What Should I Do If a Pipe Bursts?

A burst pipe is one of the fastest-moving plumbing emergencies a homeowner can face. Water escaping from a pressurized supply line doesn't trickle — it floods. Depending on where the pipe is located and how long it takes to get water shut off, a burst pipe can release hundreds of gallons into your home's walls, floors, and foundation in a very short time.

What you do in the first five minutes matters more than almost anything else. Here's exactly what to do, in order, without hesitation.

Step 1: Shut Off the Water Immediately

This is the only priority in the first minute. Everything else waits.

Find your main water shutoff valve and turn it off. In most OKC homes, this valve is located in one of three places: inside the home near where the main supply line enters — often in a utility closet, basement, crawl space, or garage wall — or outside near the foundation, or at the street in a covered box near the curb (the curb stop).

The indoor shutoff is the fastest to access and should be your first stop. It typically looks like a gate valve (round wheel handle) or a ball valve (lever handle). Turn a wheel valve clockwise until it stops. Turn a ball valve 90 degrees so the lever is perpendicular to the pipe.

If you can't find or access the indoor shutoff, go to the street curb stop. This requires a meter key or long-handled tool to turn — if you don't have one, your water meter box cover can sometimes be lifted with a flathead screwdriver. Turn the valve clockwise to shut off.

Right now, before anything else happens: locate your main shutoff valve if you don't already know where it is.We've covered emergency water shutoff in a separate guide with photos of each valve type. Knowing this before an emergency is the difference between 30 seconds of action and five minutes of panicked searching while water pours into your home.

Step 2: Turn Off the Water Heater

Once the main water is off, go to your water heater and switch it off. For a gas water heater, turn the dial to the pilot position. For an electric water heater, flip the breaker at the electrical panel.

This matters because a water heater that continues heating with no water supply can overheat and fail — an expensive secondary problem on top of the burst pipe repair you're already facing.

Step 3: Open Faucets to Drain the Remaining Pressure

Open several cold water faucets throughout the house — starting at the lowest floor. This releases residual water pressure in the lines and reduces the volume of water that continues flowing from the burst area even after the main shutoff. Let them run until the flow stops.

Step 4: Contain the Water

While the system drains, work on limiting water damage. Move furniture, rugs, electronics, and stored items away from standing water. If water is coming through a ceiling, put buckets down and — carefully, with a screwdriver — puncture the ceiling drywall at the lowest point of the bulge to give the water a controlled exit rather than letting it spread further. This sounds counterintuitive but prevents a larger ceiling collapse.

Towels, mops, and wet-dry vacuums all help in the immediate term. The goal is to reduce contact time between water and porous materials — drywall, wood framing, flooring, insulation — because the longer water sits, the more damage accumulates and the more likely mold becomes.

Step 5: Document Everything Before Cleanup

Before you start cleaning up in earnest, take photos and video of everything. Every wet surface, every damaged item, the pipe itself, the area around it. This documentation is what your homeowner's insurance claim will be built on. Adjusters need to see the extent of the damage before restoration begins — not your account of what it looked like.

Call your insurance company's claims line while cleanup is underway. Most policies cover sudden and accidental water damage from burst pipes. Get the claim started immediately.

Step 6: Call a Licensed Plumber

Once water is controlled and documentation is captured, call a licensed plumber for repair. A burst pipe is not a repair for temporary patches, tape, or clamps — these measures slow the leak but don't address the underlying pipe failure, and they will fail again.

The repair may be as simple as replacing a damaged section of pipe. In older OKC homes with original copper plumbing, a burst pipe sometimes reveals that the surrounding pipe is also corroded and thinning — in which case the right repair addresses a broader section rather than just the visible failure point. A licensed plumber will assess the full picture before recommending a repair scope.

Above + Beyond is available for emergency plumbing calls. When you call, tell us the pipe location, whether water is controlled, and what you're seeing — this helps us dispatch appropriately and ensures we arrive with the right materials for your situation.

Why Pipes Burst in OKC's Summer Heat

Most homeowners associate burst pipes with winter freezes — and that's the most common cause. But Central Oklahoma's summer heat creates its own pipe stress that's worth understanding, particularly this week as OKC hits 96°F to 102°F.

Prolonged extreme heat causes thermal expansion in supply lines. Copper, CPVC, and PEX all expand as temperatures rise. In areas where pipe has limited room to move — inside wall cavities, through concrete, at joints with fittings — that expansion creates pressure at connection points. Pipes that have been stressed by decades of Oklahoma's freeze-thaw cycles, soil movement from expansive clay, and hard water corrosion are most vulnerable to this summer thermal stress.

Homes built before 1986 in OKC neighborhoods — Nichols Hills, The Village, Bethany, Del City, older sections of Midwest City and Moore — frequently have original copper plumbing that's accumulated 40 or more years of this stress. A pinhole that's been developing slowly can become a full rupture when thermal expansion pushes a compromised joint past its limit on a 102°F afternoon.

