The short answer. First cut the power to the flat at the consumer unit and stop the source of the water — the roof, a pipe at the neighbours' or your own tap. Then drying out: 3–7 days with professional dehumidifiers, not heat guns. Wallpaper, plasterboard and soaked laminate almost always go for replacement, while a stretch ceiling usually saves the flat. The price of the renovation runs from ~3800 ₾ for a light flood from the neighbours to ~51 000 ₾ for a catastrophic ground-floor flood; the main multiplier is the screed.
Where the water comes from in Batumi
Why flooding is so frequent in Batumi
In Batumi flats and houses flood regularly, and the seaside climate is to blame. The sea is right there, the rains are heavy, the storm drainage is old. A storm can flood a whole street in an hour. On our jobs the flood season isn't a rare emergency, it's a predictable part of the work.
Water comes from three sources, and you mustn't mix them up. Each one calls for its own approach — both to saving the flat and to the estimate. One scenario is sorted in a fortnight, another drags on for months. So the first thing we do on site is work out exactly where the water came from.
- Storm flooding from outside. Water from the street comes in through doors, windows and vents. It hits the ground floors and basements first of all. This is the toughest scenario: the water is dirty, there's a lot of it, and it stands for hours.
- A leak through the roof or façade. The bane of upper floors. Rain finds a crack in the roof or a seam in the façade and runs inside down the wall. Often it isn't noticed straight away — first a stain appears, then it starts to drip.
- "Water from the neighbours above." A classic, with nothing to do with the weather. A hose burst, a trap gave way, a tap was left on. The volume can be modest, but the ceiling and the upper part of the walls always suffer.
The difference here is fundamental. An outside flood strikes from the bottom up, a neighbours' leak from the top down. The direction decides what gets wet first: the floor with its screed, or the ceiling with the walls. And the whole estimate hangs on that. A cheap case and a catastrophe differ in exactly one thing — whether the water reached the screed or not.
Risk zones in Batumi
Not all districts of Batumi flood the same way. There are streets that heavy rain swamps almost every time. We know this because those are where we get called out most often. If you're choosing a flat or already live in one of these places, it's worth taking flooding seriously well in advance.
The traditional risk zones in Batumi are 26 May, Agmashenebeli, Pushkin, Lermontov, Melikishvili and Bagrationi streets. In a heavy storm they flood from the street, and the water comes into the homes. That doesn't mean you can't live there — it means that there you need to think about waterproofing and leak sensors before the big water arrives.
In these districts the floor you're on decides almost everything. A flat on the ground floor on 26 May St — the risks are above average, water from the street comes straight in. The same flat on the fifth floor is barely troubled by an outside flood, but it's vulnerable to roof leaks. A high floor doesn't cancel the risk, it just changes its character: instead of flooding from outside — a leak from above.
First actions after a flood
What to do in the first minutes
The first minutes after a flood decide how expensive the renovation turns out. It's the order of actions that decides it, and the speed of the clean-up is secondary here: safety first, then the source, and only then rags and buckets. People in a panic do it all the other way round and sometimes get an electric shock.
- Cut the power to the flat at the consumer unit — before you start collecting the water. Water and electricity together kill. The main switch first, then the buckets. Never the other way round.
- Shut off the water. If the source is yours — close your own valve. If it's pouring from the neighbours — run up to them and shut it off at their place. Warn the neighbours below straight away, you're flooding them too.
- Save the appliances and valuables. Computers, televisions, documents — get them all into a dry room. After a soaking electronics are almost always write-offs, but there's a chance if you pull them out of the water quickly.
Clearing the water is about property, killing the power is about life. The second always comes first. The rag can wait two minutes, your health can't.
Don't start the renovation until the source is dealt with
The most expensive mistake after a flood is to start the renovation while the water can still come back. We at Level Up don't set foot on a job until the source is dealt with completely. This isn't a whim, it's simple arithmetic: redoing a finished renovation after a repeat flood costs more than waiting.
Until the roof is fixed, until the neighbours have replaced the burst pipe, until the cause of the outside flooding is dealt with — there should be no renovation work. Fresh plaster under a new leak will stain within a day. New laminate will swell. A painted ceiling will have to be painted again. That's money thrown away.
Sometimes the client pushes: "let's start, and the neighbours will fix it afterwards." We don't go along with it. Better to lose a week waiting on the neighbours' repairs than a month and a second estimate on a double renovation of your own. Honesty saves money here.
How the renovation goes after a flood
Drying out — that's where the renovation begins
The first thing in a post-flood renovation is drying out, not demolition and not plastering. The most underrated stage. The surface seems dry within a day already: the wallpaper feels dry to the touch, the floor doesn't shine. But inside the screed, the plaster and the underlay the water holds on far longer. Seal the damp in under new finishes and you'll get mould within a month.
