The first 48 hours after water damage

Hour one

1. Stop the water. Close the valve under the fixture or behind the toilet. If you can't find one, close the main. In much of San Diego the main is in a box near the curb or where the line enters the house; a water meter key or a big adjustable wrench turns it.
2. Power. Don't touch cords or appliances that are wet or sitting in water. Turn off breakers for wet rooms only from somewhere dry.
3. Photograph everything before you move it: wide shots of each room, the source, the water line on walls.
4. Move things off the floor. Rugs, furniture, boxes. Put foil or wood blocks under furniture legs you can't move.

The first day

• Call your insurer to report the loss, even if you haven't decided to claim. Write down the claim number and the name of who you spoke to.
• Get the water out. Mop and wet-vac standing water. Lift wet area rugs out.
• Start air moving. Fans and a dehumidifier in a closed room. On a dry inland day, open windows; on a damp, foggy morning at the coast, keep them closed and let the dehumidifier work.
• Call a restoration company if carpet pad or drywall is soaked, or a ceiling, or if water reached the slab under flooring. Those don't dry with fans alone.

Day two

• Ask for moisture readings, written down by room. They tell you what is dry and what isn't.
• Keep receipts for everything: fans, a hotel night, meals, the plumber.
• Read anything before you sign it, especially a form that mentions your insurance. Is this quote fair?
• Find the cause. A plumber's invoice that names the failed part helps the claim.

If it is a condo or apartment

Tell the neighbor above or below right away, and the HOA or the landlord. In a shared building the water often came from another unit, and the question of whose insurance pays depends on where it started. Ask the restoration company to note the source in writing.