Your pipe just burst. Do these five things right now.

Shut off the water at the main valve, then open the lowest faucets in the house to drain the pipes. Everything else on this page can wait until those two things are done, because until the water stops arriving, nothing else you do will hold.

1. Stop the water

Find the main shut-off valve. It is on the pipe where the water supply enters the house, usually within a few feet of where that pipe comes through the floor or the wall. In a house with a basement, look on the wall facing the street. In a house on a slab, look in a utility closet, the garage, or near the water heater. In warm climates the valve is often outside, close to the foundation or in a covered box near the street.

There are two kinds of valve and they turn differently. A ball valve has a lever, and it is off when the lever sits across the pipe rather than along it. A gate valve has a round handle, and it needs several full turns clockwise. Turn it until it stops. Do not force a handle that will not move at all, since old valves shear off and then you have two problems. If yours will not turn, read this next.

If the burst is on a water heater or a single fixture, there may be a local valve you can close instead, which leaves the rest of the house with water. Water heaters have a valve on the cold inlet pipe at the top. Toilets and sinks have one on the supply line underneath.

2. Cut the power to the wet area, if you can do it safely

If the panel is dry and you can reach it without standing in water, switch off the breakers for the affected rooms. If you are not certain which ones those are, switch off the main.

Unplug what you can reach safely and move electronics up off the floor.

3. Open the faucets and drain the system

With the main closed, the pipes are still full and gravity will keep pushing that water out of the break. Open the faucets on the lowest floor first, then work upward. Flush the toilets once. This empties the lines in a controlled way rather than through the hole in your wall.

In freezing weather, leave those faucets open. A closed system with no flow is how the next pipe freezes, and thawing a frozen pipe has its own sequence.

4. Move what you can, in this order

Water travels down and outward, and the things it ruins first are the things it reaches first. Work in this order:

1. People and pets out of the wet area, especially if the water is warm, discolored, or smells.
2. Documents, photographs, and electronics, because these are the things that cannot be replaced or cannot be dried.
3. Furniture legs, onto blocks, foil, or anything that breaks contact with a wet floor. Wooden legs wick water upward and stain, and the stain transfers into carpet.
4. Rugs, which hold water against the floor underneath them.

Do not try to move a soaked mattress, a full bookshelf, or a piano yourself. Wet material is much heavier than it looks.

5. Photograph everything, before you clean up

This is the step people skip, and it is the one that costs them money. Your insurer is going to ask what the damage looked like, and the honest answer “I cleaned it up straight away” is not evidence.

Before you move anything else or start pulling up carpet:

• Take wide shots of each affected room, then close shots of the damage.
• Photograph the burst pipe itself, and the valve you closed.
• Take a short video walking through the space, narrating what you are seeing.
• Photograph the contents you are throwing out, before you throw them out.
• Keep receipts for anything you buy, including fans, dehumidifiers, and a hotel room if the house is not livable.

Most policies require you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage once you know about it. That means the cleanup itself is expected of you, and the cost of doing it is usually part of the claim. Documenting first is how both of those things stay true at once.

What happens next

Water that sits is the actual enemy. The pipe was the event, but the damage compounds while the building material stays wet, and it starts compounding faster than most people expect. How long you have before mold becomes a problem is the number that should shape what you do for the rest of the day.

If the water is clean and the area is small, air movement and time may be enough. Open windows if the weather is dry, run fans across the wet surface rather than at it, and pull up anything that traps water underneath.

If the water is more than a small spill, has soaked into drywall or insulation, or came from anything other than a clean supply line, the drying needs equipment most people do not have. That is the point where the question becomes whether to call a plumber or a restoration company first, and the answer depends on whether the leak is still leaking.

The short version

Stop the water. Cut the power if you can do it without standing in water. Drain the lines. Move what water reaches first. Photograph everything before you touch it. Then, and only then, start drying.