Burst Pipe: What to Do Right Now (and If It's in the Wall)

When a pipe bursts, close the main water valve first, then turn off power to any wet area, photograph everything, and get extraction and drying started the same day. The plumbing repair can wait a few hours once the water is off. The water already in your floors and walls cannot, because wet building materials begin growing mold within 24–48 hours.

Burst Pipe: What to Do Right Now

Do these four things in this order. The first two take minutes.

1. 1Shut off the main water valve. Turn it clockwise until it stops. It is usually where the supply line comes into the house: a basement or garage wall facing the street, a utility closet, beside the water heater, or in a meter box near the curb. If it will not turn, call your water utility and tell them a pipe has burst; they can close the valve at the street. Then open the lowest faucet in the house so the water left in the pipes drains there instead of through the break. The emergency shut-off guide has valve locations by house type.
2. 2Cut power to wet areas. Turn off the breakers for any room where water is near outlets, cords or light fixtures, and do it before you walk into standing water. If the panel is in the wet area, stay out and call the electric utility. Water coming through a ceiling can also bring the ceiling down, so keep people out from under a sagging spot.
3. 3Photograph everything before cleanup. Take video of each wet room, the height of water on the walls, the broken pipe and anything damaged. Photos taken before anything is moved are what an insurance claim is built on. Keep the failed section of pipe.
4. 4Start extraction and drying the same day. Towel or mop clean standing water if the power is off, move rugs and furniture to a dry room, and get a water damage restoration company in to extract the rest and measure what is wet inside the walls and floor.

Burst Pipe in the House: Why the Drying Can't Wait

A burst supply line runs at the full pressure of your water system, so the water does not stay where it lands. It runs under flooring, soaks into the bottom of drywall, gets into insulation and follows joists into the ceiling below. Rooms next to the one with the puddle are often wet too. (If the water came from a washing machine or dishwasher instead of a pipe, whether it was clean supply water or used wash water changes the cleanup; washing machine flooded: what to do covers that.)

The EPA advises drying wet materials within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold, and the IICRC S500 standard is how restoration companies measure it. They use moisture meters and thermal cameras to map how far the water went, and the job is sized by those readings, not by the puddle you can see. Household fans dry the surface of a room; they do not dry the inside of a wall. A floor that looks dry can still be wet underneath for weeks.

The water from a supply line is clean water, Category 1 under S500, and most of it can be dried in place if drying starts early. Left for days, it picks up contamination from the materials it soaks, and drying turns into tearing out.

Frozen Pipe Burst: What to Do

A frozen pipe that has split often leaks very little until it thaws, then runs hard. If you find a pipe that is frozen, close the main before anyone warms it, and keep it closed until a plumber has checked it for splits. Thaw it gently with a hair dryer or warm towels, never an open flame. Frozen pipes are usually in exterior walls, attics and crawl spaces, so the water tends to go where you cannot see it. Look for stains or bubbling paint on exterior walls and ceilings after a thaw. The frozen pipe burst page has more on thawing and what to check.

Pipe Burst in the Wall: What to Do

If you hear water inside a wall, see a stain spreading, or the paint is bubbling, it is a broken pipe in the wall even if nothing is dripping yet. Close the main and cut power to that room. Do not break the wall open yourself to look. Removing drywall before it is photographed and measured makes the claim harder, and the wall usually needs to be opened in a particular place anyway.

Burst Pipe in Wall Repair: What It Involves and Who Does It

A pipe that broke in the wall takes three trades, in this order:

Doing the drying first means the opening for the plumber is the drywall that had to come out anyway, and the wall is cut once. The one thing not to do is close the wall before the framing reads dry on a meter. Drywall over wet studs is how a finished repair turns into mold a few months later. Who to call for water damage in walls covers leaks you find later, and wet drywall: save or replace explains which drywall can be dried and which comes out.

What it costs depends on how far the water went, not on the pipe. Mitigation for clean supply water, meaning the extraction and structural drying before any rebuild, runs about $3–$7 per square foot. Most residential water damage incidents land at $2,000–$6,000 in total. The burst pipe repair cost page breaks down the plumbing and rebuild lines. Where the pipe is easy to reach, the plumbing is usually the smaller part of the bill; a pipe under a slab is the exception.

Who to Call After a Pipe Bursts

With the main closed, the restoration company comes first because the drying is time-sensitive, the plumber the same day or next morning, and the insurer the same day once everything is photographed. If you cannot stop the water, the utility or an emergency plumber comes before anyone. Who to call for a burst pipe sets out that order case by case.

Call the insurer before the adjuster arrives, not after. Policies require you to prevent further damage, so extraction should not wait for an adjuster's approval. A sudden burst is generally covered; the repair of the pipe itself and damage from a slow, long-running leak generally are not. If you rent, notify the landlord in writing with your photos; the landlord hires the restoration company.

What Happens When You Call

(888) 840-6512 is a referral line answered 24/7, with no charge for the referral. It connects you to a certified water damage restoration company taking calls for your ZIP. What to expect:

• A short automated menu answers first. Press 1 for water damage.
• Enter the 5-digit ZIP of the property.
• The line goes quiet for about half a minute while it connects. That is normal; stay on.
• When a person answers, describe what burst, whether the water is off, and what is wet.

Have ready:

• The property address, including the ZIP
• When the water started, as near as you know
• What is wet now: rooms, floors, ceilings, and whether it is still running
• Whether you have opened an insurance claim yet

The company gives you an arrival window for your address on the call. The scope of work and the price are between you and them.

Broken Pipe: What Not to Do

• Do not turn the water back on to "see where it's coming from." Let the plumber pressure-test it.
• Do not run a household vacuum on water, or stand in water with the power on.
• Do not paint over the stain or close up an opening until the materials behind it read dry.
• Do not throw out damaged items until they are photographed and listed for the claim.