Water Damage Restoration in Oakland Park, FL

Oakland Park and Wilton Manors sit north of Fort Lauderdale, with the Middle River winding between and around them. South Florida Restoration Co gets water damage restoration going across both cities and the village of Lazy Lake, for 1950s block houses, duplexes, small apartment buildings and homes on the river. Say what got wet, and we’ll get readings taken and the wet spots dried.

River water over a low seawall

Wilton Manors is nearly an island. The North and South Forks of the Middle River wrap around it, both tidal, and the river also takes storm water let out from the neighborhoods to the west. A heavy rain can raise it at the same moment the tide is high. The city’s 2024 study found that nearly all the seawalls are privately owned and that a single low wall can let the river spread across a wide area. Rain from the streets drains into that same river through about 90 outfall pipes, in a system the study puts at more than 50 years old.

When river water crosses the yard and gets inside, the cleanup changes. Since it came from outside, wet carpet and padding are usually pulled, drywall gets cut a foot or two up the wall, and the floor and remaining walls are cleaned before any drying. How flood water and leak water get handled differently lays out why.

Swale streets in Oakland Park

Some Oakland Park side streets drain to grass swales beside the pavement. Around NE 13th Avenue the city is regrading the right-of-way and adding swales so water stops pooling at the street edge. In North Andrews Gardens, one resident told CBS News Miami the streets had flooded at least 10 times in 2023, and the city planned a new pump to push the neighborhood’s storm water underground.

When a street stays full for hours, water creeps up driveways and lawns and finds the lowest door. The April 12, 2023 rain flooded streets across eastern Broward, and what that storm did in Fort Lauderdale covers the day itself. When you call, say how high the water got against the door, since that sets how far up the walls the readings go.

Postwar houses, duplexes and small apartment buildings

About 43 percent of homes across the two cities went up during the 1950s and 1960s. About one home in four is in a building of 2 to 19 units, mostly duplexes, fourplexes and small apartment buildings, and about four in ten households rent.

In a duplex or a small building, a leak doesn’t respect the property line. A water heater or toilet line on one side wets the common wall and the slab next door, so the meter goes into both units and the drying follows the water across the line. When the heater sits in an inside closet, a slow leak soaks the closet floor and the base of the surrounding walls; signs of a leaking water heater are worth knowing.

ZIP codes for Oakland Park, Wilton Manors and Lazy Lake

Homes in 33305, 33306 and 33334 are covered across Oakland Park, Wilton Manors and Lazy Lake. Don’t see your ZIP? Call anyway and we’ll check your address.

Start the call with the source, whether that was the river, the street or a pipe. Then mention if you share a wall with a neighbor whose side might be wet too.