Free visual inspection and a written scope of work before any mitigation begins - photos, moisture readings, and drying logs go in your claim file
The scope we write is the scope we bill. Anything new gets shown to you, in writing, before we touch it.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterWhat to Do After a House Flood
What’s Happening
A flooded house means standing water has moved beyond the source and is already soaking into floors, wall cavities, and structural framing. Every hour it sits, the damage spreads deeper and the window for drying without demolition gets smaller. The right move is to stop the water, document everything, and get a restoration crew with commercial drying equipment on-site as fast as possible.
Water is patient in a way that most people don’t expect. It follows gravity through every gap it can find: subfloor seams, around pipe penetrations, into the bottom plates of walls. What looks like a contained puddle on the surface is often traveling horizontally through insulation or sitting in a crawl space below. Flooring that feels solid underfoot can be delaminating from the subfloor underneath. Drywall wicks moisture upward well above the visible waterline. And within 24 to 48 hours in a humid interior, conditions are right for mold growth to begin. The visible flood is the start of the problem, not the whole problem.
Why It Happens
Burst or Failed Supply Lines
Supply lines are the pressurized pipes that bring fresh water to sinks, toilets, dishwashers, ice makers, and washing machines. When a line fails – because of age, a loose fitting, or a freeze-thaw split – water runs continuously until someone shuts off the supply. If you came home to the flood rather than watching it happen, look under sinks and behind appliances for a wet or disconnected hose; that braided stainless or plastic line is often the culprit.
Sewer or Drain Backup
When a main sewer line is blocked or overwhelmed, wastewater reverses direction and comes up through floor drains, toilets, and tub drains. The giveaway is the smell and the color: this water is not clear. Sewage-category flooding carries biological contaminants and requires a different response than clean water – stronger personal protective equipment, different cleaning protocols, and more thorough structural drying. Stop using any plumbing in the house immediately if you suspect a backup.
Storm and Roof Intrusion
Heavy rain, wind-driven water, or a compromised roof can push water into attic spaces, wall assemblies, and living areas faster than interior drains can handle. This type of flood often doesn’t look like much at first – a wet ceiling, a stained wall – because the water entered at a high point and has been traveling downward through insulation and framing before it became visible. If the weather event happened in the last 12 to 24 hours, assume the moisture has traveled further than what you can see.
Appliance and HVAC Failures
Water heaters, washing machines, refrigerator ice makers, and HVAC condensate drain pans can all fail in ways that release significant water over hours or days. A slow leak from a water heater often pools under the unit and soaks into the subfloor before anyone notices. If the flood appears to be centered around a single appliance, shut off the water supply to that appliance specifically – most have a local shutoff valve on the supply line directly behind or beneath the unit.
What to Do Right Now
- Shut off the water supply. If you know which appliance or fixture is the source, use its local shutoff valve. If you don’t know the source or can’t reach it safely, turn off the main water supply to the house – typically at the meter or at the main shutoff near the water entry point.
- Stay out of any room with standing water and an active electrical circuit. If water is touching outlets, appliances, or wiring, treat it as live. Do not wade into the water. Go to your electrical panel and cut power to affected areas only if you can reach the panel without walking through the water. If you can’t do that safely, call your utility company and then call us. Water and active current together are a life-safety emergency.
- Document everything before moving anything. Walk the perimeter and take photos and short video clips of every affected room, the source area, and the waterline on walls. Capture timestamps if your phone does that automatically. This documentation matters for your insurance claim and for our technicians when they assess the moisture map on arrival.
- Move dry valuables, electronics, and irreplaceable items to unaffected rooms if you can do so without stepping into standing water. Don’t try to save flooring, furniture, or drywall that is already saturated – that decision belongs in the assessment.
- Do not run fans or your home’s HVAC to try to dry things out. Residential fans move air but don’t extract moisture, and running them can carry mold spores or humid air into parts of the house that are still dry. Commercial drying equipment controls airflow and dehumidification together – improvising with what you have can make the eventual remediation more complicated.
How We Fix It
When your local Marsh Water Damage Restoration team arrives, the first thing a technician does is a full moisture assessment using thermal imaging and calibrated moisture meters. This tells us exactly where the water went – not just where it’s visible – so we can build an accurate drying plan before any demo begins.
From there, extraction comes first. We use commercial extractors and truck-mounted equipment from Dri-Eaz and Phoenix to pull standing and trapped water out of carpet, subfloor, and wall cavities. Then we set a drying system: high-performance air movers and dehumidifiers from XPOWER and B-Air, sometimes paired with Injectidry panels that dry wall cavities without opening every piece of drywall.
Drying typically runs in monitored cycles over several days, with readings logged each visit. If structural materials or contents show mold risk, that triggers mold remediation alongside the drying scope. You get a written price before anything starts – no estimate that changes once demolition begins. Every repair is backed by our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not right within a year, we make it right.
Frequently Asked Questions
No – and the reason is mold, not just the water itself. Mold can begin to develop within 24 to 48 hours in wet, warm conditions, and once it takes hold in wall cavities or under flooring, the remediation scope and cost grow substantially. The water is also continuing to migrate into structural framing and insulation while it sits. If your house flooded tonight, calling now matters. Reach your local Marsh team at (910) 613-6568 – a live person answers around the clock, every day of the year.
Flood mitigation is an emergency service, and your local Marsh Water Damage Restoration team treats it that way – our dispatch line is answered by a real person 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including weekends and holidays. Once you call, we work to get a credentialed technician on-site as quickly as possible. Call (910) 613-6568 and tell us what you’re dealing with; we’ll tell you exactly what to expect next.
Most standard homeowner’s policies cover sudden, accidental water damage – a burst pipe, a failed appliance line, wind-driven rain through a damaged roof. They typically do not cover rising groundwater flooding from outside the home unless you carry a separate flood insurance policy. Your local Marsh team documents the damage with photos and moisture readings from the first visit, and we coordinate directly with your adjuster so you’re not managing that conversation alone while also trying to deal with a wet house.
Every Marsh Water Damage Restoration technician goes through the Threshold Verified protocol before they’re ever sent to a customer’s door: background-checked, identity-verified, uniformed, and photo-badged. Before the visit, we send you the technician’s name and photo so you know exactly who to expect. At the door, they show a photo ID badge – every time, not just on a first visit. If anyone arrives who you were not told to expect, that visit is on us and we make it right. We take this seriously because we know you’re opening your door to a stranger during one of the more stressful days you’ll have as a homeowner.
Get It Fixed
Call (910) 613-6568 right now – a live person answers 24 hours a day, every day. Your local Marsh Water Damage Restoration team will assess the damage, give you a written price before any work begins, and get your home dry. Water out, home dry, and a crew you can trust inside the house.
Written by Tobias Reyner, Owner and Lead Restoration Technician at Marsh Water Damage Restoration, part of the Threshold Group family of restoration companies serving communities across the country since 2005.
What Our Customers Say
"Knowing the techs were background checked was a big deal with them working in our home for days. Respectful and careful with our belongings."
- Priya S."Washing machine hose burst while we were out. The crew arrived with badges, set up fans and dehumidifiers, and checked the wall cavities with a moisture meter. Floors were dry in four days."
- Colleen A."Clear communication about what insurance would cover and what wouldn't. Never felt pushed."
- Oscar P.