Water Damage in a DC Condo or Apartment: When the Leak Comes From Another Unit

1. 1

   Stop the water if the source is in your unit

   If a supply line, water heater, washing machine or dishwasher in your unit failed, close the valve at that fixture or appliance. If the water is coming from above, you cannot stop it from your side.

2. 2

   Tell building management right away, in writing

   Call the front desk or management office, then send a text or email so there is a written record with the time. Management can reach the shutoff for the riser and the unit above. You usually cannot.

3. 3

   Keep clear of a sagging ceiling

   A ceiling that bulges or drips is holding water. Move people and belongings out from under it and leave it for the crew to open safely.

4. 4

   Make the electrical call

   If water is near light fixtures, outlets or the panel, switch off those circuits only if you can reach the breaker from dry ground. Otherwise leave the power alone and tell the crew.

5. 5

   Photograph it and write it down

   Take photos and video of the ceiling, walls and floors with your phone's time stamp on, and note when you first saw water.

6. 6

   Lift what you can, then call a restoration company

   Raise belongings off wet floors. A crew can start extraction and moisture mapping in your unit while management deals with the source.

The building type decides where the water goes, and so where a crew has to look.

Newer concrete buildings

In newer mid- and high-rise buildings, such as those in Navy Yard and NoMa, water usually runs down through the slab penetrations and plumbing chases. A leak on one floor can wet the units below it and the corridor, so the crew maps the vertical path through every affected unit.

Pre-war co-ops and apartment buildings

In 1920s-era co-ops and apartment buildings, such as those in Cleveland Park, Woodley Park and Kalorama, one failed riser can run down several floors, through plaster ceilings and wood-framed floors, before anyone finds the shutoff. Plaster can often be dried in place, so it is worth asking the crew to measure before anything is cut open.

Converted rowhouses

Many DC rowhouses are divided into a few condo or apartment units. The floors and interior walls are wood-framed, the party walls are shared masonry, and the lowest unit takes whatever comes from above.

Sprinklers, HVAC lines and roof drains

A discharged fire sprinkler, a blocked HVAC condensate line or a failed roof drain puts water into a building from above or from inside the walls. The response is the same: find the source, map the spread, and dry every wet unit at once.

Management controls what you cannot: the riser shutoffs, access to the unit above, the common elements and the rules for outside vendors. Many buildings ask a vendor for a certificate of insurance, a license number, work hours and an elevator reservation before work starts. Our license numbers are listed at the top of this page. Ask any vendor for its certificate and check the dates.

We coordinate with the property manager or board for access and for the scope that touches common elements, and we break the estimate out by area on request. Property managers and boards: see commercial and multifamily restoration.

• Moisture readings by room and material, with dates
• Time-stamped photographs of each phase
• A record of the equipment placed and for how long
• Daily psychrometric logs for each drying area
• A line-item estimate, broken out by area on request

We provide our photos, moisture readings and invoice to you and, at your request, to building management or your insurer. You are the customer and we bill you.

Tell your landlord or property manager in writing, with a text, email or letter and photographs, and keep a copy. Ask who will do the work in your unit, and get the answer in writing too.

On mold after water damage, DOEE's page for tenants, read October 26, 2026, gives the same first step. It says a landlord who receives written or electronic notice of indoor mold must inspect within 7 days and remediate within 30 days of the inspection, and that the Department of Buildings, not DOEE, now handles housing code enforcement for mold in rentals (DOEE, Mold Information for Tenants). This page covers the water. For mold, see mold remediation in Washington, DC.