Washing Machine Overflow in Marysville, WA

Speed matters with a washing machine overflow in Marysville because laundry rooms sit in the worst places for a flood. In some newer two-story homes the laundry is upstairs near the bedrooms, so water goes through the floor into the ceiling of the family room or kitchen below. In older homes near Downtown, the laundry may be off the kitchen over a crawlspace, where water runs through the floor into the insulation. A burst supply hose can put out a lot of water while the family is at work or away for the weekend, and the longer it runs, the farther it spreads under flooring and into nearby rooms.

In the first hour, water covers the laundry floor, soaks the carpet in the hall and starts dripping through the ceiling below. By 24 hours the subfloor under the washer is wet, drywall has wicked water upward on both levels, and ceiling drywall below may sag. At 48 hours mold can start on wet drywall paper, pad and the backs of laundry cabinets. After a week, vinyl or laminate in the laundry room has lifted, the subfloor may be swelling, and the ceiling below often needs to be replaced.

A burst supply hose releases clean water, and when it is caught early, much of the laundry room can be dried in place. Tile floors and the plywood subfloor under them dry with air movers and dehumidifiers, and drywall that is wet but firm can be dried through small holes behind the baseboard. Carpet in an upstairs hallway can often be floated and dried if the pad is replaced. A ceiling below that has not sagged can be dried after a small opening drains the trapped water, and solid wood laundry cabinets usually recover.

An overflow from the drain or the tub is gray water, category 2, so porous materials it soaked are usually removed rather than dried. That often means carpet pad, the lower part of the drywall in the laundry room and any ceiling drywall below that held dirty water. Vinyl sheet flooring that trapped water underneath is commonly pulled so the subfloor can dry. Particleboard shelves and laundry cabinet bases that swelled are replaced. Ceiling drywall that sagged or crumbled is cut out no matter the water category.

Washer overflows happen in every part of Marysville. In newer homes in Smokey Point and on Getchell Hill, an upstairs laundry room means the damage usually reaches a ceiling below. In older houses near Downtown and Sunnyside, laundry hookups added off the kitchen or in a back room often sit over a crawlspace, and the water ends up in the insulation under the floor. Apartments and townhomes along State Avenue and near Lakewood can see a washer overflow pass straight into the unit below, which turns one leak into two cleanups.

The same calls come in from Everett, Mukilteo and Stanwood, in everything from older north Everett homes to newer Stanwood houses built as the town grew from the 1990s on. Call the number on this page, say whether the hose or the drain failed, and you are connected with a local restoration pro who can extract the water and dry both levels.