A half-inch supply line under a kitchen sink can put 6 gallons of water on your floor every minute. A failed water heater connection can do twice that. By the time most South Florida homeowners realize what's happening, several hundred gallons of water are already loose in the walls, the floors, and the ceilings below.
A burst pipe isn't a slow leak you can think about over coffee. The first hour is the difference between a few thousand dollars in drying and ten times that in demolition. This guide walks Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach homeowners through exactly what to do in those first 60 minutes — and what to never do.
Why pipes burst more often than people think
South Florida homeowners assume burst pipes are a Northern problem caused by freezing weather. They aren't. The most common causes we respond to down here have nothing to do with cold:
- Old galvanized or copper supply lines corroded from inside after 30+ years.
- Rubber washing machine hoses that swelled, cracked, and burst — almost always the cheap factory-original lines.
- Water heater connections that rusted at the fitting.
- Toilet supply lines that failed at the plastic shutoff or the flexible braid.
- Refrigerator icemaker lines that worked their way loose behind the unit.
- Pinhole leaks in copper that grew under high water pressure (Florida has notoriously high municipal pressure in some neighborhoods).
- Pool plumbing that cracked at a fitting.
Identifying the source matters because it changes your insurance story and your fix. But not in the first hour. In the first hour, the only thing that matters is stopping the water.
The first 5 minutes
1. Shut off the water at the main. This is the single most important thing you can do, and most homeowners can't tell you where their main shutoff is. Find it now, before you ever need it. In a typical South Florida home, the main is either:
- At the meter at the street (curb-side, in a green or black plastic box).
- On the exterior wall closest to the bathroom or kitchen.
- Inside the garage near the water heater.
- In a utility closet.
If you can't find it, go to the curb meter. There's a shutoff on the house side of the meter that requires a meter key (a long T-handle wrench, $15 at any hardware store — buy one). If you don't have a meter key, a large adjustable wrench can sometimes turn the valve in an emergency.
2. Kill power to the affected area. If water is anywhere near outlets, the panel, light fixtures, or appliances, flip the relevant breakers. If the panel itself is wet, call the power company — don't open it.
3. Move what you can. Anything wood, paper, leather, or fabric that isn't already wet. Lift everything else off the floor a few inches. A stack of books with a wet leg can be saved if you flip and air-dry them in the first hour.
The next 25 minutes
4. Photograph and video everything before any cleanup. Wide shots of every affected room. Close-ups of the source of the water. Photos of contents you'll be moving. This documentation is what gets your insurance claim paid.
5. Pull up rugs and small items. Get them outside or to a dry, ventilated room.
6. Don't try to extract the water yourself with a regular vacuum. A standard household vacuum is not a wet-vac. It will electrocute you, ruin itself, or both. A real wet-vac picks up small puddles. It is not going to extract enough water to matter on a serious burst pipe — that's a job for a truck-mounted extractor.
7. Open windows only if outside humidity is lower than inside. This is South Florida, so usually it isn't. Default to running the AC and any standalone dehumidifiers you have.
8. Turn the AC down a few degrees. A cooler home holds less moisture in the air, which slows secondary damage to drywall and wood.
Calls to make in the first hour
Three calls, in this order:
1. A licensed plumber. They fix the burst. Don't wait for insurance to authorize this — every Florida policy requires you to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage, and a plumber repair is a reasonable step.
2. A water damage restoration company. They handle the water already in your structure: extraction, drying, demolition if needed, and antimicrobial treatment. They also document everything in a format your insurance company will accept.
3. Your insurance carrier. File the claim. Get a claim number. Get the assigned adjuster's name and contact info. Ask whether you have to use a specific restoration vendor (in Florida, you almost always have the right to choose your own).
If you can only make one call, it's the restoration company — they will help you with the other two and they're the ones who will be in your house drying it out.
What never to do
Don't try to dry it out by yourself with a few household fans and call it good. Standard household fans don't move enough air, can't dry inside a wall cavity, and will spread mold spores around the house once mold starts (24–48 hours in our humidity).
Don't open up walls preemptively. Cutting drywall before a restoration tech assesses the moisture map can damage parts that didn't need to come out, and it can void parts of your insurance claim if you do work the adjuster can't verify the scope of.
Don't bleach everything. Bleach on wet drywall and wood doesn't sanitize, releases fumes when mixed with biological material, and can damage finishes. Antimicrobials applied by a restoration company are formulated for this.
Don't move out unless you have to. Most water damage restorations are livable while drying equipment is running. Moving creates a billing question with your insurance company about Additional Living Expense (ALE) coverage, which the restoration company can help you decide on.
Don't sign anything that assigns benefits to the first contractor who shows up. Florida had a chronic problem with abusive Assignment of Benefits (AOB) agreements, where unscrupulous contractors took over the homeowner's claim and ran up the bill. Florida law has tightened this in recent years, but you should never sign over your insurance rights to anyone. A reputable restoration company will work directly with your insurer without an AOB.
What to expect from a restoration response
A typical first-hour response after the call:
- 30–90 minutes: Tech arrives, assesses the source, verifies it's stopped, performs an initial moisture survey with thermal imaging and meters.
- 1–3 hours in: Bulk water extraction begins. Carpet pulled, baseboards removed where needed, drywall inspection cuts where moisture is high.
- Same day: Drying equipment placed — air movers and dehumidifiers sized to the cubic footage and the extent of moisture. The number of pieces of equipment matters; one fan in a wet room is theater, not drying.
- Daily: Moisture readings logged so the drying timeline is documented.
- 3–7 days typical drying time: Once the structure hits dry standard verified by meter, equipment is removed.
- Repair phase: Drywall, baseboards, paint, flooring as needed.
The most common mistake we see is homeowners stopping drying at three days because the surfaces feel dry. The wall cavity isn't dry. The subfloor isn't dry. Pulling equipment early is how mold cases get started.
Will insurance cover it?
Most Florida homeowners policies cover sudden and accidental water damage from a burst pipe. What they don't cover:
- The cost to repair the pipe itself (that's a plumbing expense).
- Damage from a leak that was leaking slowly for weeks before it actually burst.
- Damage from a known but unrepaired plumbing problem.
- Mold beyond a small allowance (typically $10K) unless you bought additional mold coverage.
A clean, sudden burst caught early — with documentation, mitigation, and a real restoration company — is one of the more straightforward water damage claims to resolve.
When to call RestoFlo
If a pipe just burst, call us before you call anyone else if you can. We'll guide you through the first-hour shutoff, dispatch a tech, coordinate with a plumber, document everything for your insurance carrier, and handle the dry-out and reconstruction.
24/7 emergency line: (754) 289-4815.
