Water Damage Cleanup in Texas, TX

• This page covers the whole state. The site also has city guides for Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, linked at the bottom of this page; local permit offices, floodplain maps and flood history are covered there, not restated here.
• Fort Worth and other Texas cities have no guide of their own on this site yet; the state rules below still apply there, and requests from those areas are referred to independent local providers.
• For a building permit, ask your city's building office, or the county if you live outside city limits. TWDB's Flood Community Assistance Program page links to a lookup for your community's floodplain administrator.

• Extracting water and drying floors, walls and cabinets after a supply-line, water-heater or appliance leak
• Cleanup and drying after a pipe bursts in a freeze
• Flood cuts, removal of soaked insulation and drywall, and drying after storm or flash-flood water enters a home
• Drying ceilings, attics and insulation after a roof leak
• Mold remediation by a TDLR-licensed remediator working from a separate licensed assessor's protocol
• Photos, moisture readings and damaged-item lists for a homeowners or NFIP flood claim

• Which policy pays: TDI says most home policies don't cover water damage from gradual leaks or seepage, including the mold that follows, and that mold from a flood would not be covered because home policies don't cover floods.
• Mold cleanup coverage: TDI notes that most home policies don't include mold cleanup and testing after a damaged item is removed, though your insurer may let you add coverage for cleanup caused by a covered loss. Ask your agent before work starts.
• Separate assessor and remediator: TDLR's FAQ says a licensed remediation contractor hired by a consumer, whatever the size of the area, must develop a work plan that follows a protocol developed by a licensed mold assessment consultant, and section 1958.155, apart from one school-district exception, keeps the two roles apart (see the FAQs).
• State notification fee: 16 TAC section 78.80, as amended effective September 1, 2018, sets $25 for an initial mold remediation notification, for owner-occupied residential dwelling units and all other properties alike; TDLR's notification page says amendments and cancellations are free.
• Floodplain rebuilds: TWDB's Substantial Damage Quick Guide (February 2026) lists broad examples of costs counted in a repair estimate, among them materials (including donated and discounted ones), labor (including owner or volunteer labor), costs of complying with codes such as elevation and floodproofing, and contractor overhead or profit.

• Licensing: subject to the exemptions below, Occupations Code section 1958.101 bars a person from engaging in mold assessment without a mold assessment license or in mold remediation without a mold remediation license, and section 1958.1011 makes a license valid for two years. Under 16 TAC section 78.80 (amended effective September 1, 2018), a mold remediation contractor license or renewal is $450 and a remediation worker registration or renewal is $50; section 78.30(e) requires employees of a licensee performing remediation under a licensee's supervision to be registered.
• Exemptions in section 1958.102: (a) an owner or tenant, or a managing agent or employee of an owner or tenant, needs no license for mold assessment or remediation on property the owner or tenant owns or leases, except when the managing agent or employee is in the business of mold assessment or remediation for the public, when the remediation area has mold contamination affecting a total surface area of 25 contiguous square feet or more, or for a person exempt under (e); (c) no license is needed to remediate an area where contamination affects a total surface area for the project of less than 25 contiguous square feet; (d) a person who constructed or improved a one-family or two-family dwelling needs no license there when the work is done at the same time as the construction or improvement, or at the same time as repair work on it, unless the person engages in the business of performing mold assessment or remediation for the public; (e) an owner, or the owner's managing agent or employee, needs no license on residential property the owner owns with fewer than 10 dwelling units, unless the managing agent or employee is in that business for the public. 16 TAC section 78.30(b) says (d) and (e) apply regardless of surface area. TDLR's At A Glance sheet (December 2025) words (e) as buildings of 10 or fewer units, unlike the statute, so confirm a 10-unit building with TDLR.
• Losing the small-area exemption: under 16 TAC section 78.30(d), someone working under exemption (a) or (c) who finds more mold, bringing the total to 25 contiguous square feet or more, must immediately stop all remediation, set up emergency containment if necessary, and tell the person who requested the work that the exemption is lost and that further remediation and the post-remediation assessment there must be done by a person licensed or registered under the chapter.
• Notification: under 16 TAC section 78.110, a mold remediation contractor or company must notify TDLR when contamination affects a total surface area of 25 contiguous square feet or more, no less than five calendar days before the anticipated start date. In an emergency, meaning a delay in remediation after a water damage occurrence would increase mold contamination, the notice is due as soon as practicable and no later than the following working day after the licensee identifies the emergency; TDLR says the licensee, not the department, decides whether an emergency exists. The required form contents, fee, confirmation and amendment deadlines are set out in section 78.110 and on TDLR's notification page.
• Owner paperwork: TDLR's FAQ says licensed mold assessors and remediators must give the client, and the property owner if different, the Consumer Mold Information Sheet before any mold-related activity begins. After the job comes the Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation (see the FAQs).
• Floodplain rules: TWDB's Community Resources page says NFIP communities must adopt and enforce a flood damage prevention ordinance or court order that meets or exceeds the minimum standards at 44 CFR 60.3, and its guide says local officials oversee all development in Special Flood Hazard Areas by issuing permits and enforcing local floodplain regulations.

• Outside mapped flood zones: according to TDI, floods can happen anywhere, and on average 40% of NFIP flood insurance claims occur outside the high-risk flood areas.
• Hurricane Beryl: FEMA's page for Texas Hurricane Beryl (DR-4798-TX) lists an incident period of July 5 to July 9, 2024, declared July 9, 2024.
• Winter storms: FEMA's page for Texas Severe Winter Storms (4586-DR-TX) lists an incident period of February 11 to February 21, 2021, declared February 19, 2021.
• Drying speed: TDI's tips say mold can start growing within a day after a leak.

Houston · Dallas · Austin · San Antonio · Fort Worth