Waterproofing & Mold Remediation in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Dig a few feet down in Fort Lauderdale
and you reach the water.
Groundwater that gets through the bottom row of block shows up as damp baseboards, lifting tile and mold low on outside walls. We seal the wall from the outside, below grade, so the next wet season stays out of the house.
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Why does water come up through the floor in Fort Lauderdale homes?
Groundwater. In much of the city the water table sits only a few feet below the slab. Wet-season rain lifts it until it presses on the seam between the slab and the bottom row of block and seeps through. We seal that seam and the block below grade from the outside, which keeps it out.
Groundwater or rainwater? Three checks
Before anyone quotes a fix, work out where the water comes from. You can run these three checks yourself.
If you see
Water shows up during a hard rain and dries within a day or two
It usually means
Rain is reaching the wall from outside. A downspout emptying against the house, a bed sloped toward the slab or water running under a door are the usual routes.
What to do
Walk the outside in the next storm and watch where the water goes. Moving a downspout or regrading a bed often fixes it without touching the wall.
When a French drain helpsIf you see
The bottom of several outside walls stays damp for weeks through the wet season
It usually means
Most likely groundwater. The Biscayne Aquifer takes in rain all summer and rises, so the slab edge can sit in wet ground from mid-May to mid-October.
What to do
Sealing the block and the seam at the slab edge from outside is the fix for this one.
How we waterproof block wallsIf you see
One spot stays wet in the dry months too
It usually means
Probably a plumbing leak, since the weather has nothing to do with it. Walls beside a bathroom, the kitchen or the water heater are the likely places.
What to do
Turn off every tap and read the water meter, then read it again two hours later. If the number moved, the EPA says you probably have a leak. Call a plumber before anyone opens the wall.
Sources: how the aquifer takes in rain, from the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit lesson on Broward County. Wet season dates from NWS Miami. The meter check from EPA WaterSense.
Fort Lauderdale & East Broward
What sits under a Fort Lauderdale slab
Fort Lauderdale had 36,328 residents in 1950 and 139,590 by 1970. Builders housed most of those new families in single-story concrete block homes poured on slabs. Coral Ridge and Imperial Point filled up in those two decades. Riverland stayed unincorporated Broward County land until the city annexed it in 2002.
The city also counts 165 miles of navigable waterways inside its limits. A lot of homes back onto a canal or the New River, where the yard sits only a short way above the water.
A Water Table Measured in Feet
The Biscayne Aquifer sits just a few feet below the ground in most parts of the county, according to a U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit lesson on Broward County. It is highly permeable and takes in rain straight from the surface. Its level climbs through the wet season, so a slab can spend weeks at a time in damp ground.
The County Plans for Higher Groundwater
In 2017 Broward County adopted a map of expected future wet-season groundwater levels and made new development design its drainage to it. A 2070 version took effect in July 2024. County data shows groundwater rising and leaving less room in the soil to hold rain, so a house built to the old levels can end up with more water standing against its slab after a storm.
Block Houses From the Boom Years
Many houses built here in the 1950s and 1960s stand on a slab with the block walls laid straight onto it. Every summer, wet ground presses on the joint where the two meet. Mortar laid by hand seventy years ago has had plenty of time to wear there.
One company for the mold and the water behind it
Bullfrog removes mold and dries out water damage. When the water came through the foundation, we waterproof the block too, so one company handles the whole job.
Our mold work runs under Florida mold remediator license MRSR5565. Our foundation waterproofing carries a lifetime warranty against water coming through the section we treat.
What are you seeing?
Pick the symptom closest to yours and follow it to the page that deals with it.
Paint bubbling or white crust at the bottom of an outside wall
Water wicking up through the block from wet ground at its base, often at its worst late in the wet season. Sealing the block below grade stops it where it starts.
How foundation waterproofing worksA musty smell in a closet on an outside wall
Mold growing on the back of drywall that stays damp. With groundwater this close to the floor, check the slab edge before you blame the roof.
Mold remediation in Fort LauderdaleWater on the floor after a storm
The rain came faster than soaked ground could take it and ran toward the house. Mold can start on drywall that stays wet for more than a day, so fast drying matters.
Water damage restoration in Fort LauderdaleYou are buying on a street that flooded in April 2023
A Florida home inspection is a visual check by law. A moisture survey reads inside the walls, including drywall that someone may have dried in place after the flood.
Mold inspection in Fort Lauderdale
Questions From Fort Lauderdale Homeowners
Can you waterproof a house that backs onto a canal?
Why does my floor tile crack or pop up near the outside walls?
What does Broward County's 2070 groundwater map mean for my house?
Will Fortify Lauderdale stop my street from flooding?
Will waterproofing keep a street flood out of my house?
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