If water is actively running somewhere it shouldn’t be right now, stop reading after this paragraph and go shut off your main water valve. It’s usually near the street-facing side of the house, close to where the line enters the slab, or in the garage or a utility closet. Turn the handle clockwise until it stops. That single action buys you the time to think clearly about everything else.
What do I do in the first 60 seconds of a burst pipe?
Shut off the water at the main, then cut power to any outlets or fixtures in the flooded area if you can reach the breaker panel without walking through standing water.
If the water is anywhere near outlets, light switches, or an electrical panel, do not wade through it. Call an electrician or wait for help instead of risking a shock. Once the water is off and the area is safe, move anything you can lift out of the water: rugs, electronics, boxes, furniture legs onto foil or blocks. If you have a wet vac, start pulling up standing water. Open windows if the weather allows it to get air moving, and prop open any cabinet doors under sinks so trapped water can evaporate instead of sitting.
Don’t run the HVAC system if water has reached the ductwork or the air handler. That just spreads moisture through the house.
Who do I call first, a plumber or a restoration company?
Call a licensed plumber first to physically stop the source, then call a water damage restoration company within the same hour, because drying has to start before the plumber even finishes the repair.
These are two different jobs done by two different trades, and homeowners in Royse City often don’t realize both are usually needed on the same loss. A plumber repairs or replaces the failed pipe, fitting, or valve. That’s their license and their scope. A restoration company handles everything the water touched after it stopped flowing: extracting standing water, pulling wet baseboard and drywall where needed, setting air movers and dehumidifiers, and documenting the loss for your insurance adjuster. Reign Restoration handles that second half for homes across Royse City, Rockwall, Fate, and the surrounding area, running water extraction and structural drying under the ANSI/IICRC S500 standard so the house actually dries instead of just looking dry. Reign is available 24/7 at (214) 304-0621.
The mistake that costs people the most money is waiting on the plumber’s repair before calling anyone about the water. Drywall, insulation, and subfloor start supporting mold growth within 24 to 48 hours of staying wet, per EPA guidance on mold and moisture. That clock doesn’t pause while you wait for a plumbing appointment. If you’ve already walked through the burst pipe checklist, you know the order: stop the water, then start the drying, in parallel, not in sequence.
What happens in the first 24 hours after the water stops?
In the first 24 hours a restoration crew extracts standing water, maps moisture behind walls and under flooring with a meter, and sets drying equipment sized to the affected square footage.
A technician walks the space with a moisture meter to find out how far the water traveled, often farther than the visible wet carpet or baseboard suggests. Shared walls, closets, and the room below (if the burst happened upstairs) all get checked. Anything that can be dried in place, solid wood subfloor, some drywall, gets left and dried with air movers and a dehumidifier running continuously. Material that’s saturated beyond drying, like soaked particleboard cabinet bases or insulation, gets removed so it doesn’t become a mold source later. Everything gets photographed and logged with moisture readings before and during drying, which becomes the documentation your insurance claim runs on. For a fuller walkthrough of that window, see what to do in the first 24 hours after water damage.
Will homeowners insurance cover a burst pipe in Royse City?
Most Texas homeowners policies cover sudden, accidental water damage from a burst pipe, but they typically exclude damage from a leak that was slow and ongoing for weeks before anyone noticed.
The distinction matters. A pipe that splits from a hard freeze or sudden pressure spike is usually a covered peril. A slow seep behind a wall that finally soaked through the drywall after months is often treated as a maintenance issue and denied. The Texas Department of Insurance and the Insurance Information Institute both lay out that same general pattern. Your deductible applies before coverage kicks in, and the adjuster will want the plumber’s invoice showing the cause plus the restoration company’s moisture logs and drying documentation. Keep both. For the longer version of filing that claim correctly in Texas, this guide on water damage insurance claims walks through it step by step.
If the water is still running, stop it first. If it’s stopped and you’re standing in a wet room deciding what comes next, call Reign Restoration at (214) 304-0621 to get extraction and drying started the same day, and call your plumber in parallel to get the repair scheduled.
About Reign Restoration
Reign Restoration is an IICRC Certified Firm based in Royse City, TX, holding IICRC WRT, AMRT, and FSRT credentials and Texas mold license MRC2276 (verify at the TDLR license search). The company answers calls 24/7 and carries a 5.0 Google rating across 27 reviews. Its crews handle water damage restoration, fire and smoke damage restoration, mold remediation, storm damage restoration, contents restoration and storage, odor removal, reconstruction, roofing, and general contracting across Royse City, Rockwall, Fate, Rowlett, and the surrounding North Texas area.