Water Damage in LaSalle: What We Actually See Here

LaSalle grew up around a railroad depot and a sugar beet economy, and the bones of that town are still what we work on. The depot dates to the years between 1881 and 1906, burned, and was rebuilt in 1907 as what is now the McMahan Community Center. The town incorporated in 1910, got street lights in 1913, put in its water tower, underground water lines and hydrants in 1917, and did not install a town-wide sewer system until 1939. Roughly 2,350 people live here today, and a substantial share of the housing is old enough to predate every one of those improvements.

That is the practical story of water damage in LaSalle. We see original cast-iron stacks and clay laterals with a century of root intrusion, shallow basements poured without waterproofing or drain tile, crawlspaces on bare soil, and additions where an old wall became an interior wall and nobody ever sealed anything. Failures here tend to be slow and hidden rather than dramatic, and the damage is usually well established by the time a homeowner smells it.

LaSalle has since become a bedroom community with Union Pacific and agriculture still central, plus oil and gas operators who have made the town a base. That has kept older homes occupied and turned many into rentals, which is the housing category where undetected leaks run longest.

Sitting at the Bottom of Three River Basins

The South Platte runs past LaSalle just after the Cache la Poudre joins it upstream at Greeley, which means this town catches runoff from an enormous area. In September 2013 that arrived all at once: mandatory evacuations were ordered in LaSalle alongside Greeley, Evans, Milliken and Johnstown, US 85’s bridge between Evans and LaSalle was shut down, and the Valley Re-1 schools in LaSalle, Gilcrest and Platteville closed. LaSalle is also inside the area covered by the state’s Gilcrest/LaSalle Pilot Project on high groundwater, so a rising water table pushing into old basements is a documented local condition, not a theory.

1939 Sewer Lines and What They Do in a Wet Year

A sewer system that went in before the Second World War, feeding into private laterals often older still, does not handle a saturated water table well. When groundwater infiltrates the line and a heavy rain lands on top of it, the system surcharges and the water comes up through the lowest opening in the house, which is almost always a basement floor drain. That is contaminated water. It needs containment, removal of soaked porous materials and drying verified with meters, and it is not a job for a shop vac and an open window.

How Fast We Can Reach LaSalle

LaSalle sits about 18 miles northeast of our shop at 3787 Ronald Reagan Blvd, Unit 1 in Johnstown, straight over on CO 60 and US 85. We are usually there in well under an hour, and someone answers the phone 24 hours a day.

Frequently Asked Questions About Water Damage in LaSalle

Why do LaSalle basements back up through the floor drain?

The town-wide sewer system was installed in 1939, and many private laterals connecting to it are older or full of root intrusion. When the local water table is high and a hard rain lands, the line surcharges and pushes back through the lowest fixture in the house. That is contaminated water, so it needs containment and removal of soaked porous materials rather than surface cleaning.

Is high groundwater a real problem in LaSalle?

Yes, and it is documented. LaSalle is named in the Gilcrest/LaSalle Pilot Project, funded by the Colorado Water Conservation Board and studied by the Colorado Geological Survey, which examined rising groundwater in this stretch of the South Platte valley. For homeowners it shows up as seepage at the slab-wall joint and floor cracks in a wet spring, with no plumbing failure to find.

How badly was LaSalle affected in 2013?

Mandatory evacuations were ordered in LaSalle along with Greeley, Evans, Milliken and Johnstown, the US 85 bridge between Evans and LaSalle was closed as the South Platte rose, and the Valley Re-1 school district closed its LaSalle, Gilcrest and Platteville schools. Weld County counted 22 damaged bridges and 654 miles of damaged or flooded roads overall. Homes in the river bottom carry that exposure permanently.

What should I check in an older LaSalle house?

Start with the drain line if the house predates the war, since cast-iron and clay laterals are where most of our LaSalle calls originate. Then look at the crawlspace for bare soil and damp framing, the water heater’s age, and braided supply lines behind the washer and under sinks. In rentals especially, a musty smell is worth an inspection before it becomes a subfloor replacement.

Do I call my insurance company or Revive first?

Revive first. Documenting the source, taking moisture readings and photographing the damage before anything is removed gives your adjuster a much better-supported claim. We are locally owned by Levi, born and raised in Northern Colorado, family operated since 2016, and we work with every insurance carrier, so the paperwork side moves along while we dry your home.

Call (720) 340-3499 at any hour for a free inspection. More on our water damage restoration process, the complete service areas list, and nearby Evans, Gilcrest and Greeley.