A City Built Around Sixteen Drainages
Boulder ranks first in Colorado for flood risk, with sixteen separate drainages running through the city and roughly sixteen percent of it sitting inside the mapped 100-year floodplain. The September 2013 flood remains the reference event: Boulder County saw more than 17 inches of rain over the course of a week, Boulder Creek's flow exceeded 5,000 cubic feet per second against a typical flow of 150 to 200, and South Boulder Creek alone caused close to $30 million in damage on its own.
What surprises a lot of homeowners is that a meaningful share of properties damaged in that event sat entirely outside the mapped floodplain. Roughly 17 percent of affected properties across the broader Front Range flood were outside official flood zones, which means proximity to a drainage reduces risk without eliminating it.
From a Compromised Roof to Water Inside the House
Once wind, hail, or sustained heavy rain compromises a roof, window seal, or grading, water intrusion follows on the next significant rain. Our work starts with stopping the active source, temporary tarping or board-up where needed, then moves into the same extraction and structural drying process we'd use for any other water event, applied to whatever got wet on the inside.
We Handle the Interior, Not the Roof Itself
We coordinate with a roofing contractor for the exterior repair and stay focused on the interior: drying the space out before a slow roof leak or flood intrusion has the chance to become a hidden mold problem in an attic or wall cavity a month down the road, well after the storm itself is forgotten.
Documentation That Actually Supports a Claim
Storm and flood claims get scrutinized closely here given Boulder's flood history and the volume of claims that follow any major event. We document interior damage with photographs, moisture readings by room, and a written timeline tied to the actual storm date, which supports your claim whether the primary damage sits on the roof, inside the house, or in a flood-affected basement.
A Practical Habit Worth Adopting Each Spring
Homeowners who've had even a minor water intrusion issue tend to benefit from a short annual check ahead of the wetter months: clear window wells of debris, confirm the sump pump actually cycles when tested, and check that grading around the foundation still slopes away from the house rather than toward it after a winter of freeze-thaw settling. None of this takes more than twenty minutes, and it's cheaper than any of the repair scopes on this page. We're happy to point out obvious risk factors during any unrelated service call, even one that has nothing to do with storm prep, since it costs nothing to mention and can save a much larger bill later.
| Where to Look | What You're Checking For |
|---|---|
| Basement window wells | Debris or clogged drains that redirect rainwater toward the foundation |
| Ceiling corners near roof valleys | Faint staining suggesting slow water intrusion from above |
| Sump pump and backup battery | Confirm it's operational before the next heavy rain, not after |
| Grading around the foundation | Soil sloping toward rather than away from the house |
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