Being a homeowner comes with a lot of responsibilities. Not only do you have to maintain your home, but you have to handle any unexpected emergencies that come your way, including the dreaded broken water pipe.
When a water pipe breaks or bursts in your home, it’s easy to start to panic, especially if the water is pouring into your home and causing damage. But, it’s important to stay calm and to remind yourself that there are some things you can do to help prevent further damage while you wait for a plumbing professional to arrive.
In general, you’ll want to follow these three steps when a water pipe breaks in your home:
- Turn off the water. It might sound obvious, but a lot of homeowners forget to do this very important thing. Whether you’ve identified exactly where the pipe has broke or not doesn’t matter. What’s more important is stopping the water so that you stop more damage from happening. You’ll usually find the stop tap on the water main, which can be under the kitchen sink or where the main service pipe enters your home. To avoid major catastrophes, show all members of your family (or anyone who’ll be watching your home while you’re away), where this stop tap is.
- Locate the break. As soon as you have turned off the water, it’s time to start looking for the break. (Don’t make the mistake of trying to do this step first.) Knowing which part of the pipe is broken will help your plumbing professional know what to bring or where to get started.
- Repair the pipe. Have a plumbing pro in your area get to your home as quickly as possible to help you make the proper repairs. While there are some breaks you can DIY fix, it’s always best to have a pro help you so that you can have peace of mind that the break is fixed properly. Plus, a plumbing pro will have all of the tools you need for the job, which means you don’t have to go out and invest in tools you’ll probably never use again.
