What to do in the first few minutes after a pipe bursts
- Shut off the main. Look where the water line enters the house: a garage wall, a utility closet, near the water heater or in a crawlspace. Turn the valve fully clockwise, or a quarter turn on a lever-handle ball valve.
- Turn off the water heater. Set a gas heater to pilot or off, or switch off the breaker for an electric one.
- Drain the lines. Open a faucet on the lowest floor so the water left in the pipes goes down a drain instead of through a ceiling.
- Stay clear of electricity. Keep away from wet outlets, light fixtures and appliances.
- Take photos. Photograph the break and the damage before cleanup starts, for your insurance claim.
Cannot find the main, or it will not close? Call us and we will walk you through it. In Oklahoma City, the utility's customer service line can also shut the water off at the meter in an emergency.
Emergency Burst Pipe Repair, day or night
Most bursts in Oklahoma City come with a freeze, but pipes fail in July too. Old galvanized pipe rusts through at the threads, copper wears pinholes, high water pressure strains joints, and a washer or toilet supply hose can split without warning.
Whatever the cause, emergency burst pipe repair follows the same logic: stop the water, find the failure, fix it to last. We carry common pipe sizes and fittings so a broken line can usually be fixed permanently on the first trip. If a permanent repair has to wait for access or parts, we make a safe temporary repair so you have water tonight, and we tell you exactly what still needs doing.
Emergency Water Leak Repair After Freezing
After a hard freeze, the calls change. The ice that blocked a line overnight melts as the day warms, and that is when the leaks show up: water dripping from a soffit, a ceiling stain spreading in a back bedroom, a hose bib spraying inside the garage wall. A single cold night can leave several weak spots on one run of pipe, so a repair that fixes only the visible leak often leads to a second call.
Our emergency water leak repair after freezing treats the whole system as suspect. We repair the leaking section, then pressure-test the lines that ran through the same cold space: the attic run, the exterior wall, the crawlspace. If a line is still frozen, see our frozen pipe repair and thawing service, because thawing a pipe the wrong way can turn a split into a flood.
IBHS research on interior water damage found burst pipes are especially common when the power fails for more than 24 hours during sub-freezing weather, and it names uninsulated copper as the most problematic pipe material in extreme cold. If your power went out during a freeze, check every room once it comes back.
What affects the cost of burst pipe repair
We price the actual repair after we see it. Where the break is, how many breaks there are, the pipe material and how much drywall must be opened all matter. Rerouting or insulating a line that keeps freezing adds to the visit but prevents the next one. Water damage is a cost of its own: the Insurance Information Institute puts the average homeowners claim for water damage and freezing at about $15,400, based on 2019 to 2023 data. Financing is available for larger repairs.
Burst pipes in Oklahoma City: why cold snaps hit so hard
The Oklahoma Climatological Survey notes that periods of extreme cold here are infrequent, and those lasting more than a few days are rare. That is exactly the problem. Houses built for heat get caught by a sudden arctic outbreak, and IBHS points to plumbing in exterior walls as a common weak spot across the southern states. On February 16, 2021, all 120 Oklahoma Mesonet stations fell below zero for the first time in the network's history. The Mesonet reported that homes and businesses across the state dealt with frozen and burst pipes, and more than 120 public water systems were damaged.
The best time to deal with a burst pipe is before it happens. Our plumbing winterization service finds and protects the lines most likely to freeze. If you suspect a slow leak from an old freeze, water leak detection will find it. For any other after-hours problem, our 24/7 emergency plumbing line is always answered. To learn who you will be talking to, meet our team.