The First Hour After You Find Water

Water damage is a race against absorption. Materials that are wet for hours usually dry. Materials that are wet for days usually get replaced. Here is the order that matters.

Stop the water

Shut off the supply at the fixture if you can reach it, and at the main if you cannot. This is why knowing where your main shut off is, before anything happens, is worth an afternoon.

Think about electricity

If water is anywhere near outlets, a panel, or cords on the floor, do not walk into it. Kill the power to that area from somewhere dry, or wait for someone who can. This is the one step where waiting is the correct answer.

Document before you move anything

Photograph and film everything while it is still wet, including the source, the spread, and the contents. Insurance decisions are made from this and it cannot be recreated once cleanup starts.

Then start removing water

• Lift what you can: rugs, boxes, anything on the floor with contents in it
• Get standing water out with whatever you have
• Open interior doors and closets so air can move
• Put foil or blocks under furniture legs so they do not stain the floor

What not to do

Do not use a household vacuum on water. Do not put a fan on drywall you suspect is contaminated, since that moves the problem around the house. And do not assume that a surface that feels dry is dry, because most of the water is now inside things that feel fine.