Water heater leak cleanup is common in the 60544 area because so many homes were built in the same stretch of time, and their original tank water heaters are reaching the end of the road together. When the steel tank rusts through at the bottom, it can dump 40 or 50 gallons on the basement floor and then keep running from the supply line.
First step: close the cold water valve on top of the heater and turn off the gas or the breaker.
Water heaters usually sit in an unfinished utility room next to the furnace, so the water runs across concrete toward the lowest spot. If that spot is under a finished wall, the drywall and carpet in the next room get wet. We extract, check the adjacent rooms with a meter and pull wet materials.
Sediment and rust from the tank stain carpet and concrete. We clean that off hard surfaces, and the pad usually gets replaced.
The utility room should be fully dry before a new heater goes in. We set dehumidifiers and monitor moisture while your plumber handles the replacement. Our part is the cleanup, structural drying and, where carpet took water, carpet and pad drying.
