When the Cedar River Rises
Where Renton's river floods have reached, and what cleanup looks like after the water drops.
RENTON NEIGHBORHOOD · DOWNTOWN RENTON
Water Damage in Downtown Renton
River water in a lower level, or an old pipe giving out in a downtown apartment? Get the water out before it settles into the structure.
- Water removal, drying & repairs
- Local restoration companies
- Renton & the valley
Downtown Renton at Ground Level
- Ground: flat valley floor at the mouth of the Cedar River, where it enters Lake Washington
- Housing: some of the city's oldest homes, small apartment buildings and newer mixed-use blocks
- Water usually comes from: river high water, backed-up storm drains, and aging supply lines and drains in older buildings
Old Houses at the River's Mouth
Downtown is where Renton started, and where the Cedar River meets Lake Washington. The river has flooded here for as long as there's been a town: the 1911 flood came after a Seattle timber dam at Cedar Lake failed, and the city dredged the river delta in 1993 to carry high water out faster. Today most downtown water damage is quieter than that. A cast-iron drain cracks in a 1920s house, a supply line fails in an apartment above a shop, or a winter storm overwhelms the drains on a flat street and water runs under a door.
What's Under the Houses
Downtown's older houses often sit on low crawl spaces or shallow basements with plaster walls, old fir floors and plumbing that's been patched for decades. The apartment buildings are mostly slab-on-grade or have parking below, so water spreads sideways and between units. Each needs a different drying plan: under the floor in the old houses, across the slab and through shared walls in the buildings.
The Work in Downtown Renton
Jobs here usually come down to emergency water removal, water damage cleanup, flood cleanup, mitigation & drying or restoration & repair. One number covers every one of them.
Water damage in Downtown Renton?
Get a Renton restoration company on the line: (425) 584-1660.
Call (425) 584-1660In an old downtown house, ask the company to check the crawl space even if the leak was upstairs. Water goes down, and that's where it stays longest.
Worth Knowing in Downtown Renton
Storm Drains and Street Ponding on the Valley Floor
Why flat ground floods in heavy rain, and how that water ends up indoors.