Shut the water off first
Most Lawrence houses have the main shutoff where the water line comes in, usually in the basement on the front wall or in a crawlspace near the street side. If you cannot find it or it will not turn, the city water department can shut it off at the meter.
Once the water is off, open a faucet on the lowest floor to drain the line. Then call. The restoration company and a plumber work on two separate jobs: the plumber fixes the pipe, and the restoration crew deals with the wet house. Many restoration companies can line up a plumber for you.
Where the water goes after a pipe bursts
Water from a burst pipe runs down. A break in an upstairs bathroom wall can soak the ceiling below, run along the joists and come out a light fixture in another room. Crews use moisture meters and sometimes thermal cameras to follow it. Expect them to cut a few small holes in drywall to check cavities and get air moving inside the wall.
Ceilings that sag or bubble should be treated as dangerous. Keep people out from under them until the crew drains and removes the wet section.
What to tell us when you call
- Where the water is coming from, if you know (pipe, water heater, washer, toilet, sump, rain).
- Whether it is clean water or sewage.
- Which rooms and floors are wet, and roughly how long it has been wet.
- Whether the water is shut off and the power to wet rooms is off.
- Your street or nearest cross street in Lawrence, so the right local crew picks up.
Stay on the line for a couple of minutes. That is usually all it takes to get matched with a local company that can send someone out.
Free to call. No obligation to hire anyone.
Frozen pipes are a Lawrence winter problem
Lawrence gets real cold snaps. During the January 2014 freeze, local plumbers spent the day running from one burst pipe call to the next. The city puts out cold weather tips most winters for the same reason. Pipes in exterior walls, crawlspaces, attached garages and old porch additions are the usual ones to freeze.
The tricky part is that a frozen pipe often does not leak until it thaws. People find the damage on the first warm afternoon after a cold stretch, or when they come home from a trip. KU housing has had pipes break over winter break with nobody there to see it.
If you are leaving town in winter, keep the heat at 55 or higher, open the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls, and ask someone to check the house. If you come home to water, shut off the main and call before you start moving things.