What to Do When Your Pipes Burst

1/9/2018 (Permalink)

When your pipes burst, you'll need to react quickly. If you do, you can minimize water damage.

This time of year, we get many calls from panicked customers whose pipes have frozen and burst inside their homes. While there are some preventative measures you can take before that ever happens, not everyone is lucky. So what do you do when your pipes burst? We list the steps below.

• Shut off your water immediately. Don’t let the damage be worse than it needs to be. By shutting off water to your home, you’ll be able to minimize damage until repairs and restoration services can be performed. If you live in an apartment and cannot turn off the valve yourself, call your property manager right away.

• Call a plumber. You might have stopped the water, but your pipes are still damaged. Unfortunately, due to high demand during this time of year, it can be difficult to get a plumber on short notice. You may be put on a waiting list.

• Call a water damage restoration company. Now that the problem is fixed, what do you do about all the damage? While you should begin clearing out water, you’ll want a restoration company to speed up the process and make sure you won’t have additional problems, such as mold.

It’s always stressful when your house is flooded with water, but by equipping yourself with the knowledge to react, you’ll feel in control and be able to minimize damage.