does nothing, and the job is to keep the water from reaching the furnace, the water heater and the electrical panel.
Extraction is the removal step, and it is not the same as drying. Pumps and wet vacuums take the free water off the floor, out of carpet pad and from behind the toe of the baseboard. Drying is what happens afterwards, once the water that can be seen is gone and the water that cannot be seen has been measured. Doing the first without the second leaves a basement that looks finished and smells wrong a week later.
The 2008 Little Calumet flood is the reason most longtime residents here know what standing water means. Basements filled from the outside, and the water that came in through a wall or a floor drain carried silt and river debris with it. A call about that kind of water is handled differently from a call about a clean supply line, and the first questions on the phone are about where the water came from and how deep it stood.
Do not stand in water near outlets, cords, the furnace, the water heater or the electrical panel, and do not switch breakers while standing in water. If the panel is wet, leave the power off and say so on the phone.
The most common call in this area. Rain lands on the lawn, runs toward the foundation and comes in through a window well, a cracked joint or a floor drain that cannot keep up. The water is usually shallow and wide, which makes it look smaller than it is.
A split line in a finished basement or an upstairs bathroom sends clean water down through the floor. Extraction is quicker here because the water is clean and the source is closed, but the water still travels further than the stain shows.
Water that came in from the river or the surrounding ground carries mud and debris, and it is handled as a different kind of job. Porous material that has soaked in river water is often removed instead of dried, and the crew says which items those are before they go.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent emergency water extraction, send the form and we'll call you back.
Standing water is the part of the loss with a clock on it. The longer it stands, the deeper it reaches into the floor, the wall and the wood, and the more of the basement has to be opened up before it can dry.
Water that stands for an hour on a bare concrete slab is a small job. The same water sitting overnight against a finished wall, under carpet and behind a bottom shelf is a different job, and the difference shows up in the bill as much as in the drying time. Most basements here were finished at different times, so one room may have vinyl over concrete, another carpet over a plywood subfloor and a third a half-finished wall with paper-faced insulation. Each of those holds water in its own way.
The call is answered 24/7, so the time of day does not decide when the water gets pumped. What helps is an honest answer to two questions: when did the water start, and when did you first see it. Those two answers tell the technician how far to expect the water to have travelled.
Sometimes, for clean water from a known source, with the power to the wet area off and the panel dry. For river or sewer water, or water of unknown depth, it is better to leave the pumping to people who can handle it.
A household wet vacuum or a utility pump can move a few inches of clean water, and that is a reasonable step if the power is safe and the water came from a supply line that has been shut. The risk is not the pumping itself. The risk is standing in water near the electrical service, not knowing how deep the floor dips at the far end, and handling water that has been in contact with the river or the ground.
Whatever you do, take photographs before anything is moved, and keep the wet items where they are until the call is made. Those photographs are the first record of the loss, and they are the thing that makes the rest of the claim easier to explain later.
Extraction removes free water. It does not dry the building, rebuild a floor or repair the source. Those are separate stages, and the call should say which of them is included.
The extraction stage ends when the free water is out and the readings show the water has moved out of the carpet and the pad. Drying starts from there, with air movers and dehumidifiers set for the rooms and the materials. Repairing the broken pipe, the sump or the window well is work for the trade that owns that part of the house, and the technician will say so at the start rather than leave you to find out later.
Extraction also does not decide what to keep. Carpet, pad and some framing take in water in a way that drying alone will not reverse, and the decision to remove them is made after the readings, with the owner present on the call. Nothing is thrown out at the extraction stage on the strength of a guess.
Several reasons combine: the river and the storm drains run high together, the ground around the foundation saturates, and older basements have walls and floors that let water in along the joints.
The Little Calumet runs through Hammond and the Munster area, and when it rises the ground beside it is already wet. The 2008 flood showed how quickly water can come up across Lake and Porter counties once the river overtops its banks. The levee and floodwall work that the Army Corps concluded in July 2024 changed the river side of that picture, but a basement still takes water from the rain that falls on its own lot.
The February 2018 storm was the first real test of the walls built after 2008, and the basements that stayed dry were the ones with a working sump and a clear grade away from the foundation. Where those were missing, the water came in through the wall and the floor at the same time, and the extraction had to start there.
Before anything is pumped, the source is closed or identified. A supply line is shut at the main, a sump that has stopped is restarted only if the power is dry, and river or storm water coming through a wall is recorded as it stands.
Wet outlets, a submerged panel and a flooded furnace are the hazards that matter most. If any of them stands in water, the power stays off and the call says so, because the building is not safe to work in until that is settled.
Submersible pumps move the deep water first, to a discharge point that will not drain straight back into the basement. The pump runs until the level drops below the point where it can reach.
Extraction vacuums take up the last of the water from the floor, the pad and the carpet, and from the low edge of the wall where the baseboard hides it. Carpet that has taken river water is noted for removal rather than extraction alone.
Moisture readings are taken at the wall, the floor and the joists before the equipment is set. Those numbers are the baseline for the drying plan and for any insurance record the owner keeps.
Hammond sits on the Illinois line in Lake County, and the Little Calumet River runs through the city, so a basement loss here can come from the river, from storm water on the lot or from a supply line inside the house.
The September 2008 flood reached basements across Lake and Porter counties, and Hammond's riverfront hotels were evacuated. Extraction calls from low streets near the river are handled with that history in mind, because the water and the silt that came with it are part of the job.
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Controlled air movement and dehumidification that run until the wall, floor and framing readings reach their dry goal.
Removing silt, saturated finishes and stored contents from a flooded basement, then drying the walls, floor and framing to a recorded goal.
Response to water from a river overflow or high ground water, from the first pumping through the drying of every floor the water reached.
Water left in a basement when a sump pump stops, with the power checked, the water removed and the sump repaired by its trade.
No honest price list exists for water-damage work in Hammond, because the same wet basement can cost very different amounts depending on how long the water stood, what it touched and how the house is built.
Most basement losses after a storm start with something that could have been checked beforehand: a clogged gutter, a window well full of leaves or a sump that has not been tested.
Frozen and burst pipes and ice dams are winter losses, and most of them can be prevented by a few checks made in the autumn.
The first hour decides how much of a water loss is manageable.
A homeowner's policy generally responds to sudden water damage and generally excludes gradual leakage, seepage and flood unless an endorsement is added.
Shut off the main water valve if you can reach it without standing in water, move anything you can lift off the floor, photograph the water and the damage, and call (833) 490-5225. Phones are answered 24/7.
If the panel or outlets are in water, the power stays off until the wet area is checked. If the panel is dry and reachable, you can turn off the circuits for the basement yourself before going down the stairs.
Not always. Carpet that has taken clean water can often be extracted in place. Carpet that has taken river water or sewer water is usually removed, and that decision is made with you after the readings are taken.
The water can be pumped out, but the sump itself needs repair or replacement, which is a separate job. The call should say whether the pump was checked before the water was removed.
No. Extraction removes the free water. Drying removes the moisture that stays in the wall, the floor and the framing afterwards, and it is measured with readings rather than by feel.