Leak, Flood and Mold Help in Wellington

South Florida Restoration Co is who to call for water damage restoration and flood cleanup across the Village of Wellington, in gated communities and on horse properties in the Equestrian Preserve. Rain from the yard, a septic backup and a burst supply line each need a different setup.

How rain leaves Wellington

Wellington was Everglades marsh until a levee went up in 1952 and 1953, and it still depends on pumps. Acme Improvement District’s canals and pump stations move the village’s rain to the C-51 canal and a treatment marsh to the west. An ordinary storm drains fine. In a long one, water waits in swales, yards and streets until the pumps get ahead of it. During Isaac in 2012, about 17 inches fell in three days, and the southern Equestrian Preserve was the last area to drain.

Water that stood in the yard and then came inside has run across lawn, pasture and road, so it’s flood cleanup: wet drywall is cut out, flooring and padding come up, and what stays is cleaned before the dehumidifiers go in.

Horse properties, barns and guest quarters

On farms in Palm Beach Point, Saddle Trail and the rest of the Equestrian Preserve, the main house is often one of several buildings that took water. FEMA’s maps keep most Wellington houses out of the high-risk zone, but barns, pastures and outbuildings on the same lot can sit inside it. A groom’s apartment or guest house gets dried like the house. Stalls and barn aisles don’t. Water that ran through them carries manure, so anything porous it soaked is treated as contaminated.

Septic and private wells in the older pockets

Some older neighborhoods, Paddock Park among them, still run on septic tanks and private wells, and during Isaac the village reported septic failures in Saddle Trail. A tank can’t drain into ground that’s already full of water. Dark water coming up through a ground-floor fixture during a flood is sewage, so stay out of that room.

Houses built since 1990

Seven in ten Wellington homes are detached houses, and almost none are in high-rises. In houses this young, leaks usually start at something hooked to the plumbing, not the pipes: a toilet supply line, washer hoses, the fridge’s water line, the garage water heater or the AC’s condensate line when it clogs. In a two-story house an upstairs leak often shows first as a stain on the ceiling below. For that, start with the ceiling leak guide.

Wellington addresses that say Lake Worth

Two of the village’s ZIP codes, 33449 and 33467, use Lake Worth as the mailing city. Those homes are covered along with 33414. Don’t see your ZIP? Call anyway and we’ll check your address.

On the call, name each building that took water, say if you’re on septic and tell us where the water started: the yard, a drain or a line inside.