A burst pipe, a kitchen fire, a limb through the roof. The first hour looks different each time, but the order is the same: get safe, stop what you can stop, take pictures, then call people. Here is that order for a Fort Worth house.
1. Get everyone safe first
If there is smoke, a gas smell, water near outlets or a ceiling that is sagging, leave and call 911 from outside. Nothing in the house is worth a risk. After a fire, wait for the fire department to say it is safe before you go back in. Ready.gov's home fire guidance covers the basics.
2. Stop what you can stop
- Water: Shut off the main. In most Fort Worth houses it is at the street meter or on an outside wall. If you cannot reach it, Call us. We answer 24/7.
- Roof or window open to the weather: Cover it if you can do it from the ground. Do not climb on a wet or damaged roof.
- Power: If water has reached outlets, the panel or ceiling light fixtures, do not touch the breaker unless you can reach it dry. Have an electrician look before you turn anything back on.
3. Take pictures before anything moves
Take wide shots of each room, then close-ups of the wet or burned areas, the source if you can see it, and anything you plan to throw out. Photograph the ceiling as well as the floor. Pictures taken before cleanup are the best record of what the house looked like. Our post on documenting water damage before cleanup has a short checklist.
4. Let your insurance company know, and call a contractor
Tell your insurance company what happened. You do not have to wait on them to get the house stabilized, and you choose your own contractor.
5. What "stabilize" means
When we get to a house, the first job is to stop it from getting worse.
- Water: We pull standing water, remove what cannot be dried (often wet carpet pad) and set drying equipment. We take moisture readings and photos, and we log the readings every day. More on our water damage and drying page.
- Fire and smoke: We board up openings, protect what is still dry and check where the smoke and soot traveled. See fire damage restoration and smoke and soot.
- Storm: We tarp or board the opening the same day, then dry whatever the rain reached. See emergency board-up.
- Sewage: We handle this in-house and treat it as its own job. See sewage backup.
We can start drying or board-up the same day across Fort Worth and DFW. Everything permanent waits until we know what the house actually did.
6. What North Texas does to a house
- Hard freezes. Pipes in attics and exterior walls split, and water runs for a while before anyone notices. Our fall pipe freeze prep post covers what to do before the first cold snap.
- Hail and straight-line wind. A few missing shingles can let in enough rain to wet a ceiling, insulation and a wall. Our hail roof inspection post shows what to look for.
- Heavy rain. Water finds its way into lower levels, garages and crawl spaces. See our post on water in a finished lower level after heavy rain.
7. After the first day
Once the house is stable, we write down what we found: moisture readings, photos, what was opened and what was behind it. The repair scope comes from that file, and the rebuild starts when the structure is dry enough. You can read the steps on our process page and see how the work looks on recent projects. If you want to talk it through, get in touch.