The average time for professional wall drying is 3–7 days. This is active drying with machines and humidity control, not "wait until it dries by itself." Exactly how many days depends on how much water there was and how deep it went. We'll dry thin plaster in three days, a saturated wall in a week.
We absolutely never dry with heat guns. It seems like hot air will cope faster — but in fact it harms the walls. A heat gun drives the moisture inwards and forms a crust on the surface, with damp left underneath. The plaster cracks from the swing in temperature, the timber warps. We set up professional dehumidifiers: they draw the water out rather than scorch it off. Hiring a dehumidifier is about 30 ₾ a day, one of the most cost-effective lines in a flood estimate.
Mould — the main enemy after a flood
Mould hits your health and the strength of the walls, and it's not cosmetic. After a flood it appears fast, especially in Batumi with its constant humidity. If the flat has materials without anti-mould additives — plaster, primer, paint, wallpaper paste — wet surfaces grow mould literally within days.
And yet it's all preventable. Dry the flat out in the first day or two, don't let the damp settle in — and there'll be no consequences at all. Mould loves time and damp; take both away from it and it won't have a chance to take hold. Drag your feet for a week and you'll be scrubbing out black spots and replacing plaster instead of drying.
That's why anti-mould antiseptic treatment comes right after drying, before any plastering. Treating a dry, clean wall with primer is cheaper than stripping off an infected layer later. Saving on the antiseptic is money put aside for a future repeat renovation.
What to replace and what to save
The main question after a flood is what to throw out and what to wash down and keep. Clients usually worry about what can't be saved and are relaxed about what can. Below, material by material, the way we see it on our jobs.
| Material | Decision | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Wallpaper | Always for replacement | It'll stain, peel off the wall, mould underneath |
| Laminate / parquet | For replacement if the water stood for hours | They swell from water, can't be restored |
| Plasterboard (ceilings, partitions) | For replacement if badly soaked | Swells, loses strength, can't be restored |
| Stretch ceiling | Saves the flat | Holds the water, the furniture and floor stay dry |
| Tiles | Usually saved | Water doesn't damage them, just dry the base out |
Notes on the table:
- Wallpaper is always for replacement, even dried out. It looks like it's dry — and a fortnight later streaks come through and the corners peel away. Mould underneath is inevitable. You can't wash and save wallpaper, that's a false economy.
- Laminate and parquet are for replacement if the water covered the floor and stood like that for several hours. Wood and its pressed relatives soak up water and swell. If the flood was from the neighbours above and the floor wasn't affected, we save the covering. If the water stood on the floor — no.
- Plasterboard, when badly soaked, goes in the skip. Soaked plasterboard swells, loses strength and stops holding the finish. It's almost impossible to restore. Dry board tolerates a damp atmosphere, wet board crumbles.
- A stretch ceiling, on the contrary, is your saviour. When water comes from above, the film stretches and holds the water inside like a bag. The furniture and floor beneath it stay dry. Specialists drain the water from under the film, and after draining the ceiling goes back without trouble. A rare case where expensive finishing saves money in a flood.
The rule is simple: porous and absorbent — for replacement, dense and water-repellent — saved. A stretch ceiling and tiles will survive a flood, wallpaper and plasterboard won't.
The order of the renovation after a flood
A post-flood renovation differs from an ordinary one precisely in its sequence. You can't just come in and start plastering — first clear the junk, dry out and disinfect. Break the order and you'll seal damp and mould in under the finished surface. We hold to this order strictly, the same way on every job.
- Demolition of everything into the skip. We strip off the wallpaper, the wet plasterboard, the swollen laminate, the ruined skirting boards. Everything that soaked up water goes in the rubbish without regret.
- Drying out. 3–7 days with professional dehumidifiers. This stage can't be speeded up by force of will, only by machines.
- Anti-mould antiseptic treatment. Over the dry walls and under the future screed. A cheap step that saves the renovation to come.
- Priming and plastering. We restore the base. We plaster in a thin layer to a straightedge where the old was stripped off.
- Filling and sanding. We bring the surface up ready for the finish.
- Final finishing. Painting, new wallpaper, new laminate, skirting boards. The thing it was all started for.
The finish comes at the end, not at the start. Clients want to see "pretty" straight away, but pretty laid over a wet, infected base will fall off. First the boring, invisible work, then the visible result.
Electrics — why you mustn't switch it on yourself
Electrics after a flood are a story of their own, and going it alone here is dangerous. Water gets into the sockets, the junction boxes, into the body of the wall where the wiring runs. On the outside it all looks dry, inside the wiring is wet and live. Switch the breaker on yourself and you risk a short circuit or an electric shock.
