Burst and frozen pipe repair — Lynnwood, WA
Stop the water first, then call. A burst supply line moves several gallons a minute. The difference between a wet wall and a ruined floor is measured in minutes.
Call (425) 380-0446 — we can find your shut-off with you on the phoneFour places to look
Every house is a little different, but in most Lynnwood homes the shut-off is in one of these.
The main, inside. Usually where the supply line enters the building — a garage wall, a utility area, or a crawl space access near the front of the house. Look for a lever or a round handle on a pipe roughly an inch across. A lever turns a quarter circle. A round handle turns clockwise and may take several full turns.
The main, outside. At the street, under a rectangular metal or plastic lid. It needs a meter key or a long-handled wrench, though a screwdriver through the slot will lift most lids. The valve sits beside the meter.
Fixture valves. Under sinks, behind toilets, behind the washing machine. If the burst is clearly at one fixture, this stops it without cutting water to the whole house.
The water heater. Its own valve on the cold inlet at the top.
If none of those turn up, call rather than keep searching — it is quicker to be talked through it.
Turning it off is half the job
Shutting the water off ends the flooding. It does not end the problem — what already came out is inside the wall, under the floor, or in the ceiling below.
The repair is the smaller half. The pipe gets fixed, then the cavity gets opened where it needs to be, dried, and monitored until readings are normal. A pipe repaired without drying the structure is a mould call three weeks later.
Cold snaps, not cold winters
Lynnwood does not get long sustained freezes, and that is precisely the problem. Because a hard freeze is not an annual event, the pipes that need protecting often have none — exterior hose bibs, runs through crawl spaces and unheated garages, supply lines in outside walls.
A few nights below freezing is enough.
The timing catches people out too. The split usually happens while the pipe is frozen, but nothing comes out until it thaws — often hours later, and often while the house is empty.
Older housing adds to it. Much of the city's stock dates from the 1940s through the 1990s. Insulation standards have moved on since, and a supply line in an exterior wall of a house built to the standards of the day has less between it and the cold than a modern one would.
Common questions
- Water is coming out of the wall and I cannot find the shut-off.
- Call. Someone can walk you through locating the main while help is dispatched. If water is near outlets or a panel, leave the area and call from outside.
- Do you repair the pipe, or just dry it out?
- Both. They are two jobs and both need doing.
- My pipe is frozen but has not burst yet. Can you help?
- Yes, and this is the better time to call. A frozen pipe that has not split can often be thawed safely. Do not use an open flame on it.
- How much of the wall has to come out?
- As little as possible. Moisture meters and thermal imaging locate the wet area first, so any opening is deliberate rather than exploratory.
- Is a burst pipe covered by insurance?
- Sudden pipe failure is normally covered, including the resulting water damage. Damage from a leak that was known about and left often is not.