What to Do in the First 24 Hours After Water Damage

Make the House Safe Before You Touch Anything

Water and electricity are the first danger, and the one people underestimate. If water has reached outlets, power strips, extension cords or the electrical panel, do not walk into it. Turn off power at the panel only if you can reach it standing on a dry floor with dry hands. If the panel is in the wet area, call your electric utility or an electrician and wait outside the wet area.

Gas is the second danger. If you smell rotten eggs, hear hissing, or a gas water heater or furnace sat in water, leave the house. Do not flip switches. Call the gas utility from outside.

Then look up and look down. A ceiling that sags or bulges is holding water and can fall. A floor that feels soft may have weakened framing under it. Keep kids and pets out of those rooms.

• Unplug items only from dry outlets, with dry hands.
• Never use a household vacuum on water.
• Plug a wet/dry vacuum into a GFCI outlet in a dry room.

Stop the Water and Find the Source

Every minute the water runs makes the job bigger. Close the shutoff valve nearest the leak. Most sinks, toilets and dishwashers have a small valve under or behind them. If you cannot find one, or the leak is inside a wall or ceiling, shut the main water valve to the house. In homes with a basement it is usually near the water meter on the front wall. In slab homes in the Southwest it is often on an outside wall near the front hose faucet or inside the garage.

With the main off, open a faucet on the lowest floor to drain pressure from the lines. If the water heater may lose its supply, turn a gas unit to pilot or vacation, or switch off the breaker for an electric one.

Water from outside, such as a roof leak or surface flooding, cannot be shut off. Put buckets under drips and move valuables out of its path. Never climb onto a wet or storm damaged roof.

In an apartment or condo, call the super, manager or neighbor above right away. The source may be a unit you cannot enter.

Figure Out What Kind of Water You Have

The source of the water decides what you can save and what gear you need. The restoration industry sorts water into three categories.

Clean water does not stay clean. Once it soaks through dusty carpet pad, sits in a warm room for a couple of days, or picks up soil, it behaves like gray water. If you are unsure, treat the water as the dirtier category.

Document Everything Before You Clean It Up

Before you move furniture, take ten minutes to document. Clear photos from day one are the best claim evidence you will ever have.

• Take a slow video through every affected room, narrating what you see.
• Photograph the source, such as the split hose or ceiling stain.
• Photograph standing water with a tape measure against the wall for scale.
• Photograph damaged items with the brand label or model plate visible.
• Keep the failed part in a labeled bag.

Call your insurer the same day, even if you are not sure you will claim. Write down the claim number and who you spoke with. Most homeowner policies expect you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage, so drying the house now protects your claim. Keep every receipt for fans, rentals, trash bags and hotel nights.

If soaked carpet pad or contaminated items must go before an adjuster visits, photograph them and keep a small cut sample of carpet and pad in a bag.

Get the Standing Water Out Fast

Water removal saves the most money. Pulling water out as liquid is far faster than drying it out as vapor, so the harder you extract now, the shorter the drying job.

• On carpet, press the wet/dry vacuum nozzle down hard and pull it slowly toward you in overlapping passes.
• On tile, vinyl and sealed concrete, push water toward a drain or door with a floor squeegee, then vacuum the rest.
• Soak up small areas with towels and wring them out outside the room.
• Empty the vacuum often. The float shutoff stops suction when the tank is full.

For more than one room of soaked carpet, a rented carpet extractor or a drying company will do far better than a shop vacuum. Professional weighted extraction tools pull much more water from carpet and pad.

If a basement is flooded more than a foot or two deep and the ground outside is saturated, do not pump it all out at once. Outside soil pressure can push the walls in. Remove about a third of the water per day, or call a pro.

Start Drying the Air and the Building

Once standing water is gone, the carpet, drywall and wood are still full of water. Air movement pulls it into the air as vapor, and a dehumidifier pulls it out of the air. Fans alone just move wet air around.

