These are the questions people in San Marcos and the rest of Hays County ask when they call. Each one leads with the answer.
Most likely a hot-water line under the slab has opened up. On a slab the water has nowhere to drip, so it warms the floor above it and spreads under the tile before anything looks wet. Close the valve on top of the water heater if you can reach it, and read about leak detection before anyone opens concrete.
Close the house valve in the meter box by the sidewalk and cut power to any outlet the water reached. Carry out what you can, open the cabinet doors, and take photos of each room before anything goes to the curb. Then call and say what you see.
Stay out from under it instead. A bulging ceiling is holding water and can come down in one piece. Set a bucket under the lowest point, close the heater's supply valve, and keep the room clear. Water heater leak cleanup covers the ceiling, the insulation, and the walls below it.
Farther than the wet spot. Water from a frozen attic or exterior-wall line runs along the top of the ceiling and down inside the studs to the slab. Burst pipe water damage work starts by metering every wall below the break, not just the ceiling that dripped.
No. River and street water carries silt, fuel, and whatever the storm drains picked up, so carpet, pad, and lower drywall it touched usually come out instead of being dried. That is why flash flood cleanup handles it as contaminated water from the first hour. Keep kids and pets out of those rooms until the floors are cleaned.
Probably not. Tile and laminate dry on top while the grout, the underlayment, and the bottom of the drywall stay wet, and Hays County humidity slows the whole thing down. That is what structural drying is for: dehumidifiers and air movers stay on the job until the meter, not your hand, says the materials are dry.
Either of you. Tell us you are the owner and where the house is, or have the tenant call and say it is a rental. The provider inspects, writes the scope, and talks to whoever is paying for the work. Ask the tenant to photograph the rooms with the time showing before anything is moved.
That turns on the wording of your policy, which nobody on this end has read. Many policies treat a sudden burst or a failed tank as covered and treat a slow slab leak as gradual damage that is excluded, sometimes with an add-on that pays for the tear-out but not the pipe. River flooding needs a separate flood policy. The Texas Department of Insurance publishes plain-language guides to what Texas policies usually cover.
It changes where the water hides. Under an old San Marcos house there is a crawl space, and a leak there soaks the joists and the dirt instead of running across a slab. The provider meters the subfloor from below and checks the piers. The Heritage Association of San Marcos can point you to the rules that apply to repairs in a historic district.
Because the next tank will fail too, and the crew should know where it sits. Edwards Aquifer water leaves scale that eats a tank from the inside, so a ten-year-old heater in an attic or a garage closet is a loss waiting to happen. Ask the provider to meter the floor and walls around the new tank's location, not just the old one.
Usually for the plumbing, the electrical, and any framing, yes. Drying and extraction do not need one. The provider pulls the permits for the trades they handle inside San Marcos, Kyle, or Buda, and tells you which parts of the rebuild are yours to arrange.
Ask on the first visit. Some providers do only the water work and hand you a dry, open house. Others also handle drywall, trim, flooring, and paint. Either way, the drying scope and the rebuild scope should be two separate documents so you can see where one ends.
Yes. A damp smell after a leak usually means something behind a wall or under the floor stayed wet. A meter finds it in a few minutes. Call (737) 283-4979, describe the smell and where it is strongest, and let the provider check it before it becomes a bigger job.