When a pipe bursts in your home, it is a serious situation. If you are lucky enough to have the burst pipe repaired quickly enough, it will not be as bad as if you don’t do anything at all. Unfortunately, sometimes there is nothing you can do. Even if you are only able to fix the surface damage, you should take steps to prevent a problem from occurring again. There are a number of steps you can take.
First, turn off the water supply to the house. The earlier you do this, the less damage the pipe will cause. Otherwise, shutting off the supply can help minimize the overall damage to your house. Secondly, find the burst pipe. Look for signs of warping, cracks and other indications that the water leakage has already occurred.
If the burst pipe is a cold one, then you may have to deal with a new leaky pipe. To solve this problem, homeowners must first try to find out where the hot and cold water comes into the house. To find this out, homeowners can open windows and door to let in some warm air. This may help get rid of some of the trapped steam in the pipes.
If the pipe bursts into a warm room, then this is a sign of excess water damage. You need to open up the windows to let some of the warm air in, which will relieve some of the pressure on the walls. Once the excess water damage is removed, then you can focus on cleanup. One option would be to hire a plumber to remove all the excess water damage.
However, pipes bursting is not the only reason for water seepage and leaks. There are many other reasons including corroded pipes, roots of trees pushing through the pipes, tree roots and animal hair getting stuck in the pipe. As long as these cause for water seepage and leaks, then it is important to clean the area. However, if you find that there is only the smell of the rotting meat in your mouth then you can take care of the problem yourself by using some household cleaners.
Homeowners can choose to hire a plumber who will come to their rescue to repair frozen pipes or repair the existing ones. He will use freezing solutions and chemicals to freeze the damaged section, allowing him to fix the problem without further damages. Before this, though, he will first check whether pipes in other sections of the house are also frozen. Frozen pipes do not pose serious health threats but they are quite inconvenient for all concerned. So, if you find that your house is flooded and there are no other options left than hiring a plumber, then you can contact one and get the immediate repairs.