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 is an active damage event, not a cleanup problem. Water is moving through wall cavities, under flooring, and into subfloor material right now – and the longer it moves, the deeper the remediation scope becomes. Most house floods that look manageable on the surface have already reached areas you cannot see.
What you’re dealing with is most likely one of four things: a burst or failed supply line, a sewer or drain backup, surface water that entered through a foundation or door threshold, or an appliance failure (dishwasher, water heater, washing machine). Each one carries a different contamination category under IICRC standards, and that category determines exactly how the restoration is handled. Clean water from a supply line is Category 1. Water that contacted a drain line or appliance waste is Category 2. Sewage backup or floodwater from outside is Category 3 – meaning it carries pathogens and cannot be treated as a simple drying job. Knowing which one you have matters before anyone touches anything, which is why the first call should happen before you move furniture.
Why It Happens
Supply Line or Pipe Failure
Braided steel supply lines – the short hoses connecting your shutoff valves to toilets, sinks, and appliances – have a finite lifespan and tend to fail without warning, often at the fitting crimp. You’ll usually find the water origin point directly below the fixture, with a steady flow or a spray pattern rather than a seep. If the water is clear and the source is a fixture connection or a copper line in a wall, this is almost certainly a Category 1 event.
Appliance Failure
Washing machines, dishwashers, and water heaters account for a significant share of household flooding events. The failure mode is usually a cracked hose, a failed pump seal, or an overfill condition. These floods tend to be contained to one room initially, but water travels under baseboard and through the gap between flooring and subfloor faster than it looks. If you can identify the appliance, turn off its dedicated shutoff before anything else.
Sewer Backup or Drain Overflow
If the water came up through a floor drain, a toilet, or a tub, the source is almost certainly the sewer line rather than a supply line – and the water is immediately Category 3. You’ll often notice a sewage odor before you see the standing water. This is a biohazard situation. Do not wade through it, do not run fans to dry it out yourself, and do not let children or pets into the affected area.
Groundwater or Surface Water Intrusion
Water entering through a foundation wall, a window well, or a threshold during heavy rain is Category 3 by definition because it has contacted soil and exterior contaminants before entering the structure. The giveaway is the direction: water appearing along the base of exterior walls or rising from the floor slab, particularly during or after a storm. Basement flooding from this source often affects HVAC equipment, water heaters, and electrical panels – all of which need to be checked by a professional before power is restored to the space.
What to Do Right Now
- Turn off the water source if you can safely reach it. The main shutoff is typically at the meter near the street or at the pressure regulator inside. If you don’t know where it is, your local water utility can walk you through it. Don’t reach past standing water to get to an electrical panel or a shutoff near live wiring – that step belongs to a professional.
- Do not enter a basement or low area if the water is near any electrical outlet, panel, or appliance. Water and energized circuits are a fatal combination. If there is any possibility the water has reached an electrical component, stay out and call your utility company to cut power at the meter before anyone enters.
- Photograph everything before you move anything. Open your phone camera and document standing water levels, the source point if visible, affected furniture, flooring, and any walls that show a waterline. Take photos from multiple angles. These images are the first layer of your insurance documentation – your adjuster will ask for them, and a restoration company with a proper documentation process will add to them, not replace them.
- Do not run fans or a household dehumidifier into a sewage or Category 3 flood. Moving air through contaminated water aerosolizes pathogens. On a clean-water flood, moving air does help slow surface absorption – but professional-grade drying from equipment like Dri-Eaz and Phoenix systems operates at a completely different scale and documents the readings that matter to your insurer.
- Call your local DryMark Restoration team before you call your insurer. Our technicians arrive with the documentation protocol already running: photos and psychrometric readings from the first visit, structured to meet what adjusters actually need to process a claim. Getting that process started early almost always makes the claims conversation shorter.
BeforeAfterHow We Fix It
When your local DryMark Restoration team arrives, the first thing that happens is a written scope and a flat price – delivered before any equipment comes off the truck. That’s Haven Standard, Clause 1, and it applies to every job without exception.
The technician begins with a moisture mapping of the affected area using thermal imaging and moisture meters, reading every wall cavity, floor layer, and ceiling below the flood source. Those readings establish the drying baseline. Professional drying systems – Dri-Eaz air movers, Phoenix dehumidifiers, Injectidry panels for wall cavities – are then placed to a calculated drying plan, not a rough estimate. Daily psychrometric logs record temperature, humidity, and material moisture readings in every room, signed and dated.
Depending on the flood source, the restoration path involves Water Damage Restoration, and where contamination is confirmed, Mold Remediation or Sewage Cleanup runs concurrently. Material that cannot be dried to IICRC standard is removed and documented before it’s gone. The timeline depends on the scope – most structural drying runs three to five days – and the full record comes with you when the job closes. The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers every job in writing, not on a handshake.
Frequently Asked Questions
No – and the reason is measurable, not just cautionary. Fungal growth can begin in wall cavities within 24 to 48 hours under the humidity and temperature conditions a wet structure creates. What starts as a water damage job becomes a mold remediation job in that window, and the scope difference is significant. The sooner drying starts, the narrower the remediation footprint. Call (629) 213-4606 now rather than in the morning.
A live person answers every call, around the clock – no voicemail tree, no next-business-day callback. Your local DryMark Restoration team dispatches on emergency timelines for active flood situations. Call (629) 213-4606 and you’ll reach someone who can confirm availability in your area immediately.
Most sudden and accidental internal floods – burst pipes, appliance failures, supply line breaks – fall under standard homeowner’s policies. Groundwater intrusion and sewer backup sometimes require a rider that not every policy includes. The honest answer is that coverage depends on your specific policy language, and you’ll know more after your adjuster reviews it. What we contribute is the documentation that gives the claim its best chance: daily moisture logs, photo records, and a written scope that maps directly to the line items an adjuster needs. Alicia Brennan built this company specifically around that gap – the claims that were denied because the documentation wasn’t there, not because the damage wasn’t real.
The answer depends on what the moisture readings show and what the water source was. Category 1 clean water caught early sometimes resolves with structural drying alone – no demolition, no antimicrobial treatment beyond standard protocol. Category 2 or Category 3 water, or any situation where drying was delayed past the 48-hour window, almost always requires more. The technician’s moisture map on the first visit will show you exactly what’s affected and what the remediation scope needs to be – and that scope comes with a written price before anyone starts. Call (629) 213-4606 to get the assessment scheduled.
Get It Fixed
Call (629) 213-4606 right now – a live person answers every call, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your local DryMark Restoration team will arrive with a written price, professional drying equipment, and the documentation your insurance claim needs. No voicemail. No waiting until morning.
Written by Alicia Brennan, Owner at DryMark Restoration, serving communities nationwide since 2011.
What Our Customers Say
"They told us the subfloor was dry and did not need replacing, which cost them the bigger job. We have recommended them four times since."
- Verity M."The crew was licensed and every name was on the paperwork. Small thing when strangers are in your house for five days."
- Duncan A."Daily moisture readings, written down, room by room. When the adjuster questioned the drying time they sent the log and the conversation ended."
- Constance E.