How to Save Your Home, Your Health, and Your Insurance Claim
Presented by WTR Restoration & Dr. Moisture
Water damage is a race against the clock. What you do in the first 60 minutes determines whether you have a 3-day drying project or a 3-week mold remediation nightmare.
This guide gives you the exact steps used by professional restoration experts to stabilize your home and protect your insurance claim.
Your goal: Stop the bleeding without becoming a statistic.
If it's a pipe burst, shut off the main water valve immediately. Locate your shut-off valve before you need it — usually near the water meter or where the main line enters your home.
Water and electricity are a fatal mix. If water has reached outlets or your electrical panel, do not enter the standing water. Turn off the breakers only if the panel is in a dry location.
If the water is "Black Water" (sewage backup or localized flooding), evacuate immediately. This is Category 3 water and contains pathogens that can cause serious illness.
Learn about Category 3 sewage cleanup →|See a real Category 3 case study →Your goal: Create an "Insurance-Proof" record of the damage.
As a licensed adjuster and Level 3 Xactimate trainer, Ben Jernigan knows that claims are won or lost in the documentation phase.
Read our full guide to navigating your insurance claim →
Snap wide shots of the entire room and close-ups of where the water is coming from. Capture every affected surface — floors, baseboards, walls, and ceilings.
If possible, take a video walking through the affected area. A continuous walkthrough captures spatial context that individual photos miss.
Even if a rug is soaked and ruined, keep it. The insurance adjuster needs to see the "loss" to pay for the "replacement." Premature disposal is the #1 cause of underpaid claims.
Place aluminum foil or wood blocks under furniture legs to prevent "wicking" (water climbing up the wood) and permanent staining on flooring.
Your goal: Get the right tech on-site.
When you call a restoration company, ask these three "Dr. Moisture" vetting questions:
WTR Restoration follows ANSI/IICRC S500 standards for water damage restoration — the industry benchmark for proper mitigation.
Surface moisture is only 10% of the problem. Hidden moisture behind walls is the real threat. FLIR thermal imaging reveals what your eyes cannot.
See the technology we use →You need data to prove to your insurance company that the house is actually dry. A moisture map is your objective evidence of completed drying.
Learn about our moisture survey process →The Claim Killers
Fans only dry the surface. Trapped moisture in the "sill plates" and wall cavities will rot and grow mold within 48 hours.
Why professional structural drying matters →Water wicks upward. A 1-inch flood at 2 PM can be a 12-inch wall-wicking disaster by 10 PM.
Professional meters measure moisture content inside the material. Your hand cannot detect "structural" moisture.
We treat your home like our own.
Led by a licensed adjuster, we speak the language of your insurance carrier to ensure your claim is handled fairly.
We use FLIR thermal imaging and Matterport 3D scanning to document every inch of your loss.
Serving New Braunfels, Seguin, San Marcos, and Canyon Lake.