What to Do in the First Hour After Water Damage
The first sixty minutes decide how much of your home survives intact. Shut-offs, safety checks, documentation and what to leave alone until a crew arrives.
Read the guide →Guides & Explanations
Five guides written for the specific messes Virginia homes get into: frozen pipes in January, nor'easters in March, summer thunderstorms, aging plumbing and the mold that follows all of it.
Already have water in the house? Skip the reading and call — the guides will still be here afterward.
Most water damage guides are written for a generic house in a generic climate. These are not. Virginia homeowners deal with a specific set of problems: clay soil that holds water against foundations, humidity that never quite leaves in July and August, freeze cycles that crack pipes in unheated crawlspaces, and a stream of tropical moisture that arrives from two directions.
Each guide below covers one problem in enough detail to act on it. Read the one that matches your situation, then keep the phone number handy for the moments when reading is not enough.
The first sixty minutes decide how much of your home survives intact. Shut-offs, safety checks, documentation and what to leave alone until a crew arrives.
Read the guide →Sudden versus gradual damage, why flood is separate, what adjusters look for, and the paperwork that keeps a claim moving instead of stalling.
Read the guide →Soft spots, bubbling paint, an unexplained water bill and other signals that get explained away for months before the wall comes open.
Read the guide →A month-by-month look at frozen pipes, nor'easters, flash floods, humidity and the maintenance that prevents most of it.
Read the guide →Twenty-four to forty-eight hours is the window that matters. What to remove, what can be dried, and how to tell the difference.
Read the guide →They do not replace a moisture meter, a thermal camera or a trained eye in your crawlspace. Water behaves differently in a 1920s bungalow than in a 2015 townhouse, and the only way to know what is happening behind your walls is to measure it. Treat the guides as preparation, not diagnosis.
They also do not tell you which contractor to hire. Every provider in this network is an independent local business, and the decision about who works on your home belongs to you. Ask for proof of licensure and insurance before work begins, and get the scope in writing.
When something is actively leaking, call the 24/7 line first. Reading is for the calm weeks before the storm.
A live dispatcher is available at any hour to line up an independent restoration provider for your Virginia address.
Call (888) 217-5329