Three-Story Apartment Riser Failure in Arlington, TX
Multi-Family, same-crew mitigation through reconstruction.
The Challenge
At 2:15 AM, a water heater in a third-floor stacked utility closet failed at the tank, sending water down the plumbing chase through the second and first floor units and out into the breezeway. Nine units across three floors were affected, roughly 7,400 sq ft total, with two first-floor ceilings bellied and holding water.
The Approach
The first 90 minutes were triage, not drying: the building riser was shut, power was killed to affected panels, all nine units and the corridor were moisture-mapped, and controlled ceiling takedown happened in four units before anything came down on its own. The crew ran its own fleet plus rental equipment, 42 air movers, 14 dehumidifiers, and 10 air scrubbers combined, with temporary power distribution so unit breakers weren't tripped all night. Each unit was scoped, documented, and billed as its own drying chamber. By containing wet zones unit by unit instead of gutting whole apartments, only two of six occupied households needed relocation. A unit-by-unit progress board went up in the leasing office, plus a daily photo update for the property manager.
The Results
Dry standard was reached across all nine units in 6 days, with reconstruction complete in 5 weeks. Zero mold claims came back, and no resident complaints escalated to ownership.