Water, fire and storm damage restoration in Maumelle, AR

Maumelle sits on the north bank of the Arkansas River, across from Pinnacle Mountain, and Service Restoration covers it from its two Little Rock offices at 9524 I-30 and 7821 Doyle Springs Rd Suite F. Both are rated 5.0 stars on Google, from 103 and 32 reviews. There is no Maumelle office. A call at any hour goes to the 24/7 call center, which qualifies the job and dispatches a local team, typically on-site within 60 minutes depending on drive time, traffic, road conditions and call volume. The usual route is I-430 north across the river and out Maumelle Boulevard, roughly 25 to 30 minutes from the I-30 office on a clear road, with I-40 as the way into the north end of town. Afternoon traffic on the I-430 bridge is the main thing that stretches that time. Service Restoration was founded in 2014 and is independently owned, not a franchise.

Maumelle is a planned city. It was laid out from scratch beginning in the 1970s, with curving streets, greenbelts, walking trails and small lakes worked into the plan, and it has been filling in ever since. That history shows in the housing. Very little of Maumelle is older than the 1970s, and almost all of it sits on concrete slabs. The earlier subdivisions have one-story brick homes and townhomes from the 1970s and 1980s. Many of the later neighborhoods, especially toward the north end of town near I-40, are larger two-story homes from the 1990s and 2000s, many with upstairs laundry rooms, attic air handlers and supply lines in the attic. A city with this much housing of the same age tends to see the same failures at the same time: original water heaters, polybutylene or early PEX lines, washer hoses, ice maker lines and toilet supply lines reaching the end of their life.

Water on a slab spreads out instead of down. A split washer hose or a failed water heater in a Maumelle ranch runs under the laminate, tile and carpet pad, under the kitchen cabinets and into the bottom of the drywall in every room it reaches. In a two-story house, an upstairs leak comes through the ceiling below, soaking the insulation and running down inside the walls on the way. The free inspection maps the actual wet area with moisture meters and thermal imaging before anything is removed. That way the crew cuts out only what is wet and dries the rest in place, and the readings are rechecked every visit until the structure is dry by meter, not just dry to the touch.

The Arkansas River runs along the south edge of town, and the shared name causes some confusion. Lake Maumelle, the reservoir that supplies Little Rock's water, is not in Maumelle at all. It lies across the river, west of Pinnacle Mountain. The river itself is what Maumelle watches. During the high water of May and June 2019 the Arkansas ran far above normal along its whole central Arkansas stretch, and the low ground and parks along the river edge of town are the parts of Maumelle closest to it. More often, the water problem comes from rain. Maumelle's lakes, ponds and greenbelt drainage carry storm water through the middle of town, and a slow-moving storm that drops several inches in a few hours can back up storm drains and push water into garages and across slab floors. Water from outside is handled as contaminated water, with protective equipment and disposal of soaked porous materials such as carpet pad.

Maumelle's tree cover is one of the reasons people move there, and it is also what comes through the roof in a storm. Spring thunderstorms with straight-line winds, the occasional tornado warning and the weight of ice on limbs during a winter storm bring down large oaks and pines onto roofs, decks and garages. The crew's first job after a tree comes through is to tarp the opening and clear the debris that can be safely moved, then pull wet insulation and ceiling drywall and start drying. Contents in the damaged rooms can be packed out, cleaned and stored while the work goes on. The same company does the reconstruction afterward, so there is no second contractor to line up while every tree service and roofer in Pulaski County is booked.

Fire and smoke damage is handled the same way, from soot and smoke cleanup and extracting the water the Maumelle Fire Department leaves behind to contents cleaning and the rebuild. Maumelle also has commercial property along Maumelle Boulevard: offices, medical buildings, schools, churches and the businesses on the industrial side of town. The company's work in hotels, churches and office buildings, with multiple crews on large losses and its own temporary power and air conditioning from the equipment library, applies to those buildings. Every job starts with a free inspection, and the loss is written up in Xactimate, the software adjusters use. The company is IICRC certified and EPA Lead Safe Certified. Coverage is decided by your policy and your adjuster, case by case, and nobody on the team promises it.

What causes the most water, fire and storm damage in Maumelle?

Maumelle has the humid subtropical climate of central Arkansas, and spring is when most of its storm damage happens. From March into May, severe thunderstorms bring hail, straight-line winds and tornado warnings, and in a city with this much mature tree cover the wind damage often means a limb or a whole tree on the roof. The same storms drop heavy rain that fills the city's lakes and greenbelt drainage and backs up storm drains. The Arkansas River along the south edge of town is the long-duration risk, as the 2019 high water showed along the whole central Arkansas stretch of the river. Winters are mild in most years, but ice storms load trees and power lines, and the Arctic outbreaks of February 2021 and December 2022 brought nights in the teens that burst supply lines in attics and exterior walls across the newer two-story homes. Summer humidity slows drying, so equipment needs to be running within hours of a leak.

What do Maumelle jobs usually involve?

• Slab leak, water heater, washer hose and ice maker line losses in Maumelle's one-story homes and townhomes, dried in place where the meters allow
• Upstairs laundry, tub and water heater leaks in the newer two-story homes, traced through ceilings and wall cavities
• Burst attic and exterior wall supply lines after a hard freeze
• Storm drain backup and runoff through garages and across slabs, handled as contaminated water
• Emergency tarping, tree and debris removal and interior drying after wind storms and ice storms
• Fire and smoke cleanup, contents cleaning and storage, commercial losses along Maumelle Boulevard, and reconstruction by the same company

Which Maumelle neighborhoods do we cover?

• the Lake Willastein area
• the Country Club of Arkansas area
• the Maumelle Boulevard corridor
• the Odom Boulevard area
• south Maumelle near the river
• north Maumelle near I-40
• the townhome communities
• the industrial side of town

Near the Arkansas River, Lake Willastein, the Country Club of Arkansas, Maumelle Boulevard, Pinnacle Mountain across the river, Lake Maumelle across the river, Maumelle High School, I-430 and I-40.