Water extraction along Buford Highway

Large complexes went up along the highway during the 1960s and 1970s, and many are two- or three-storey walk-ups with exterior stairs. ^[1] Truck-mounted hoses can be pulled up to a certain distance, but long runs lose performance and create tripping hazards on shared stairs. Crews often rely on portable extractors for upper floors, moving between units as they go. In an event affecting several homes, ask how the equipment is being split, because the worst-affected unit is not always the one that reported first.

Water that gets onto an upper-floor carpet goes down rather than staying put. The unit below will have a wet ceiling and perhaps a wet floor, so extraction needs to take place in both homes on the same visit if at all possible. The tenant below may not even be home, so management needs to arrange entry.

The type of water matters as much in a rental as in a house. A supply line break is usually clean to begin with, whereas a clogged drain that backs up through a ground-floor tub is another matter altogether. Sewage on the floor means everyone stays out until it is dealt with, and porous materials are generally removed rather than extracted and dried. ^[2] If it is coming from a shared line, tell management and report it to Gwinnett dispatch as well if a public main may be involved. ^[4]

Tenants sometimes want to mop up to be helpful. For a small clean leak that is fine, but please do not try to clean up sewage or walk in water around plugged-in appliances. Protect yourself and your family first; your safety comes before the carpet in a building you do not own.

In a storefront, the question of timing can be as pressing as the water itself. A wet restaurant cannot serve until it has been cleaned and checked, and stock on low shelves may be at risk. Tile and sealed concrete floors are quicker to extract than carpet, but floor boxes, wall coolers and shelving units can hide water behind and under them. Move refrigerated stock early, keep a list of what is thrown out, and speak to your landlord about the demising walls, since the shop next door may be wet as well.

Sidewalk and parking lot hose runs need cones or some form of warning. Your landlord or the property manager can help coordinate this, particularly if the shared lot is busy at the time of the work.

During the December 2022 freeze, reports from metro Atlanta described a great many buildings needing help at the same moment, with some residents dealing with damage for weeks. ^{[5] [3]} If that happens again, there may be a wait. While you wait, you can raise belongings, keep doors open to help air move and check in with neighbours, and managers can pump or vacuum where it is safe in order to keep things from getting worse. Everything you do should be recorded for later, because in a multi-tenant event, memory fails quickly.

Portable extractors and pumps draw considerable current, and a circuit in an older apartment may trip when a machine starts. Crews often need to find a working outlet in a dry room or a nearby unit, and that requires the manager's cooperation. Wet panels and outlets should stay off until checked. Hoses across shared landings need securing, as these stairs are also the way out of the building for other residents. Ask that a clear route be kept at all times, particularly at night, and that hoses be taken up whenever the crew leaves. Dumping recovered water matters as well. A shared floor drain or laundry drain might seem handy, but it may already be under strain from the same event, and sending more water that way can move the problem to a ground-floor neighbour. A careful operator will ask where the building's drains run before choosing a place to discharge. Managers who know the answer can save the crew a good deal of time on the first visit.