We have one rule: after a flood we don't switch the electricity on ourselves. First we call in an electrician to "ring out" the wiring — to check the insulation and the absence of short circuits with a special instrument. Power may be put back on only once the electrician has given the go-ahead. Not before, under any persuasion.
This is not a line in the estimate to save on. Calling an electrician is small change next to a fire from wet wiring. Wiring that has been through a flood sometimes needs partial replacement — and better to learn that from an instrument than from the smell of burning insulation.
Two real cases with estimates
Prices are easier to understand on specific jobs. Let me give two of our cases: a light flood from the neighbours and a room flooded entirely. The estimates are real, the figures are our rates for Batumi. They make it easier to gauge what sort of sums to be ready for in your case.
Case 1: a light flood from the neighbours above
A room of 18 m², flooded from above. The ceiling and one wall, 3×2.7 m, were affected — that's 8 m². The floor was untouched, it's tiled, and the furniture was saved in time. A classic "small" flood — it frightens the client more than it deserves.
| Work | Volume | Sum |
|---|---|---|
| Clean-up on site | 18 m² × 3 ₾ | 54 ₾ |
| Rubbish disposal | 15 bags × 5 ₾ | 75 ₾ |
| Anti-mould primer treatment | 26 m² × 20 ₾ | 520 ₾ |
| Sanding the ceiling slab | 18 m² × 40 ₾ | 720 ₾ |
| Thin-layer plastering to a straightedge (wall) | 8 m² × 50 ₾ | 400 ₾ |
| Roller priming | 26 m² × 5 ₾ | 130 ₾ |
| Filling and sanding | 26 m² × 20 ₾ | 520 ₾ |
| Painting the ceiling in 2 coats | 18 m² × 25 ₾ | 450 ₾ |
| Painting the wall | 8 m² × 10 ₾ | 80 ₾ |
| Final clean-up | 18 m² × 8 ₾ | 144 ₾ |
| Total work | ~3100 ₾ |
Notes on the table:
- The work comes to about 3100 ₾. Materials — primer, filler, paint — will add another 600–900 ₾. Turnkey, we price a case like this at roughly 3800 ₾.
- The floor wasn't affected — and that's the decisive factor. The tiles came through the flood without loss, the screed stayed dry. That's why the estimate is small. Had there been laminate on the floor and water standing for hours, the figure would have grown many times over.
- The most expensive lines are the prep, not the finishing. Sanding the ceiling and the anti-mould treatment together cost more than the painting. The invisible work in a post-flood renovation always weighs more than the visible.
Case 2: a room flooded entirely
A room of 20 m², the ceiling and all the walls affected — roughly 54 m² of walls plus 20 m² of ceiling. The laminate for replacement, the skirting boards too. Above, luckily, there was a stretch ceiling — we drained the water from it and refitted it. A case already of medium severity.
| Work | Volume | Sum |
|---|---|---|
| Clean-up and rubbish disposal | ~185 ₾ | |
| Removing the laminate | 20 m² × ~10 ₾ | 200 ₾ |
| Refitting the stretch ceiling after draining | 20 m² × 50 ₾ | 1000 ₾ |
| Anti-mould primer treatment (walls + under the screed) | 74 m² × 20 ₾ | 1480 ₾ |
| Thin-layer plastering | 54 m² × 50 ₾ | 2700 ₾ |
| Priming | 54 m² × 5 ₾ | 270 ₾ |
| Filling and sanding | 54 m² × 20 ₾ | 1080 ₾ |
| Painting the walls | 54 m² × 10 ₾ | 540 ₾ |
| New laminate | 20 m² × 15 ₾ | 300 ₾ |
| MDF skirting board | 18 lin. m × 15 ₾ | 270 ₾ |
| Final clean-up | 20 m² × 8 ₾ | 160 ₾ |
| Total work | ~8200 ₾ |
Notes on the table:
- The work is about 8200 ₾, materials 3000–4500 ₾. Turnkey it comes to roughly 11 200–12 700 ₾. That's three or four times more than the first case for the same room area.
- The stretch ceiling saved the client money. Refitting the film after draining is 1000 ₾. Restoring a soaked plastered ceiling would have come out noticeably dearer and slower. You can see clearly how expensive finishing pays for itself in a flood.
- The main difference from Case 1 is the floor. Here the laminate is for replacement, and removal plus a new covering were added. But the screed survived, and that held the estimate back from jumping to 33 000 ₾.
