Water Damage Restoration in Mars

We do, from the Alle-Kiski Valley side of Route 8. Un-Flood-It has pulled water out of homes since December 2009, owned by Brian Marra, who also owns the plumbing company 1-Tom-Plumber Pittsburgh. Our technicians are IICRC certified, and we carry PA Home Improvement Contractor License #PA080868.

Mars is one stop on every southern Butler County town our water crews reach. The same trucks handle water damage cleanup west in Cranberry Township, which shares Route 228 and the Breakneck Creek sewer system with Mars. They also handle flooded basements south in Gibsonia, where Route 8 runs down toward our side of the county line. When you call from Mars, you get a water crew that already works this corridor, not a call center.

Start with the creek. Breakneck Creek rises on Bakerstown Hill in Allegheny County. It runs northwest through Valencia, Mars, Callery, and Evans City. Then it empties into Connoquenessing Creek near Eidenau. Mars sits low in that valley. When a hard rain loads the hills on both sides, the water has one place to go, and it runs right past downtown. The borough has said the creek bank behind the municipal building is eroding, and in February 2022 council ranked that stretch as its top priority for stream repair.

Then the storm sewers. Mars is under a federal MS4 stormwater permit, the program that forces towns to manage runoff. In August 2019, an Adams Township resident on Clarks Lane told Mars council that storms had flooded the road to his home from a development retention pond, and the council president said many retention ponds in the area had flooded that year. Mars is fully surrounded by Adams Township, which grew from 6,774 people in 2000 to 14,844 in 2020, the biggest jump of any town in Butler County. New roofs and parking lots shed water faster than farm fields did, and the low spots in Mars catch it.

The big storms prove it. On August 12, 2010, the Breakneck Creek Regional Authority rain gauge in Adams Township recorded 5.2 inches overnight, and water backed up into basements from Cranberry Township to Clinton Township. In September 2004, the remnants of Hurricane Ivan dropped 5.95 inches on Pittsburgh in a day. The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh ranks it the most rain ever recorded there in one day. It damaged 16 Butler County communities. Harmony and Evans City, downstream on the same creek system as Mars, counted more than 70 damaged homes and 111 damaged structures.

Then the sewers that carry what you flush. Mars and Adams Township founded the Breakneck Creek Regional Authority. It treats sewage for 9,086 customers across Adams, Cranberry, Seven Fields, Mars, Valencia, Middlesex, Forward, Pine, and Richland. When that much ground drains into one system during a storm, lines fill past their limit, and the lowest floor drain on the block is where it shows up. That water is contaminated. It needs sewage cleanup, not a shop vac.

Winter brings the other kind of water. The storm on January 24 and 25, 2026 came with forecasts of 10 to 14 inches of snow and warnings to winterize pipes. Mars was settled in 1873 and became a borough in 1895, so plenty of its homes have pipes in cold outside walls. A frozen line that lets go runs for hours before anyone hears it.

Most water losses cannot wait for a callback, so we run around the clock, weekends and holidays included. From Tarentum we head up Route 8 and cut over on Route 228, which meets Route 8 about 4 miles east of the borough. We roll a truck with extraction and drying gear straight into town. If your address is in the 16046 ZIP, you are inside our circle.

Speed is physics, not a sales line. Water wicks up drywall by the hour and soaks into subfloor and framing. Pull it out fast and you save the material. Wait a day and you replace it.

We do not pack up when the floor feels dry. We pack up when the meters say it is dry. We map the moisture first, including the water hiding in walls and under floors. We extract the standing water with high-powered pumps, set air movers and dehumidifiers, and sanitize when the loss calls for it. Then a final inspection confirms the structure is back to safe moisture levels. A floor can feel dry to your hand while the subfloor under it still reads soaked.

Water, sewage, and mold are all we do. If creek water or a backed-up drain came up through a basement floor, treat it as dirty and stay out of it. That water calls for sewage backup cleanup for Mars basements, and we show up with the right gear on the truck. Standing water left too long grows mold in a day or two, so we also handle mold remediation when a loss sat wet. We do not sell fire restoration, rebuilds, or plumbing repair.

The paperwork runs alongside the pumps. We photograph and log the loss as we work, then bill your insurance company directly. You still choose who does the work. It is your claim.