• Close the room off and run the dehumidifier inside it.
• Point fans across wet surfaces at a low angle rather than straight at the wall.
• Keep the room at about 70 to 80°F. Home dehumidifiers work poorly in cool rooms.
• Use a hygrometer and aim for indoor humidity under 50%. Lower is better while drying.
• Empty the bucket often, or run its hose to a drain.

Open windows only when the air outside is drier than inside and it is not raining. In humid weather, keep the house closed and run the air conditioner, which also removes moisture.

Do not run the central heating or cooling fan if water reached the ducts or air handler, or if the water was gray or black. You would spread contamination through the house.

If you already see or smell mold, stop blowing fans on it. Fans spread spores. Use a dehumidifier only in that area and plan for proper mold cleanup.

Move and Protect Your Belongings

Wet furniture, boxes and rugs keep the room damp and can stain what is under them. Get belongings out in this order.

1. Electronics, documents and photos.
2. Upholstered furniture, cushions and mattresses.
3. Area rugs, which can bleed dye into wall to wall carpet.
4. Cardboard boxes, which wick water up into their contents.

If heavy furniture must stay, lift the legs onto foil squares or plastic blocks. Wood stain and metal rust can mark wet carpet within hours.

Wet paper, books and photos are easier to save than people expect. If you cannot dry them within a day or two, seal them in freezer bags and freeze them. Freezing stops mold and buys you weeks. Do not freeze anything touched by sewage.

Hard, nonporous items like dishes and metal can be washed and disinfected after gray or black water. Stuffed furniture, mattresses and cardboard that soaked up sewage are usually thrown out.

The 24 Hour Check, Keep Going or Call a Pro

At the end of day one, walk through with your moisture meter. Take readings every foot up the walls, and compare them with the same wall material in a dry room. That dry reading is your target.

A well run professional drying job on a clean water loss usually takes about 3 to 5 days. If you see no steady progress at 24 hours, home equipment is unlikely to catch up. That is the moment to hire, not after a week of trying.

Step by Step

1. Check for Electrical and Gas Danger

   Look for water near outlets, cords and the panel before you enter. Shut breakers only from a dry spot with dry hands. If you smell gas, leave and call the utility from outside.

2. Shut Off the Water

   Close the valve nearest the leak, or the main valve if you cannot find one. Open a low faucet to drain pressure from the lines.

3. Photograph and Report

   Video every wet room before moving anything and save the failed part. Call your insurer or landlord the same day and write down the claim number.

4. Decide the Water Category

   Clean supply water is usually DIY. Drain water, toilet water and anything from outdoors is contaminated. If sewage is involved, stop and use the sewage backup guide.

5. Remove Standing Water

   Use a wet/dry vacuum, squeegee and towels, working from the wettest area outward. On carpet, press the nozzle down hard and make slow overlapping passes.

6. Move Belongings Out

   Take out electronics, papers, rugs, cushions and boxes first. Lift heavy furniture onto blocks, and freeze wet papers you cannot dry within two days.

7. Set Up Drying

   Close the room, run a dehumidifier and point fans across wet surfaces. Keep the room near 70 to 80°F and humidity under 50%.

8. Measure at Hour 24 and Decide

   Take moisture readings every foot up the walls and compare with a dry room. If readings are not falling, walls are wet over 2 feet up or anything smells musty, call a drying specialist.

Mistakes That Make It Worse

• Using a household vacuum or wading through water near outlets. It is the most dangerous mistake people make after a leak.
• Cleaning up before taking photos. Without day one pictures, an adjuster has to guess how bad it was.
• Running fans with no dehumidifier. The moisture moves into the rest of the house and drying stalls.
• Assuming carpet is dry because the top feels dry. The pad and subfloor can stay soaked for days.
• Painting over a water stain before the wall reads dry. The stain comes back and trapped moisture feeds mold.

Where You Live Matters