Water Damage Restoration services in Louisiana

Katrina's levee failures flooded about 80 percent of New Orleans in 2005. In 2016, rain floods hit the Baton Rouge area without any hurricane at all.

Ida brought roof and wind-driven rain damage to East Jefferson Parish suburbs.

New Orleans mixes raised shotgun houses and Creole cottages on piers with postwar slab homes. Metairie and Kenner have many 1950s to 1970s slab ranches, and Slidell has raised rebuilds beside older slab homes.

Start with water damage restoration, flooded basement cleanup or burst pipe water damage. Keep flood and wind claims separate, since they often go to different insurers.

Cities and neighborhoods: Baton Rouge, Covington and Mandeville, Denham Springs and Walker, Metairie and Kenner, New Orleans, Shreveport and Bossier City, Slidell.

Before you call anyone, work out which of four things happened. Rain flooding comes up from streets and bayous, surge pushes in from the Gulf and the lakes, wind opens the roof, and old damage is a musty wall left over from a past storm. They involve different coverage, and they often overlap in one event.

Baton Rouge averages about 62 inches of precipitation a year and Metairie about 62.5, so a house rarely gets a long dry spell to recover. Humidity is half the problem. Drying goes better with the house closed and conditioned, not with the windows open.

A raised house lets water run beneath it, and it can also hide wet insulation and damp subfloor where nobody looks. Ask the contractor to go under the house before they sign off. A slab ranch has nowhere to hide water except in the walls and flooring, so the bottom of the drywall and baseboards usually gets attention first.

Old wood and plaster deserve patience. Historic framing often dries well if given time and airflow, and tearing it out may be unnecessary. Paint before 1978 may have lead in it, which is one more reason not to start sanding.

Some Livingston and East Baton Rouge homes were put back together fast because thousands of people needed them. Some framing may have been sealed damp, or soaked insulation left behind. A musty smell does not automatically mean the old work failed, but it is a good reason for a moisture check.

If you bought after a flood, ask the seller for records, and compare your floor height to how high water came on your street. Do not treat 2016 as the upper limit. In Denham Springs that year the crest came in nearly five feet above the previous record, which is the clearest argument against planning around history alone.

Storm chasers follow every big Louisiana event. Before signing, look the company up with the State Licensing Board for Contractors, ask for proof of insurance and read the agreement closely. Be careful with anything that hands your claim rights to someone else. Water Damage First makes the connection only, so the contractor you hire is independent and accountable for their own work.

Permits come from the parish or city, and Louisiana has many jurisdictions. Port Allen, Plaquemine and Gonzales each sit in different parishes from Baton Rouge, for instance. In a flood zone, also ask about elevation requirements before planning major repairs.

Homeowners policies generally leave out flood, and when the 2016 water came just about 21 percent of structures statewide had federal flood coverage. Many of those homes had never flooded before. Hurricane or wind deductibles often work differently from your regular deductible, too, so read that part of the declarations page.

The Louisiana Department of Insurance takes consumer questions, and its site is the first place to look if a claim stalls or you want to check who you are dealing with.