SERVPRO of University, SE Orlando: Restoration Services in Union Park
The plumbing in a Union Park home is often older than the people living there. This unincorporated stretch of east Orange County, running along East Colonial Drive between Goldenrod and the Econlockhatchee, filled in decades before the master-planned communities farther east existed. Much of the housing stock is concrete block, built from the 1960s through the 1980s, on slabs, with the original galvanized or early copper supply lines and cast-iron drain pipes still in the walls and under the floors. Those materials had a service life. In a lot of Union Park houses, that service life is over.
Here's what that looks like in practice. Galvanized pipe corrodes from the inside out, so water pressure drops for years before a fitting finally lets go, usually inside a wall, where the first sign is a soft spot in the drywall or a warm patch on the slab. Copper from that era develops pinhole leaks that spray a fine mist into wall cavities for weeks. Cast-iron drain lines rust and channel along the bottom until wastewater seeps under the slab, and the homeowner's first clue is a smell, or a stretch of terrazzo that never quite dries. None of these announce themselves the way a burst washing machine hose does. By the time we're called, water damage restoration and mold remediation are often the same job.
How do you find a leak inside a block wall?
You don't open the wall first, you measure it. Our IICRC-certified technicians use infrared cameras and moisture meters to trace where water has actually traveled through block, furring strips, and plaster or drywall, which in older construction is rarely where intuition says. Block holds moisture differently than wood framing, and drying it takes a plan built on readings, not guesswork. Where growth has started, we set containment around the affected rooms and run HEPA air scrubbers so mold spores stirred up by demolition don't spread through the rest of the house.
The roofs age on the same schedule as the pipes. Union Park has a lot of homes on their second or third shingle roof, and some overdue for the next one. East Orlando's summer storm pattern, hard rain nearly every afternoon from June into September, finds every worn pipe boot and lifted shingle, and wind-driven rain during tropical weather turns small roof flaws into wet ceilings and soaked attic insulation. When a real storm comes through, this franchise's membership in the SERVPRO Large Loss Division brings capacity for widespread damage beyond what local crews alone could handle.
Making the insurance claim work for you
Union Park is a working neighborhood. Many homeowners here have owned their houses for decades; others bought precisely because this is one of the more affordable corners of east Orlando, close to Jay Blanchard Park and the Little Econ, with a straight shot down Colonial to everything else. Either way, an unexpected water or fire loss hits the budget hard, and the insurance claim usually decides how the next few months go. Claims on older homes get scrutinized, carriers look closely at pipe age, roof age, and how long the damage was present. That's why our documentation is thorough from the first visit: dated photos, moisture readings, a written scope of exactly what failed and what it affected. We coordinate directly with your adjuster, so you're not stuck translating between a restoration crew and an insurance company. What the policy owes you shouldn't depend on how well you argue.
Fire losses in older homes carry their own risks, aluminum branch wiring and decades-old electrical panels appear in some houses of this era, and kitchen and electrical fires leave smoke damage that travels far beyond the burn. Fire damage restoration means soot removal, structural cleaning, odor treatment, and, again, documentation that stands up.
How fast does help arrive in Union Park?
Union Park's affordability has made it one of east Orange County's busiest markets for renovations and flips, and every remodel changes what can go wrong in a house. New luxury vinyl gets floated over slabs that still carry sixty-year-old drain lines underneath. New bathrooms get tied into cast-iron stacks that were due for replacement two owners ago. Investors open walls, close them, and sell, and the new family finds out a year later what was behind the paint. We work both ends of that wave. For buyers of recently renovated homes, our moisture mapping answers the question an inspection often cannot: is the slab dry, is the wall cavity dry, is the musty smell in the hall closet a problem or a memory. For the investors and contractors doing the work, we handle the losses a job site creates, a nicked supply line that soaked new drywall over a weekend, and we do it fast enough to keep a closing date alive. Water damage restoration on a house mid-flip is a race against a contract, and we treat it that way.
The corridor around the neighborhood adds its own work. Along East Colonial and up through Goldenrod, the retail plazas, garages, and small medical and dental suites that serve this side of Orange County take the standard commercial losses, roof leaks over drop ceilings, water heater closets, kitchen and electrical fires, and they need the standard commercial answer: after-hours scheduling, containment that keeps customers away from the work, and documentation for landlord and tenant carriers alike. Fire damage restoration for a small business here is measured in days closed, so we scope for reopening first. Residents heading to the Little Econ Greenway or commuting down Colonial pass our work vehicles weekly, because Union Park is not the edge of this territory. It sits in the middle of it, minutes from the crews who answer the call. That closeness shows in the small things: crews who know which streets pond after a hard summer rain, estimators who have opened enough Union Park walls to recognize the era of a house from its fittings, and phone staff who can pronounce Econlockhatchee without slowing down. Local knowledge is not a slogan here. It is response time, accuracy, and a scope done right on the first visit.
SERVPRO of University, SE Orlando is owned by Susan and Vern Boatman, Central Florida SERVPRO franchise owners for more than 15 years, and Union Park sits in the heart of the territory, minutes from the shop, not across town.
Storm damage hits older rooflines here harder than most, so after any serious weather we walk attics with meters rather than waiting for a stain to announce the leak.
If your Union Park home has a slab leak, a failed drain line, a wet ceiling, or mold you can smell but can't find, call us. Truck-mounted extraction, measured drying, honest scoping, and a live person on the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
