The first 24 hours after water gets in: what to do, in order, before anyone arrives

Water in a house is a clock. In Miami’s humidity the materials that got wet start growing mold in one to two days, and most of what decides whether this is a dry-out with new baseboards or a gutted room happens before a contractor ever walks in. This is the order.

Minute one: stop it and stay safe

Find the source and shut it. Supply valves for a toilet, sink, or washing machine are on the wall behind the fixture. The water heater has a valve on the cold-water line at the top. The main shutoff for the house is usually at the front near the hose bib, or in the meter box by the sidewalk; a quarter turn with a wrench or a meter key closes it. If you cannot find it and the water is running, call the utility or a plumber to shut it at the meter.

Kill the power to the wet rooms. Breakers off for any room with water on the floor or coming through the ceiling. If the electrical panel itself is standing in water, do not touch it; leave the power on and tell the contractor when you call.

Keep people and pets out of the water if it came from a drain, a toilet, the street, or a canal. That is category-3 water even if it looks clear.

Minute ten: document

Before you move a single thing, photograph and video everything: the water on the floor, where it is coming from, the walls, the ceiling, the furniture, the contents of wet cabinets. Get the water line on the walls if there is one. This is the evidence your insurer will evaluate the claim against, and it disappears the moment cleanup starts.

Then call your insurer’s claims line and open the claim. Write down the claim number. Ask what they need from you; most will tell you to mitigate immediately, which is the next step.

Hour one: start mitigation, do not wait for the adjuster

Homeowner policies in Florida require you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage. That means you are expected to get drying started now, not after an adjuster visits. Waiting is the most common and most expensive mistake.

• Get belongings off the floor. Rugs up, boxes out, furniture legs on foil or blocks, electronics unplugged and moved.
• Open cabinet doors and drawers under wet counters; pull the kick plates if you can.
• Use the air conditioning to help control humidity only if it is not the leak source, was not flooded, and is not suspected of containing mold. It is the largest dehumidifier in the house; if it was flooded or may be contaminated, keep it off until a professional confirms it is safe.
• Call. Say where the water is and where it came from; it changes what they bring.

What the contractor does on day one

Confirms the source is stopped and classifies the water. Extracts what is standing. Pulls what will not dry in place: carpet pad, drywall that has wicked water, swollen baseboards, wet insulation. Sets air movers and dehumidifiers and takes moisture readings on every surface the water could have reached, including the room next door and the wall above the visible line. Photographs all of it and starts a daily log. That log, plus your day-one photos, is what the adjuster works from.

What not to do

• Do not use a household vacuum on standing water.
• Do not run ceiling fans under a sagging, wet ceiling.
• Do not spray bleach on anything that grows; it does not fix wet material and it complicates a mold assessor’s job later.
• Do not sign anything that gives a contractor rights to your claim. Since January 2023, Florida policies cannot be assigned to a contractor; a company offering to “handle it with your insurance” is offering what the law no longer allows. The contractor works for you and invoices you.

Day two and three

Drying runs three to five days with daily readings. If the water sat before drying started, or if anything smells musty by day three, ask for a licensed mold assessor; in Florida that is normally a different company from the remediator, and the sequence is assess, remediate, verify. Then the rebuild: drywall, baseboards, cabinets, flooring, by the contractor or the right trade.

If water is in the house now, call and get a contractor moving.

Related pages

• Emergency water removal
• Water extraction and drying
• Storm and flood cleanup