What to Do After a Pipe Bursts

Find the main shutoff where the water line enters the house — often in the garage, a utility closet, or on an outside wall facing the street. Turn a round handle clockwise until it stops, or a lever a quarter turn. If you can't find it, the curb valve in the meter box also shuts off the house.

If water is near outlets, the electrical panel or light fixtures, switch that circuit off at the breaker. Don't walk through standing water to reach the panel — call the electric utility instead.

Open a cold faucet on the lowest floor to drain water still in the pipes. Move furniture and rugs off wet floors, and put foil or blocks under furniture legs so wood doesn't wick up water.

Photograph and video the break, the water, and every damaged room and item before anything is moved or thrown away. Your insurer will want to see the damage as it was.

A plumber repairs the pipe. A water damage restoration company extracts the water, removes materials that trap moisture, and dries the structure with equipment and moisture readings. Starting drying within 24–48 hours limits what has to be torn out.

A plumber fixes the pipe; a restoration company deals with the water that already escaped. That means extracting standing water, checking walls, floors and cabinets with moisture meters, and setting air movers and dehumidifiers until the readings reach dry standard. Wet drywall and baseboards behind cabinets are the places most often missed when a home is dried by fans alone.