Dunn Loring, VA Water Damage Restoration and Drying

First, before anything else

• In a house: close the main valve, usually on the lowest level near the front wall or water heater. If water is near outlets or the panel, do not enter; call your utility and emergency services.
• In a condo: close your unit's shut-off if you can find it, then call the front desk or management office so the building engineer can find the source.
• If it's from above: knock on the unit upstairs, or ask management to, and take photos with the time before moving anything.
• After a storm: move rugs, boxes and electronics off the lower-level floor, and check the sump pit if you have one.

Dunn Loring's homes

Dunn Loring is an unincorporated community in Fairfax County with no town government; it is not part of the Town of Vienna next door. It began in the 1880s as a planned settlement along the old railroad line, now the W&OD Trail, and a handful of older houses survive from those years. Most of its streets, though, were built in the 1950s and 1960s with split-levels, ramblers and brick Colonials on wooded lots, most with basements, many since expanded or rebuilt.

Around the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station, mid-rise condominium and apartment buildings have gone up since the early 2000s, along with townhouses. Tysons lies to the north, the City of Falls Church to the east, and Merrifield to the south. Public water and sewer serve the whole area.

Condos near the station: water between units

In the newer buildings near the Metro, units stack on top of one another and share walls with their neighbors. A failed supply line, a clogged air-conditioner condensate line or an overflowing tub in one unit soaks the floor and comes through the ceiling below, at light fixtures, sprinkler heads and seams. In wood-framed mid-rises, water can also move sideways along the floor framing into the unit next door before it drops.

That's why the person who finds the water is often not the owner of the fixture that failed. Tracing it needs moisture readings in more than one unit, and that needs access, usually arranged through management. Summer adds a particular culprit: air-handler condensate lines that clog with algae, overflow the pan and leak into the ceiling below when nobody is home.

Tell management as soon as water appears, so they can reach the unit above and, if needed, the building engineer. The crew then works through the building's access and scheduling rules.

Split-levels after a summer storm

In a Dunn Loring split-level, the lowest floor sits half below grade, with the family room, laundry and water heater, and windows set in wells along the front and sides. A heavy thunderstorm can fill those window wells faster than their drains empty them, and water comes over the sill. Clay soil around the house, saturated after a wet week, presses water through the joint where the wall meets the slab.

Inside, water from above finds this level too: a bathroom leak one half-flight up drains down through the framing. And the laundry, water heater and utility sink all sit a few feet from carpet laid on concrete.

Drying usually means taking up the carpet and pad, cutting away the lowest strip of wall so the cavity can breathe, and dehumidifying until slab and framing read dry. If water returns with every storm, the lasting fix is outside: window well covers, clear drains, longer downspouts and better grading.

The small parts behind most leaks

In both the older houses and the newer condos, most indoor leaks start at short connections rather than pipes in walls: toilet and faucet supply lines, the valves under sinks, washing machine hoses, the refrigerator icemaker line and the fittings at the water heater.

In a sixty-year-old house, those parts come from several generations of repairs. Old multi-turn valves seize and drip at the stem when finally turned, and any remaining galvanized pipe corrodes inside until it leaks at the threads. In the condos, many connections are still the originals from construction and are now reaching the age where plastic supply lines crack and rubber hoses swell.

Once a year, check under every sink, behind each toilet and around the washer and water heater. Replace anything corroded, stiff or bulging, and fit leak sensors where a slow drip would reach finished floors or the unit below.

Dunn Loring service area

We connect homeowners, condo owners, landlords and building managers across ZIP code 22027, from the older streets off Gallows Road to the buildings around the station. Traffic near Tysons and on Route 29 can be slow, so we'll tell you honestly when a crew can arrive.

ZIP codes served: 22027

Services for Dunn Loring homes

• Basement Water Damage
• Finished Basement Flood Cleanup
• Sewage Backup Cleanup
• Burst Pipe Water Damage
• Water Leak Behind a Wall
• Gutter & Drainage Water Intrusion

Close to Dunn Loring

Dunn Loring is part of our Fairfax County & City of Fairfax service area. Neighboring pages cover the Town of Vienna and Oakton to the west, McLean to the north, and the cities of Falls Church and Fairfax.

• Vienna
• Falls Church
• McLean
• Oakton
• Fairfax

Dunn Loring water damage questions