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What to do in thetwenty minutes before the truck

A short list that actually changes the bill.

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What to do in the twenty minutes before the truck

If the floor is live electrically, stay out and wait. If it is not: power down the wet room at the breaker, not by unplugging with wet hands.

Stop the source. Toilet supply, washing-machine hose, ice-maker line — these have valves. A sewer backup does not. Do not keep flushing.

Move what you can onto blocks or upstairs. Photograph serial numbers on furnaces and water heaters before they sit in water. That picture is the claim.

Open interior doors for airflow only if the water is clean. Sewage rooms stay closed until we set containment.

Have the alarm code, parking notes, and the insurer’s claim number if you have one. The faster we are working, the less we are standing in the alley on the phone.

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Customer stories

What our clients say

4.9

“A garden-unit backup at 11 p.m. — they were on Carroll and then at the house inside the hour. Extracted, metered, and told us straight what the plaster would do. No scare pitch.”

Dana Whitfield

Lincoln Park homeowner

“We run restaurants on a combined sewer. When a floor drain failed after a cell, Shield kept the dining room from becoming a two-week shutdown. Equipment stayed until the readings, not the calendar.”

Marcus Hale

West Loop property manager

“An upstairs tub overflowed through two ceilings. They contained each unit, dried both, and gave us one moisture map the insurer could actually read.”

Priya Shah

Lakeview three-flat owner

“Stack leak in a pre-war building. They worked around freight hours, documented the plaster, and rebuilt the plane so you cannot see the cut. That is the standard we wanted.”

James Okafor

Hyde Park co-op board

“Slab seepage after a hard rain. Honest about what a coating would not do, then dried the stockroom and detailed the interior so we could open Monday.”

Elena Ruiz

Pilsen storefront

“Sprinkler dump on an office floor after hours. They coordinated with us on the freight, pulled the water, and had air movers running before morning tenants showed.”

Tom Brennan

Loop building engineer

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Shield water damage restoration — serving Chicago from the Loop to the neighborhoods.

How fast can a crew reach my block?

Inside Chicago we aim to be on site in under an hour when the board is clear. During a citywide cloudburst the queue is real — you still get a live person, a window, and the next truck that is free.

Do you handle sewer backups or only clean water?

Both. Combined-sewer surcharge is a Chicago specialty, not a footnote. Category 3 water gets contained, extracted, and disposed of as contaminated. We will tell you on the first call which category we think you have.

Will you work with my insurer?

Yes. We document the loss, the moisture map, and the rebuild so the file is readable. We do not pretend to be your public adjuster. We do the work and the paperwork the carrier actually asks for.

Can you save the hardwood?

Sometimes. Cupped oak in a bungalow often comes back if we dry the subfloor and wait. Swollen particle-board cabinets and pad usually do not. We say which is which before we demo.

Do I need to be home?

Someone with keys has to let us in. After the first visit, equipment can run while you are at work if we have access and a place to park the truck.

What should I do before you arrive?

If it is safe: kill power to wet rooms, stop the water at the valve, lift what you can onto blocks, and photograph everything. Do not mix sewage with a household vacuum. Do not run the HVAC until we say the coils are not feeding the rest of the house.

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