Supply line failures at appliances are another summer risk. The braided stainless or rubber-jacketed lines connecting your washing machine, refrigerator ice maker, dishwasher, and toilet tank to the wall supply valve are the most common source of sudden indoor flooding in residential homes. These lines have a finite service life — typically 5 to 8 years for rubber-jacketed, longer for braided stainless — and heat accelerates degradation of the rubber components. A supply line that fails releases the full flow of a pressurized supply line directly onto your floor with no warning.

Pipes Most Likely to Burst in OKC Homes

Supply lines to appliances. The washing machine supply line is the highest-risk single plumbing component in most homes. It's under constant pressure, rarely inspected, and often forgotten until it fails. If your washing machine supply lines are original to the house or have been in place for more than eight years, replacing them proactively is inexpensive insurance. Above + Beyond's plumbers replace supply lines routinely as part of appliance service visits.

Copper pipes in homes built before 1986. OKC's hard water — measuring approximately 154 PPM of dissolved minerals — accelerates internal corrosion in copper pipe over decades. Combined with the soil movement that Central Oklahoma's expansive clay creates, older copper plumbing develops pinhole leaks that can progress to full failure. Homes in this category that have never had a plumbing assessment are worth having evaluated.

Pipes in unconditioned spaces during temperature extremes. Pipes running through attics, exterior walls with limited insulation, or under crawl spaces are exposed to the most dramatic temperature swings — freezing in winter ice storms and superheating in summer. These locations concentrate both freeze risk and heat expansion risk.

CPVC pipe in older installations. Some OKC homes built in the 1970s and 1980s used CPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride) supply piping. CPVC becomes brittle with age and is particularly vulnerable to cracking under physical stress and temperature cycling. If your home has CPVC supply lines and they've never been evaluated, this is worth discussing with a plumber.

What Not to Do During a Burst Pipe

Don't use electrical appliances near standing water. Standing water and live electrical outlets or appliances are a shock hazard. If water is near your electrical panel or has reached outlets, keep family members out of the area and consider shutting off power at the main breaker before entering.

Don't try to dry the walls yourself and call it done. Water that penetrates drywall and wood framing continues spreading beyond what's visible on the surface. A wall that feels mostly dry 24 hours after a burst pipe may have saturated insulation and wet framing behind it. Professional water mitigation — with moisture meters and drying equipment — is the right tool for assessing and drying structural materials after significant flooding. Mold can begin developing in as little as 24 to 48 hours in warm, wet conditions.

Don't ignore the water heater. As noted in Step 2, a water heater operating without water supply will overheat. This is easily avoided and worth the 30 seconds to address.

Don't wait to call your insurance company. Homeowner's policies typically require prompt notification of a claim. Delaying the call doesn't help — it can complicate coverage. Call them the same day.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find my main water shutoff if I don't know where it is? Start at the water meter at the street and trace the direction the supply line runs toward your house. The interior shutoff is typically on the same wall where the line enters the home, within a few feet of the foundation. In OKC homes with slab foundations, this is often in a utility closet, under a kitchen sink, or in the garage. If you truly can't locate it, the curb stop at the street will shut off all water to the home. We've covered emergency water shutoff locations in a separate guide.

My pipe burst in the wall and I can't see it. How do I know where it is? Water will typically track downward and appear at the lowest point — a wet ceiling below the pipe, a wet floor at the base of the wall. Above + Beyond uses thermal imaging cameras and acoustic detection equipment to locate in-wall leaks precisely before opening any drywall. We'll find it and tell you exactly where to cut rather than opening a large section blindly.

Will my homeowner's insurance cover a burst pipe? Standard homeowner's insurance policies cover sudden and accidental water damage from internal plumbing failures — which includes most burst pipe scenarios. What's typically not covered: flooding from external water sources, gradual leaks that weren't promptly reported, or damage resulting from deferred maintenance. Document everything, call your insurer the same day, and don't discard damaged materials until the adjuster has assessed them.

Can I use a temporary patch on a burst pipe while I wait for a plumber? A pipe repair clamp or slip coupling from a hardware store can reduce flow temporarily if the break is accessible and on a straight section of pipe. This buys time but is not a permanent repair — it will fail again, particularly on older corroded pipe where the surrounding material is also compromised. Use it only to slow water while you arrange professional repair, not as a solution.

How long does a burst pipe repair take? A straightforward repair on an accessible section of pipe typically takes 1 to 2 hours. Pipes inside walls, under slabs, or in complex locations take longer — particularly if the repair requires locating the exact failure point first. Above + Beyond provides a repair scope and timeline before starting any work.

Burst Pipe in OKC? Call Now.

Water damage compounds with every hour it goes untreated. Above + Beyond's licensed plumbers are available for emergency plumbing calls across Oklahoma City, Edmond, Yukon, Norman, Moore, Mustang, Guthrie, Midwest City, Del City, Bethany, Piedmont, Nichols Hills, The Village, Arcadia, Luther, and surrounding Central Oklahoma communities.