What to do after water damage: the first 24 hours

Hour zero: stop the water

Everything else waits until the water stops. Close the valve closest to the leak if you can: behind the toilet, under the sink, on the cold supply at the top of the water heater, or behind the washer. If you cannot find it or it will not turn, close the main shutoff. In most Triangle houses that valve is where the water line comes into the house, often in the crawl space near the front, in the garage, in a utility closet or beside the water heater. If even that fails, the water utility can close the valve at the meter.

For an air conditioner leak, turn the system off at the thermostat. For a roof leak, put a bucket under the drip; tarping can wait for daylight and a professional.

Make it safe

• Electricity: if water is near outlets, cords, fixtures or appliances, turn off those circuits at the breaker panel, but only if you can reach the panel without standing in water. If you cannot, stay out of the area and call an electrician or the power company.
• Ceilings: keep everyone out from under a sagging or bulging ceiling. A small hole at the lowest point, made from the side with a bucket beneath, can drain it before it falls.
• Contaminated water: treat water from a toilet with waste, a sewer backup or outside flooding as a health hazard. Wear gloves and boots, and keep children and pets away.
• Slips and trips: wet floors are slick, especially vinyl and tile.

Document before you clean

Photos taken now are worth more than anything you write later. Take wide shots of each room and close-ups of the damage, the water level on walls, and the source itself: the split hose, the failed fitting, the rusted tank. Record the brand and serial number of any failed appliance. Make a short video walking through the house. Note the time you found the water and when you stopped it. Do not throw away damaged belongings or removed materials until your insurer has seen them or approved disposal; set them aside and photograph them.

Make the calls

1. The trade that fixes the source: a plumber, roofer or HVAC technician.
2. A restoration company to extract and dry, ideally the same day.
3. Your insurance company, to report the claim and get a claim number.
4. Your HOA or property manager if you live in a condo or townhome, and the neighbors on the other side of shared walls or below you.
5. Your landlord, if you rent; their insurance covers the building and yours covers your belongings.

Protect what you can

• Move furniture, rugs and electronics out of wet areas, or lift furniture onto blocks or slip plastic or foil under the legs so stains and rust do not transfer to the carpet.
• Pick up books, papers, shoes and anything on the floor.
• Pin up curtains and bed skirts that touch wet floors.
• Remove valuables, medications and important documents from damp rooms.
• Wet photos, books and documents you want to save can be sealed in bags and frozen to stop mold and buy time to dry them properly later.

Start getting water out

For small amounts of clean water, towels, a mop and a wet-dry vacuum help. Never use a regular household vacuum on water. Open cabinet doors under wet sinks, pull out drawers so air can reach the cabinet bottoms, and take wet cushions off furniture to dry separately. For a soaked carpet, standing water or a wet ceiling, professional extraction removes far more water than anything you can do by hand, and emergency water removal explains how.

Help the house start drying

• Run the air conditioning in summer and close windows on humid days; outdoor air in a Triangle summer is often wetter than the air inside.
• Run a dehumidifier if you have one, and empty it often.
• Use fans to move air across wet surfaces only if dehumidification is running too; fans alone push moisture into other rooms.
• Do not turn the heat up high in winter to “bake” the house dry; heat without dehumidification can drive moisture into dry materials.

What not to do

• Do not switch on ceiling lights or fans in rooms where water is coming through the ceiling.
• Do not use electrical appliances while standing on wet carpet or floors.
• Do not peel up flooring or tear out drywall in a panic; it can make the claim harder and the repair bigger.
• Do not paint over stains or close up walls until everything is confirmed dry.
• Do not ignore a small leak because the floor “looks dry”; the water is usually underneath.

Hours 24 to 48: what should be happening

By the end of the first day, a restoration crew should have mapped the moisture with meters, extracted standing water, removed what cannot be saved, such as soaked carpet pad, and set air movers and dehumidifiers. If the water was contaminated or had already been sitting, they should be checking for mold before blowing air around. From then on, someone should be taking readings every day and adjusting the equipment, as described under structural drying.

Keep a running record

Save every receipt: towels, fans, a hotel if you had to leave, meals out if the kitchen is unusable. Many homeowners policies include additional living expenses when the house cannot be lived in during repairs. Keep a simple log of who you spoke to and when. The insurance guide explains what policies usually cover, and the water damage and mold guide explains what happens next.