The first hour after a pipe bursts, step by step

Minute one: find the main shut-off

Every minute the pipe runs adds water to the floor, the walls and the room below. The main shut-off is usually where the water line enters the house: in a basement or crawl space on the front wall, in a garage, or in a utility closet near the water heater. Some houses also have a shut-off at the meter near the street, which needs a meter key.

Turn a round handle clockwise until it stops, or turn a lever a quarter turn so it sits across the pipe. Then open a faucet on the lowest floor to drain the lines and take pressure off the break.

Make the rooms safe before you walk in

Water and electricity are the real danger in the first hour. If water has reached outlets, cords or a power strip, or is dripping through a light fixture, shut off those circuits at the breaker panel before anyone walks through. If the panel itself is wet, or you would have to stand in water to reach it, stay out and call the power company.

Look up before you walk under anything. A ceiling that bulges or sags is holding water and can come down all at once. Keep people and pets out of that room and put a bucket under the lowest point.

Move what you can, and leave what you cannot

Lift rugs, electronics, papers and photos out of the water and onto a dry floor or a table in another room. Put foil or wood blocks under furniture legs so the finish does not wick water or stain the carpet.

Leave built-in things alone: do not pull up carpet over tack strip, rip out drywall or start cutting cabinets. Those decisions depend on moisture readings, and removing sound material too early just makes the repair bigger.

Photograph everything before it moves

Take wide photos of each room and close photos of the break, the water on the floor, the ceiling below and anything damaged. A short video walking through the house, with the date visible on your phone, helps too.

Keep the broken piece of pipe or fitting if the plumber replaces it. Adjusters sometimes ask what failed, and a photo of the part beside a tape measure answers that quickly. Our guide to documenting damage covers the rest.

Call a plumber and a drying crew, in that order

The plumber fixes the pipe. A restoration crew gets the water out and dries the structure. Both can be on the way at the same time, and drying should not wait for the pipe repair.

Clean water from a supply line stays clean for only a day or two in carpet and wall cavities. After that it is treated as contaminated, and more material has to come out. That is the practical reason to call within the first hour rather than the next morning. The drying process itself is covered on the burst pipe water damage page.

What not to do in the first hour

A few common reactions make the damage worse:

• Using a household vacuum on standing water
• Turning on ceiling fans or lights in a room with a wet ceiling
• Running space heaters to speed up drying, which spreads moisture without removing it
• Painting over or patching stains before the drywall reads dry
• Throwing out damaged items before they are photographed