Crucial Steps For When You Find A Burst Pipe
Crucial Steps For When You Find A Burst Pipe
If you have a burst pipe in your home, then you need to make sure you take care of it as quickly as possible.
Written by Liz Bayardelle, PhD | See Comments | Updated 07/31/2021
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Crucial Steps For When You Find A Burst Pipe
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If you have a burst pipe in your home, then you need to make sure you take care of it as quickly as possible. The water damage it can cause is extensive, and the threat to your family’s health can be severe depending on where that water reaches. As such, here’s what you should do as soon as you find a burst pipe.
Step #1: Turn Off the Water in the Home
The first thing that you should do is find the water mains valve for the home. As long as it’s on, there will be water flowing in, which will then come out through the burst pipe. It’s a good idea to have an idea of where your shutoff valve is, regardless, but there are guides that can help you find it in a hurry. In most homes, it will be beneath the kitchen sink, but that’s not always the case.
Step #2: Relieve the Water Pressure
Even after you have the water turned off, you’re still going to find that there is water coming out of the burst pipe. That’s because you have the supply of water that’s already in the plumbing system that needs to be emptied. You can empty it by turning on all the faucets, the garden hose, and flushing the toilet to decrease the water pressure.
Step #3: Get Help ASAP
With the temporary fixes, hopefully, the water has stopped gushing out of the pipe now. However, with any emergency plumbing problems, you’re going to need professional help. Get your pipe repaired and find the source of the burst pipe as best as you can. From there, the plumber will be able to take over and replace the damaged pipe. Listen to any recommendations they have on what you can do specifically to stop this from happening again.
Step #4: Fix the Damage
One of the reasons that burst pipes are so dire is that they can cost so much to repair the longer you let them go unchecked. Acting fast after the burst pipe itself is fixed is important, too. Water damage remediation teams can help you prevent the water damage from spreading even further and costing you more money.
Step #5: Prevent a "Next Time"
Your plumber will have, hopefully, highlighted the cause of the burst pipe this time, and what you can do to fix the problem if they don’t fix the source of it themselves. However, there are plenty of preventative steps that you can take. Insulating your pipes so that they don’t freeze is going to be the biggest priority. Heat tape can also be installed onto the pipes during the winter. It’s a good idea to seal any air leaks that allow the cold air to come into the home and find other ways to insulate and heat the home.
A burst pipe is one of the most serious and costly plumbing problems that can hit your home. Hopefully, the tips above prepare you for it and get you into action to stop it from doing damage as quickly as possible.
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About the Author
Liz Bayardelle, PhD
Founder | Contributor
Liz (or Dr. Mommy, as her toddler started calling her after learning what a PhD was) is the happily sleep-deprived mom of a toddler (and professional raccoon noise impersonator), a sparkle-clad kidnado, a teenage stepdaughter, 200 cumulative pounds of dog, and herd of dustbunnies (if daily vacuuming doesn't occur). During nights and naptimes, she uses her PhD in business psychology as an author, speaker, and consultant. She also serves as an executive and principal for three companies, two of which she co-founded with her very patient (and equally exhausted) husband.