Water-damaged drywall, repaired and refinished.

Drywall that got wet from clean water and dried within 24 to 48 hours can often be saved. Drywall that stayed wet, got hit by dirty water, or is soft, sagging, or smells musty gets cut out and replaced.

Two things decide it: how long the board stayed wet and where the water came from. The best case is clean water from a supply line or a rain leak that gets dried quickly. If the board stayed solid, it can sometimes stay in place. Drywall that stays soaked for a couple of days gets weak, crumbles around the screws, and gives mold a place to grow. At that point we replace it, even if the surface looks fine. Water from a sewer backup or another dirty source means replacement no matter how fast it dried, because you can't clean the inside of a wet drywall panel. If the board is soft to the touch, bowing, stained all the way through, or the paper face is peeling, it has to go.

When we look at the damage, we'll tell you which sections can be dried and kept and which have to come out. We'd rather cut out one extra foot of board than paint over a problem you'll find again next winter.

Mold can start growing in a damp wall cavity within 24 to 48 hours, which is why fast drying matters. Most water stains are not hiding mold. A spot that got wet and dried quickly is usually fine. Take it seriously if a musty smell hangs around, a stain keeps spreading, or you can see growth at the bottom of a wall or around a stain. If we open a wall for a repair and find mold, we stop and tell you what we found. We'll also tell you if it needs a mold remediation company instead of a drywall crew. Most leaks that dried quickly are not a mold problem. When one is, we say so instead of painting over it.

Homeowners insurance usually covers water damage that is sudden and accidental. It usually does not cover damage from a slow leak or from skipped maintenance. A burst pipe is typically covered. A supply line that has been dripping under the sink for six months typically is not, because insurers expect you to catch that. Many policies also limit or exclude mold, so the sooner a wet wall is documented and dried, the better your claim.

The most useful thing you can do is document everything before any permanent repair. Photograph the damage, the source, and every room it reached, and keep your receipts. We give you a written, itemized estimate your adjuster can work from, and we're glad to coordinate with them so the drywall repair matches what they approve. We're not your insurance company and can't tell you what your policy covers. What we can do is make the repair easy to document and easy to approve.

Once the cavity is dry, we cut back to solid board and hang new drywall. Then we tape and skim the seams, match the texture of the existing wall or ceiling, prime, and paint out to a natural break, such as a corner, so you can't see where the repair ends. Stained ceilings have their own page: water-stained ceiling repair.

A restoration company dries the structure. We do the finish work after them. When we're done, nobody walking into the room would guess that water came through the ceiling last month.

If water is coming through the ceiling and you're waiting on help, these steps protect the house and your insurance claim:

• Stop the sourceif you can do it safely. Shut off the water supply, or put a bucket and a tarp under an active roof leak.
• Drain a bulging ceiling only from a safe distanceA ceiling holding a pocket of water can fall. Keep people out from under it, or let a pro handle it.
• Dry and ventilateMove what you can out of the way, run fans, and open the room up to air.
• Photograph everythingbefore you clean up or repair. Take wide shots and close shots of the source and the damage.
• Do not make permanent repairsuntil the adjuster has seen it. Patching too early can hurt your claim.

We price every water repair from what actually got wet. There's no flat rate. These are the things that change the price:

• Extent of saturationHow much board and how many rooms the water reached.
• Ceiling or wallCeiling work is slower and harder to blend, so it costs more.
• How much board to replaceDrying and keeping a section costs less than cutting it out and rebuilding it.
• Texture to matchA smooth wall, a sprayed texture, and a hand-troweled finish each take a different amount of time to blend in.

Insurance and the amount of damage vary a lot from job to job, so our estimates are free and written. Send photos and we'll send back a real number your adjuster can work from.