Water-Damaged Drywall Repair in San Antonio

Drywall is mostly gypsum wrapped in paper, and both soak up water fast. A wall can look almost normal from across the room while the bottom foot of it is wet through. Up close, these are the signs to look for:

• Stains that look yellow, brown or gray, often in a wavy line along the bottom of the wall
• Bubbling or peeling paint, or a blister that feels cool and damp when you press it
• Soft spots that give under your thumb, or a wall that sounds dull instead of solid when you tap it
• Swelling or crumbling at the bottom edge, where the board sits closest to a wet floor
• Baseboards that swell, pull away from the wall or show a gap at the top of the caulk
• A musty smell in one room, or dark spots creeping out from behind furniture

That last one matters. The EPA notes that mold may be hidden in places such as the back side of drywall, so a clean-looking face doesn't prove the wall is fine.

Drywall acts like a paper towel standing in a puddle. NDSU Extension puts it plainly: gypsum board is very absorbent and will wick water up a wall. So a half inch of water on the floor can leave the board wet well above the waterline, and a leak inside the wall can spread sideways along the cavity without ever showing on the face.

That's why we start with moisture readings, not a guess. We take them along the wall, at different heights and past the stained area, plus the baseboard, the floor in front of it and the walls on the other side of the studs. The readings draw the real outline of the wet area, and that outline decides where the cut goes. It also gives your carrier a record of how far the water traveled.

If the water came from above, the ceiling usually took it first. Our ceiling water damage page covers that side of the job.

Sometimes. Three things decide it: what kind of water it was, how long the board stayed wet and what shape the board is in now.

The ANSI/IICRC S500, the industry standard for water damage restoration, sorts water by contamination. Category 1 comes from a sanitary source, like a broken supply line, and Restoration & Remediation magazine describes Category 2 as water with significant contamination, such as discharge from a dishwasher or washing machine. The same article notes that clean water can deteriorate into Category 2 or 3 as time passes, especially in a warm house.

• Clean water, caught quickly. Legend Brands' summary of S500 procedures lists gypsum wallboard wall assemblies among the materials that can be dried after a Category 1 loss. If the board is still firm, the paper is intact and there's no wet insulation behind it, drying in place is worth trying, with readings to prove it worked.
• Contaminated water. The same summary says highly porous materials that absorbed Category 2 or 3 water, gypsum wallboard and insulation included, are removed. For Category 3, Restoration & Remediation magazine quotes the S500 listing gypsum wallboard among the materials that should be removed and replaced. That covers floodwater and sewage.
• Board that's failing. Drywall that's swollen, crumbling, sagging or soft to the touch doesn't firm back up when it dries. It comes out.

We'll show you the readings and tell you which group your wall falls in before anything gets cut.

When drywall has to go, the cut sits above the highest wet reading, not right at the stain. Guidance from the Gypsum Association, published in Walls & Ceilings, gives cutting and replacing the drywall 12 to 24 inches above the water line as the general recommendation. It suggests going higher, around 4 feet, when insulation has to be replaced and the wall cavity needs to dry. Restorers call this a flood cut, even when the water came from a supply line instead of a flood.

A straight cut at a consistent height does two jobs. It gets every wet piece out, and it leaves a clean edge where a new panel can be hung, taped and finished so the patch disappears. Baseboards come off first and get set aside if they're worth saving.

Insulation behind wet drywall usually comes out with it. Mississippi State University Extension says that in most cases wet insulation needs to be removed and replaced, since it holds water against the studs. Pulling it lets air reach the framing.

Closing a wet wall is how mold gets a head start. The EPA says to dry water-damaged areas and items within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth, and that no type of mold will grow without water or moisture. NDSU adds that mold grows readily on the paper of gypsum board. New drywall hung over damp studs puts fresh paper right against the moisture.

Once the wall is open, structural drying goes to work on the studs, the bottom plate and the back of the drywall on the other side. Moisture monitoring tells us when the framing is actually dry, and nothing new goes up before then. The Gypsum Association guidance makes the same point: dry, clean and inspect the cavity before new panels are installed. If we find mold growing inside the wall, the job moves to mold remediation first.

We don't open your wall and leave you to find someone to close it. We rebuild the projects we restore, so after the readings say the framing is dry, the same team puts the wall back:

1. New insulation where wet insulation came out
2. New drywall hung along the cut line and fastened to the dried studs
3. Tape and joint compound over the seams, sanded smooth
4. Texture matched to the existing wall, whether that's smooth, orange peel or knockdown
5. Primer, paint and the baseboards back on

A small patch on an older textured wall won't always blend perfectly, and sometimes painting the whole wall corner to corner is what makes the repair vanish. We'll tell you up front when that's the case. This is part of our reconstruction work, and our operations manager, who is Xactimate-certified with more than six years in reconstruction, builds the estimate. If flooring, cabinets or trim also need replacing, our water damage repair page covers the rest of the rebuild. Walls damaged by fire or smoke are a different job, covered on fire-damaged drywall.

How the water got into the wall shapes the claim. The Texas Department of Insurance says most homeowner and renters policies cover sudden and accidental water damage, and that policies usually won't cover damage from gradual leaks. A pipe that burst last night and a slow drip behind a shower wall can land on different sides of that line. Your carrier decides, not us.

TDI also says to take pictures or video of the damage before making repairs, and not to make permanent repairs until your insurance company sees the damage. Our order of work fits that: readings and photos first, drying next, rebuild last. We help document the damage and work with your insurance carrier throughout the restoration process. We don't interpret your policy or negotiate the claim, and your deductible is yours. Our insurance claims page explains where we fit.

We're veteran-owned, family-operated and IICRC-certified, based in San Antonio, and we handle wet walls in homes from New Braunfels to Boerne. For the bigger picture, start at water damage restoration.