A burst pipe is one of the few home emergencies where minutes genuinely matter. Water spreads fast and quietly, and the difference between a stressful afternoon and a five-figure repair often comes down to what you do in the first ten minutes. If you're reading this in a calm moment, skim it now — it's much easier to remember under pressure.
1. Shut off the water
Your first job is to stop the flow. Find your main water shut-off valve — in Denver homes it's often in the basement, in a utility closet, or near where the water line enters the house — and turn it clockwise until it stops. If you can't reach the main, close the nearest valve to the leak. Do this before anything else; everything else can wait a few seconds.
2. Kill the power to wet areas
Water and electricity are a dangerous combination. If water is near outlets, appliances, or the electrical panel, switch off power to those areas at the breaker — but only if you can reach the panel without standing in water. If you can't get there safely, leave it and call an electrician or your utility.
3. Drain the lines and move what you can
Open the lowest cold-water faucets in the house to drain the remaining water out of the pipes, which reduces how much ends up on your floor. Then move furniture, rugs, electronics, and anything valuable out of the water's path. Lift what you can onto blocks or countertops.
4. Document everything for insurance
Before you clean up, take photos and video of the damage from several angles — the source, the standing water, and any affected belongings. This documentation is what your insurance claim will be built on, and it's far easier to capture now than to reconstruct later.
- Photograph the burst point and the water's spread.
- Note the time you discovered it and when you shut the water off.
- Keep any damaged items until your adjuster has seen them.
5. Get water out fast — then call a pro
Standing water becomes mold in as little as 24 to 48 hours, so start extracting with towels, a wet/dry vac, and fans as soon as it's safe. But drying a home properly means getting moisture out of walls, subfloors, and cavities you can't see — which is where professional restoration matters. If you're dealing with water damage now, message us right away and we'll move as fast as we can dispatch.