Contact Black Warrior Restoration

One number, and five things worth having in front of you

There is a single line for the whole service area, (205) 927-8756, and it is answered at any hour on any day. Most overnight calls come from people who have just walked into something, so the questions below are the ones asked first. Having the answers shortens the call; not having them stops nobody coming.

The address and its ZIP code. That decides which crew the call goes to, and it matters most at the edges of the map — McCalla sits in Jefferson County off I-459, and the run out to Elrod or Ralph is a different drive from a run across town.

Roughly when it started. An exact time is nice and is rarely available. "Sometime since the last time anybody opened the house" is a real answer and a common one in this county. It changes what we expect to find rather than embarrassing anyone.

Whether the supply has been shut and whether the breakers for those rooms are down. On city water the stop is the meter or the main valve; on a well it is the pump breaker, which is worth finding now rather than at two in the morning.

What the floor sits on — slab, crawl space, or a manufactured home on piers. Nothing in this county has a basement, so it is only ever one of those three, and the answer tells us where the water has already gone.

Who owns the building, who lives in it, and who can let a crew in. Add the name of your carrier if a claim already looks likely. Nobody needs a claim number to make this call.

Calls that belong to 911 before they belong here

Water standing against a panel, an outlet or a live appliance that you cannot isolate from a dry position. Do not wade to a breaker.

Gas, in any amount you can smell, and particularly after a storm has shifted something under the house.

A ceiling holding water and starting to bow in a room anybody is still using. Move people out and make the call from outside.

Any part of the structure that has dropped, cracked or shifted.

Anyone hurt. And on a night when Hurricane Creek or Cribbs Mill Creek is up, a road under moving water is not a route home. Turn around, whatever it looks like from the driver's seat.