You might be sitting at home one day when all of a sudden, the unthinkable happens and a pipe bursts. Now you have to stop the situation from getting worse. This isn’t a situation that will go away on its own. In most cases, it isn’t as easy as stuffing the leak and calling it a day. Today, we’re going to talk about 4 things you should do after a burst pipe and why water damage restoration is critical.
1. Shut Off the Water
You need to be aware of where the shut-off valves are for your leaking pipe. This can be a stop tap underneath your kitchen sink or the main water shut-off valve in your home that shuts water off in the entire house. Once you shut the water off, flush out your pipes. This will require you to flush cold water through all of your pipes and flush all of your toilets at least once. While doing this, you should also shut off your hot water heater. Go back to all of your faucets and run hot water out of all of them. Once this is done, this should drain all of the water from your pipes. This will prevent water from leaking out while you take the time to handle the next steps in this process.
2. Check Out Where the Damage Is
Now that you’ve got all of your pipes drained, assess the damage. Check to see how severe it is and how major the water pipe is. If it’s a small thing underneath your kitchen sink, you might be able to get away with just patching up the leak with a bonding agent or tape. However, if it’s more severe, especially if it’s on a major water main in your house, you need to weigh your options. This usually requires calling in a professional to repair the damage.
3. Fix the Pipe (At Least Temporarily)
At this point, you need to decide whether or not you need to call in a professional to fix your burst pipe. As we previously addressed, minor damage might be easily fixable. However, if the damage is severe to the point that you need to bring in a professional to fix it, you’re still going to have to put a temporary fix in place until they get there. There are a few things you need to make these temporary repairs. We recommend you either keep them in your house or immediately run out and buy them if your pipes burst.
- Epoxy putty – This is good for somewhat large holes. Once epoxy putty hardens, it should seal the hole well enough that you should be able to turn your water back on and keep things running like normal until you can have a professional come out and make the repairs.
- Sleeve clamp – You can use this to slide over the hole and tighten it to close it up in the meantime.
- Electrical or duct tape – This will do the job for smaller holes. Just wrap the tape around the pipe a few times and add the previously mentioned sleeve clamp to secure a small hole long enough for a plumber to get out to you and provide a more permanent solution.
4. Call A Plumber
While some pipe damage might seem like you can easily fix it, it’s still recommended that you hire a professional to fix any pipes that might need repair. As a preventative measure, you should make note of a plumber you can call in an emergency. Ask around and see who comes recommended. While this might seem like a bit much, doing this makes an incredibly stressful situation a little less stressful. You’ve already researched who you think is the plumber for the job, instead of thumbing through Google and Yelp reviews while you’re panicking about a water pipe that just burst.
Bring in PNW Restoration for Water Damage Restoration
After your pipes are fixed, you’re going to want to have someone come in to clean up and fix any water damage that may have been caused by your burst pipe. At PNW Restoration, we are experts in water damage restoration with 24/7 emergency services available to you. Our goal is to quickly and successfully help your home recover from any c.
If you want your water damage fixed and cleaned up by a team of experts, call PNW Restoration at (971) 247-3470 to reach our emergency response team or to set up an appointment.
