Water Damage Restoration in Kendall

Kendall is not a city. It is an unincorporated census-designated place about 14 miles southwest of downtown Miami, governed directly by Miami-Dade County, with Dadeland as its main business district. In everyday use the name covers much more ground. “West Kendall” is what locals call the planned communities and apartment areas that grew westward from the 1970s through the 1990s, and this page follows that broader meaning.

Which ZIP codes are actually in Kendall

Census land-area data gives a clearer picture than a mailing address:

• 33176 is the core Kendall ZIP, almost 90 percent inside the census place, with small pieces in Richmond Heights and Palmetto Bay.
• 33173 is split, with most of its land in Sunset and the rest in Kendall.
• 33156 is mostly Pinecrest and Coral Gables. Only a small share falls in Kendall.
• 33183 is almost entirely Kendale Lakes.
• 33186 takes in The Crossings, Three Lakes, The Hammocks and Country Walk.
• 33193 and 33196 include Kendall West and The Hammocks, but most of their land lies outside any census place.

Land area is not the same as population, but the point holds: many of these addresses sit in neighboring communities rather than Kendall itself. The same 24/7 line serves all of them.

Housing from the 1970s and 1980s

The median home in the Kendall census place was built in 1978. More than half its housing went up before 1980, about a third in the 1970s alone, and fewer than 1 in 10 units date from 2000 or later. Kendale Lakes is close behind with a median year of 1980, and Kendall West is a little newer at 1986.

Houses that age have usually had some plumbing parts replaced and others left alone. Water heaters, supply lines, shutoff valves and AC drain lines are the pieces that wear out, and their leaks often start small, behind a vanity or inside a closet, before showing up as swollen baseboards or a musty smell. South Florida humidity keeps damp drywall from drying on its own, which is how mold growth can follow a leak that was never properly dried.

The building mix is wide. About 40 percent of Kendall’s units are detached houses, 16 percent are townhouse-style, and 28 percent are in buildings with 20 or more units. Shared walls and stacked units mean one failed hose can become two or three households’ problem.

Fall storms and a high water table

Southwest Miami-Dade took some of the heaviest rain of the October 2000 flood. The National Weather Service measured 12 to 18 inches in 24 hours across a swath running from southwest Miami-Dade into southeast Broward, including 13.80 to 15.75 inches at South Miami gauges and 12.80 inches at Tamiami and Krome. A year earlier, Hurricane Irene dropped 13.50 inches on South Miami, and some residential flooding lasted a week.

Timing makes these storms worse. Miami-Dade County says groundwater is typically only a few feet down and comes closest to the surface in September and October, right in the late part of hurricane season. Saturated ground sends rain toward yards, garages and ground floors instead of absorbing it. Water that arrives from outside carries soil and street runoff, so the work follows flood cleanup practices rather than simple drying.

Hurricane Andrew also hit Kendall hard in 1992, destroying many homes and businesses and wiping out Country Walk. The area was rebuilt slowly over the following years.