Renovation prices and timelines
Summary table: prices by scenario
So as not to get lost in the cases, let me put four typical scenarios into one table. This is a turnkey guide based on our rates in Batumi. The real price depends on the area, the source of the water and whether the water reached the screed.
| Scenario | What happened | Turnkey price |
|---|---|---|
| Light | Neighbours above, one wall and ceiling | ~3800 ₾ |
| Medium | A whole room flooded, floor replacement | ~12 000 ₾ |
| Serious | Screed replacement throughout a 50 m² flat | ~33 000 ₾ |
| Catastrophic | Storm flooding of a 60 m² ground floor, replacement of electrics, plumbing, doors | ~51 000 ₾ |
Notes on the table:
- The light and medium cases differ in the floor and the area. In the light one the floor is intact, one wall was affected. In the medium one the whole room was flooded and the laminate was replaced. The difference is roughly threefold.
- The serious case is already about the screed. As soon as the screed across the whole flat is replaced, the estimate jumps to 33 000 ₾. This is structural floor repair, not cosmetics.
- The catastrophic scenario is a ground-floor flood. The water is dirty, it stands for a long time, and everything goes for replacement: screed, electrics, plumbing, doors. 51 000 ₾ is almost a full renovation of the flat from scratch.
The screed — the main price multiplier
If you take one number away from this article, let it be the difference between 12 000 and 33 000 ₾. That's exactly what the question costs — whether the water reached the screed or not. The screed is the main price multiplier in a post-flood renovation; next to it everything else is secondary.
The reckoning is simple. The water stood briefly and didn't soak the floor — the screed is intact, the renovation stays within the room, 12 000 ₾ in a medium case. The water stood for more than a few hours and soaked the floor right through — the screed too goes for replacement, and the renovation jumps from ~12 000 to ~33 000 ₾. The same flood, the difference is in hours.
Why is the screed so expensive? You simply can't dry it out and leave it. A water-saturated screed crumbles, holds the damp inside for years, and mould takes hold beneath it. It's broken up, carted away and poured anew — and the new one dries for three to four weeks. Both money and time. So in the first hours of a flood the fight is precisely over the floor: clear the water quickly and you'll save the screed and two-thirds of the estimate.
Renovation timelines by scenario
Money is half the story, the other half is time. Clients underrate the timelines and are surprised that "just painting" stretches over months. The blame lies with the drying and the screed, which can't be speeded up. Honest timelines for the same four scenarios are below.
| Scenario | Drying | Renovation | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | 3–7 days | 5–7 days | ~2 weeks |
| Medium | 5–10 days | 3–4 weeks | ~5 weeks |
| Serious (screed) | — | screed dries 21–28 days | 2–3 months |
| Catastrophic | — | full renovation | 3–4 months minimum |
Notes on the table:
- The light case is about two weeks. A week to dry out, a week for the finish. The fastest scenario, and even that isn't "in a couple of days" as clients hope.
- The serious case comes up against the screed. A new screed dries 21–28 days — that's process time, nothing can speed it up. Lay tiles on a wet screed and they'll come off. So the whole renovation stretches over 2–3 months.
- The catastrophic case is from three months. Replacement of the screed, electrics, plumbing and doors plus the drying. Essentially a full renovation of the flat, it physically can't be done faster.
FAQ
Summary
- Safety first, then the water. Cut the power to the flat at the consumer unit before you start collecting the water, and only then shut off the source.
- Don't start the renovation until the source is dealt with. The roof, a pipe at the neighbours', an outside flood — while the cause is alive, any renovation will go under a repeat flood.
- The renovation begins with drying out, not with plastering. 3–7 days with professional dehumidifiers, hire ~30 ₾ a day. Heat guns do harm.
- Mould is preventable in the first day or two. Dry it out quickly and treat with antiseptic — there'll be no consequences; drag your feet for a week and you'll be replacing plaster.
- Wallpaper and wet plasterboard are always for replacement, tiles and a stretch ceiling are saved. We throw out the porous, we keep the dense.
- A stretch ceiling saves the flat in a flood from above. It holds the water, the furniture and floor stay dry; refitting after draining is cheaper than restoring a plastered ceiling.
- Only an electrician switches the electricity on after "ringing out." Wet wiring is live and invisible from outside, and a fire costs more than calling a specialist.
- The screed is the main price multiplier. Save the floor in the first hours and the renovation stays around 12 000 ₾; let the water soak the screed and it jumps to 33 000 ₾.
- Turnkey prices: from ~3800 ₾ for a light flood to ~51 000 ₾ for a ground-floor flood. Between them — ~12 000 ₾ for a room and ~33 000 ₾ for a flat with the screed.
- Timelines from two weeks to four months. The screed dries 21–28 days as a process, it can't be speeded up; a catastrophic case is from three months minimum.