Water damage restoration in Howard & Anne Arundel, MD

Planned communities, older towns and newer suburbs

Much of Howard County's housing is younger than the Baltimore suburbs. Columbia was begun in the late 1960s as a planned community of villages, each mixing detached houses, townhouses, condominiums and apartments. Elkridge, Savage, Jessup, Hanover and the areas around Annapolis Junction grew quickly from the 1980s on, with large townhouse developments alongside older homes. Ellicott City has a historic stone-and-brick core and extensive suburbs around it.

In Anne Arundel County, Crofton was laid out in the 1960s around a golf course, and Severna Park, Arnold, Pasadena and Millersville are largely mid-century and later single-family neighborhoods. Odenton, Gambrills and Severn have seen a lot of newer townhouse and single-family construction. Annapolis combines a historic downtown with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings and a wide ring of later suburbs.

That mix means very different leak patterns. Newer homes have plastic supply lines and modern fixtures but a lot of finished space; 1970s and 1980s homes have water heaters, supply lines and polybutylene or early plastic plumbing reaching the end of their service life; historic buildings bring old drains, plaster walls and layered repairs.

Townhouses, condos and associations

Few regions in Maryland have as many homeowner and condominium associations as this one. Columbia's villages, and the townhouse developments along Route 1, Route 32 and Route 3, mean many homes share at least one wall, and many share a roof line or common drainage. A leak at a party wall can reach the house next door, and a stacked condo can send water down several floors.

When that happens, the association or management company usually needs to know quickly, and the crew may need access to more than one home. Questions about who handles which part go to the association and each owner's own insurer.

Basements, slopes and soils

Most detached homes and many townhouses here have basements, often finished, and many sit on sloping lots with walk-out lower levels. Howard County lies in rolling Piedmont country, where water runs downhill toward foundations on the uphill side. Much of Anne Arundel is lower and flatter, where drainage depends more on grading, downspouts and sump pumps. Either way, heavy summer storms, clogged gutters and saturated ground are the usual causes of basement water.

Humid summers slow drying in finished lower levels, which is why crews rely on dehumidifiers and readings rather than open windows.

Western Howard County

West of Columbia and Ellicott City, communities like Glenelg, Glenwood, Woodbine, Cooksville, West Friendship and Dayton are rural and semi-rural, with larger lots and many homes on private wells and septic systems. A burst pipe keeps running until the well pump's power is turned off, and a backup puts strain on the septic system. Winter freezes are a bigger concern in outbuildings, well houses and crawl spaces.

Services most often needed here

• Condo & Shared-Building Water Damage
• Finished Basement Water Cleanup
• Sump Pump Failure Cleanup
• Storm & Heavy Rain Water Damage
• Water Heater Leak Cleanup
• Gutter & Drainage Water Intrusion

Communities in the Howard & Anne Arundel region