Austin Fire and Flood

10/08/2026

Not every spill needs a restoration company. This is the honest line our team uses.

Fine on your own: a supply line drip on tile you caught within the hour, clean water, towels down, fan on, dry to the touch and still dry the next day.

Time to call somebody: the water sat overnight, it crossed onto carpet, it ran under cabinets, it came from a toilet or a drain line, or it soaked into drywall and baseboard.

The deciding factor is not the size of the puddle. It is how long the water had to travel and what it soaked into along the way.

Not sure which one you are looking at? Describe it in the comments.

10/07/2026

Jump To What Are the First Signs of Water Damage in Walls? What Causes Water to Get Inside a Wall? How Quickly Does a Wet Wall Turn Into Mold? How Do You Address Water Damage in Walls? Frequently Asked Questions Water damage inside a wall shows on the surface long before anyone finds the leak. […]

Stains, soft drywall, musty smells: know the early signs of water damage in walls, what causes it in Austin homes, and how to fix it before mold starts.

10/05/2026

Is one of your toilets still hissing a minute after it fills?

That is the fill valve and float telling you they are worn. Cheap to replace today. A tank that stops shutting off is a different morning entirely.

Which bathroom is yours? We all have one.

10/02/2026

A stain around the base of a toilet does not look like an emergency. Then it turns out to be a two-floor water loss, and suddenly it is a lot for any homeowner to take in.

Hear this Leander, TX rebuild from the homeowner.

By the time our team scanned the room, water from a failed toilet fl**ge had already reached the wall cavities and the ceiling below.

Containment went up, both levels dried down to standard, and the bathroom came back better than before.

The thing homeowners mention most after a job like this is not the equipment. It is not feeling left in the dark. 🎥

10/01/2026

Heads up, Austinites. The National Weather Service has a Flood Watch in effect for our area through Friday evening.

A few ways to stay safe and ready:
1️⃣ Never drive or walk through flooded roads. Turn around, don't drown.
2️⃣ Clear gutters and point downspouts away from your foundation.
3️⃣ Move valuables up off garage floors.
4️⃣ Keep phones charged and weather alerts turned on.

If water finds its way inside, our team at Austin Fire & Flood handles water damage and storm cleanup 24/7. Stay safe out there, neighbors.

➡️ Call us anytime at 512-967-6780
➡️ https://austinfireandflood.com/storm-damage-cleanup/

10/01/2026

October is Fire Prevention Month, so let us start with the one nobody thinks about.

Your dryer vent.

Not the lint trap.

Most people stay on top of that. We mean the flexible duct behind the dryer and the run that carries air out through the wall. Lint packs into that line over the years, the dryer runs hotter trying to push air through it, and now you have a heat source pressed against dry tinder inside a wall cavity.

Three things worth checking this weekend: clothes needing two cycles to dry, the top of the dryer hot to the touch, weak airflow at the outside vent hood.

Already had one? Call us. 512-967-6780

09/29/2026

If your downspouts dump right at the base of your house, that is a slow problem worth taking seriously here.

Central Texas clay does something specific. It swells when it gets soaked and shrinks hard when it dries out. Repeat that against one corner of a slab through a wet fall and a dry winter and the soil under your foundation stops sitting evenly.

You see it as hairline cracks above a door frame. Or a tile floor that sounds hollow in one spot. Or water along a baseboard on an exterior wall with no leak anywhere near it.

Extensions on the downspouts fix most of it. Call us if the water already made it inside. 512-967-6780

09/25/2026

It started with a dark ring in the grout around an upstairs toilet. That was it. No puddle, no dripping ceiling, nothing that screamed emergency.

Then the thermal camera and moisture meters told the real story. Water from a failed toilet fl**ge had wicked into the wall cavities behind the toilet and vanity, blackened the framing, soaked the insulation, and traveled through the subfloor into the ceiling of the room below.

This Leander home needed containment on two floors, a tear-out down to bare studs, and a full bathroom rebuild before it was finished.

✅ All photos, start to finish, are in the case study.
➡️ https://austinfireandflood.com/case-studies/how-a-leaking-toilet-fl**ge-turned-into-two-floors-of-water-damage-in-leander-tx/

09/24/2026

Mold Awareness Month, so let's take the big one head on. Bleach does not kill mold on drywall or wood.

On tile, glass, or a countertop, sure. Those are non-porous, the mold sits on top, bleach wipes it out.

Drywall and wood are a different story. Mold puts roots down into the material. Bleach is mostly water, and the water soaks in while the disinfecting part stays on the surface. So you kill the top layer, feed the roots, and two weeks later it is back looking worse.

The black spot going away is not the same as the mold going away.

If it keeps coming back, it never left: https://austinfireandflood.com/mold-restoration/

09/21/2026

A kitchen fire can stay in one room.

The smoke won't. It gets inside cabinets, into closets, under drawer liners, into boxes you thought were sealed.

That is why we clean the whole house, not just the burned part. Ask us what that actually looks like.