Kitchen floods are the most common water-damage claim in the home, and in Vancouver they have an extra dimension: in a condo tower, your kitchen flood is also the ceiling of the unit below.
Call the moment it happens, at any hour. The first job is stopping the water and getting extraction and drying started, because the difference between a dried cabinet run and a replaced one is measured in hours, not days.
What to do in the first ten minutes
Shut off the water at the fixture stop under the sink, or at the main shutoff if the leak is not at a fixture. Cut power to the kitchen at the panel if water is anywhere near an outlet or an appliance. Then call us on (778) 655-4056 — day or night. Do not start pulling cabinets apart.
- Close the fixture stop valve under the sink, or the main shutoff for the home
- Switch off the kitchen circuits at the panel if water is near outlets or appliances
- Move anything you can lift off the wet floor
- Photograph everything before you move it — your insurer will want it
- If you are in a condo, tell the building manager immediately; the unit below needs to be checked
- Do not use a household vacuum on standing water, and do not run the dishwasher
Can a flooded kitchen be dried out, or does it all come out?
It depends on the water source and how long it sat. Clean water caught within 24 to 48 hours can often be dried in place, saving cabinetry and flooring. Water that has sat longer, or any water from a drain or sewer line, means removal — particleboard swells irreversibly and contaminated water cannot be dried in place.
| Situation | Usual outcome | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Clean supply-line leak, under 24 hours | Dry in place; cabinets and floor usually saved | 3 – 5 days drying |
| Clean water, 24 – 72 hours | Sink base and adjacent boxes out; rest often dried | 5 – 8 days drying |
| Clean water, over 72 hours | Mould risk; most cabinetry and flooring replaced | Rebuild |
| Dishwasher or drain-line leak | Category 2 water; affected cabinetry and flooring removed | Rebuild |
| Sewer backup | Category 3; full removal and sanitisation, no exceptions | Rebuild |
| Water from the unit above | Ceiling opened, insulation removed, drying from both sides | 5 – 10 days |
Particleboard cabinet boxes are the deciding factor in most kitchens. Once the core swells it does not return, and the swelling starts within hours of sustained contact.
How the insurance claim works
Most BC home policies cover sudden and accidental water damage — a burst supply line, a failed dishwasher hose — but exclude damage from gradual leaks and from poor maintenance. Documenting the cause and the timeline in the first hours is what determines which category your claim falls into.
We photograph everything on arrival, log moisture readings daily through the drying period, and provide a written scope and itemised estimate in the format adjusters expect. That documentation is usually the difference between a claim that settles and one that argues.
In a strata, there are two policies in play — the building’s and yours — and which responds depends on where the failure occurred and what the strata bylaws say about the deductible. We deal with the property manager and the building’s restoration contractor so you are not in the middle of it.
We do not decide what your insurer covers, and we will not tell you it is all covered. What we will do is document it properly and tell you honestly what we are seeing.
Mould, and why the timeline matters
Mould can begin growing on damp organic material within 24 to 48 hours. In a kitchen the vulnerable materials are cabinet particleboard, drywall behind the run, subfloor and any insulation in an exterior wall. This is the reason speed matters more than anything else.
Vancouver’s humidity works against you here. A wall cavity that would dry on its own in a drier climate holds moisture for weeks here, which is why we use dehumidifiers and air movers rather than opening a window and hoping.
We take moisture readings daily and do not close anything up until the readings match a dry reference area in the same home. Closing a wall over damp framing is how a water claim becomes a mould claim eighteen months later.
Rebuilding the kitchen afterwards
One of the reasons people call us for this rather than a pure restoration company: the same crew that dries the kitchen rebuilds it. No handoff, no second quote, no gap of three weeks while a new contractor is found.
It is also, uncomfortably often, the moment a kitchen someone had been putting off renovating gets done. Insurance covers restoring what was there; if you want to upgrade while the room is already open, that difference is quoted separately and clearly so the claim stays clean.
As one client put it after an emergency flood: "he came in quick after i had an emergency flood. looks fantastic".