Extraction is the part where a crew pulls standing water out of the house with pumps and extractors. It is the first step of any water job, and it is the step that decides how much material gets wet enough to throw away.
This page is about that first step: what the water in your house weighs, how the equipment works, what is safe to do before we arrive and what extraction cannot do on its own.
How much water is actually in the house: the arithmetic of one inch
One inch of water over one square foot is about 0.62 gallons. That sounds small. Spread it over a floor and it is not.
| Floor area | 1 inch deep | 2 inches deep | 6 inches deep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 sq ft | about 310 gallons | about 620 gallons | about 1,870 gallons |
| 1,000 sq ft | about 620 gallons | about 1,250 gallons | about 3,740 gallons |
| 1,500 sq ft | about 935 gallons | about 1,870 gallons | about 5,610 gallons |
Water weighs about 8.3 pounds per gallon, so six inches over a 1,000 square foot basement is over 15 tons pressing on a floor, a wall and everything stored in it. That is why a wet-dry vacuum is not enough for anything beyond a spill.
What the equipment does
- Submersible pumps move deep water out of basements and crawlspaces through a hose, to a drain or to the outside away from the foundation.
- Extractors pull water out of carpet, pad and the surface of hard floors once the standing water is gone.
- Hand tools and squeegees handle edges, corners and thresholds the machines cannot reach.
We discharge water where it will not come back to the foundation, and we do not pump sewage-contaminated water to the street or a storm drain. If the water is from a sewer line or storm, see sewage backup cleanup or storm and flood damage first.
Before we arrive: what is safe to do and what is not
- Stop the source if you can. Close the main water valve for a plumbing leak.
- Do not wade through water if outlets, appliances, the panel or extension cords are in it. Water and electricity do not mix.
- Do not use a household vacuum or a gas-powered pump indoors. A gas engine in a closed basement can fill the house with carbon monoxide.
- Take photos of the water level and the damage before anything is moved.
- Lift furniture off wet carpet and put foil or wood blocks under the legs.
- Leave wet drywall alone. Do not poke it or paint it.
Water still spreading? Do not wait for it to stop on its own.
Call (223) 245-0005When water has been standing for days
Clean water does not stay clean. Water from a broken supply line can pick up contamination from floors, soil and building materials, and water that sits for a few days is treated more cautiously than water caught on day one. The IICRC S500 standard allows a loss to be reclassified as conditions change. If you were away and found a flooded basement, tell us how long you think it has been there. The answer changes what we remove.
What extraction does not do
Pumping gets the visible water. It does not dry the house. Water that has soaked into drywall, wood framing, plaster and carpet pad stays there until it is evaporated into the air and removed by dehumidifiers. That second step is structural drying and dehumidification, and it usually takes three to five days.
A house that was only pumped can look dry for a week and still be wet inside the walls. CDC, EPA and FEMA guidance for flooded homes is to dry everything within 24 to 48 hours if possible and to assume mold has started if it was not.
Local rain that sends people to this page
The Middletown-Harrisburg station recorded about 44 inches of precipitation a year across 1991 to 2020 in our calculation from NOAA daily data, with about 10 days a year of an inch or more and about 2 days a year of two inches or more. The largest single day in that period was 7.71 inches on September 7, 2011, during the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. The Conodoguinet Creek gauge at Hogestown crested at 10.53 feet the next day, above its 8-foot flood stage.
Most calls we get are not from a creek. They are from a sump pump that stopped, a supply line that split or a water heater that let go. Related pages: basement flooding cleanup and appliance leak water damage. We work in Camp Hill, Carlisle and Shiremanstown too.
Questions about pumping out standing water
How quickly can you start pumping?
It depends on where the crew is and traffic, so we give you a time on the phone. Emergency calls are answered 24 hours a day. Shut off the source and keep people out of the water while you wait.
Can I rent a pump and do it myself?
For a few inches in a small area, sometimes. For a flooded basement, the pump is the easy part. The harder part is knowing what is wet inside the walls and drying it before mold starts.
Is the water safe to touch?
Not always. Water from a broken supply line is the cleanest case. Water from a sewer, a washing machine drain, a storm or a creek can carry contamination. Wear boots and gloves, and tell us where the water came from.
What do you do with the water you pump out?
We send it somewhere that will not flow back to your foundation, and we do not pump sewage-contaminated water into a storm drain or onto a neighbor's property.
