Burst pipe: what to do in the first ten minutes

1. Shut off the water

The main shut-off is usually where the water line enters the house: in the basement on the wall facing the street, near the water meter. Turn a round handle clockwise until it stops, or turn a lever handle a quarter turn so it sits across the pipe.

If you cannot find it or it will not move, your municipality can shut the water at the street.

2. Drain the lines

Open the cold taps, starting at the lowest level of the house. This relieves pressure and empties the pipes so less water reaches the break. Then turn off the water heater and open the hot taps.

3. Deal with electricity

If water is near outlets, light fixtures or the panel, switch off those circuits, but only if you can reach the panel from a dry spot. Water dripping through a light fitting means the circuit above is wet.

4. Contain it

• Buckets under drips, towels at doorways.
• If a ceiling is bulging with water, stand clear. Switch off the power to that room at the breaker panel first, because water collects around light fittings. Then, if it is safe to reach, a small hole at the lowest point of the bulge lets the water out in a controlled way instead of bringing the ceiling down.
• Move rugs, electronics and furniture out of the wet area.

5. Photograph it

Take photos of the pipe, the water, and every damaged room and item before cleaning up.

6. Make two calls

A plumber repairs the pipe. A restoration company removes the water and dries the structure. They are different jobs, and the second matters as much as the first: water inside walls and under floors will not dry on its own.

Where the water goes

Water from an upstairs pipe travels along joists and down wall cavities. It often shows up several metres from the break, and the worst-affected area may look fine from the room. Thermal imaging and moisture meters find it.

Frozen pipes

Pipes usually split while frozen and leak when they thaw. If a tap gives no water in a cold snap, find the frozen section, open the tap and warm the pipe gently with a hair dryer. Never use a flame. Keep the heat on and cabinet doors open on exterior walls during extreme cold.

Insurance

A sudden burst is commonly covered. Insurers may ask how long the home was unoccupied and whether heat was maintained. See insurance claims.

Finding your main shut-off before you need it

Take five minutes this week to find it. In most Ontario houses it is in the basement, on the wall facing the street, close to the water meter. In a slab-on-grade house or a condo it may be in a utility closet, near the water heater or under the kitchen sink. Once you have found it:

• Turn it off and on once to make sure it moves
• Label it
• Show everyone in the household
• If it is seized or drips, have a plumber replace it

Individual fixtures also have their own shut-offs: under sinks, behind toilets and on the lines to the washing machine and water heater. For a leak at one fixture, that is the quicker option.

What happens inside the house

Water from a broken pipe follows gravity and the structure. It runs along the top of ceilings until it finds a seam, a light fitting or a joint, then drops. It runs down inside wall cavities, soaking insulation on the way. It spreads under flooring by capillary action, often a metre or more beyond the visible wet patch.

That is why the room with the stain is not always the room with the most damage, and why a proper assessment uses moisture meters and thermal imaging instead of looking for wet spots.

If you are away when it happens

A burst in an empty house is the worst case, because it runs until someone notices. To reduce the risk:

• Keep the heat on, and set it no lower than the mid-teens Celsius
• Have someone check the house regularly, as many policies require
• Shut off the main and drain the lines if you will be away for weeks in winter
• Consider a leak detector that shuts the water off automatically and alerts your phone

Working with the plumber and the restoration crew

The plumber’s job is to find and repair the break. Ask them to note the cause and keep the failed section of pipe or fitting if the insurer may want to see it. The restoration crew’s job starts where the plumber’s ends: extracting water, opening wet cavities, drying and rebuilding.