GreenbeltWater Damage Call (301) 756-1313
Stacked washer and dryer set into a laundry cabinet

Garden apartments and townhomes west of the old town

Water Damage Restoration in the Springhill Lake Area, Greenbelt

Springhill Lake was built in the 1960s as one of the largest garden-apartment communities on the East Coast, and today it is known as Franklin Park. Almost everyone who lives here rents, so a water problem usually starts with a tenant's call and ends with a management office's decision. We connect both with local crews.

Tenant or manager, tell us your building and what's happening.

Water in Your Apartment? Call Now
Serving Springhill Lake Area, Greenbelt, MD 20770, day and night.

Reviewed

  • Available 24/7
  • Emergency response
  • Straight answers on the phone
  • Crews familiar with older housing stock

Springhill Lake Area

A 1960s garden-apartment community on a large scale

Springhill Lake was built in phases over seven years in the 1960s, on roughly 157 acres west of the original town. Designed by a well-known Washington architecture firm, it combined low-rise apartment buildings and townhouses set into landscaped grounds, and with nearly 2,900 homes it was reputed at the time to be the largest garden-apartment development on the East Coast.

The community is now called Franklin Park at Greenbelt Station and sits a short walk from Greenbelt Metro. Its scale is the key fact for water damage: thousands of rented homes, arranged in buildings of about three storeys, managed by one office.

The restoration team we dispatch works as part of that system. They respond to a resident's call, coordinate entry and approval with management, and dry every affected apartment in a building together rather than one at a time.

Because the community was designed and built as one project, its buildings share layouts and components. That has a practical upside: once a crew has traced a leak in one building, the same pattern of stacks, risers and shut-offs usually applies in the next, and management generally knows where to look.

The housing in Springhill Lake Area

Scale and age shape almost every loss.

  • Low-rise garden apartment buildings and townhouses
  • Construction from the 1960s, updated in stages
  • Vertical lines of apartments sharing stacks and risers
  • In-unit laundry added to many apartments in recent years
  • Mostly rented, with a central management office
  • Landscaped grounds with mature trees and a pond

Shared walls, shared floors

When a leak runs through a building's vertical line

In a garden apartment building the physical pattern is predictable. Responsibility questions are not ours to answer; they belong with management and the insurers involved.

Top to bottom

A leak in an upper apartment follows the stack and floor framing down, often reaching two or more apartments below and sometimes a shared stairwell.

The office controls access

Getting into the source apartment, especially if it is empty or the resident is away, usually goes through management. The sooner that happens, the smaller the job.

Residents and management both need to know

Affected residents, the management office and the relevant insurers. Residents with their own renter's insurance should contact their insurer; questions about who is responsible for what go to management and the insurers.

Several apartments in one building? We'll help plan the response.

Water in Several Apartments? Call

Common causes

What causes water damage in Springhill Lake

Sixty-year-old buildings bring aging plumbing. Supply risers, drain stacks and shut-off valves from the original construction, or from partial updates since, are common sources, and a failure high in a building tends to affect every apartment below it in the same line.

Newer connections bring their own risk. Many apartments have had washers and dryers added in recent years, and new supply and drain connections fitted into older walls are a common failure point in their first years, especially at the hose, the drain box or the drain line.

Garden-level and ground-floor apartments take the brunt of heavy summer rain when area drains and gutters are overwhelmed, and mature trees on the grounds keep gutters filling in autumn. Winter freeze-ups hit vacant apartments with the heat turned low.

High turnover means units sit empty between tenants, and residents who are new to an apartment may not know where the shut-off is. Both slow down the first minutes of a leak.

We'll help you stop it and work out who to tell.

What Do I Do Before the Office Opens?

Where calls lead

Common restoration jobs in Springhill Lake

Rental and multi-unit work makes up most of the jobs here.

A musty smell that lingers in an apartment after drying is covered by odour removal.

Managers can coordinate several apartments in one call.

Managers: See the Plan First

Questions

Springhill Lake questions

Move your belongings away from the water, call the management office's emergency line and, if you can, knock on the door of the apartment above. Take photographs. You can also call us for guidance while you wait.

You can call us for guidance at any time. Work in the apartment is normally approved by management, and the crew will contact the office before starting.

Apartments in the same vertical line share stacks and floor framing, so water from one travels down to the next. The crew maps every affected apartment before drying starts.

Any new water connection can fail, especially in its first years. Check that the hose is properly connected, don't overload the drain, and know where the valve is.

They're yours to decide on. Move what you can away from the water, and the crew can move items within the apartment with your agreement. If you have renter's insurance, contact your insurer.

Commonly several days, sometimes longer in humid weather. The crew checks readings on each visit and removes equipment once the materials are dry.

Not always. The crew coordinates access with management and with you, so visits can be arranged around your schedule where possible.

Yes. Where water has reached more than one apartment or a common area, the crew can set up in each once management has arranged access, and readings are recorded for each space separately.

Management can usually arrange entry to a vacant apartment. Tell the office it is empty when you report the leak so they can prioritise access.

Nearby

Neighbours of Springhill Lake Area

Covering Springhill Lake Area, Greenbelt, MD 20770. All the areas we serve.

Water in a Springhill Lake apartment?

Resident or manager, call and tell us your building and what you're seeing. We'll connect you with a local crew that works with management and keeps residents informed.

For residents and management alike, at any hour.

Call a Crew That Knows Garden Apartments