Burst Pipe Repair in Mississauga

When to call about burst pipe repair

Call the moment you see water spraying, a ceiling bulging or a steady drip from drywall. Before you pick up the phone, though, close the main shut-off valve. Here in Mississauga it is normally downstairs low on the road-facing wall, beside the meter. If you cannot find it, our note on finding the main shut-off valve is worth reading today, before anything goes wrong.

Common causes we find

Winter accounts for most of our burst pipe calls. A cold snap drives frost into an exterior wall, a crawlspace or a garage ceiling, the water inside a pipe freezes and expands, and the pipe splits, often some distance from the ice itself. The leak only shows once things thaw. Other causes appear year-round.

• Pipes in exterior walls, unheated garages and cantilevered floors
• Outdoor hose bibs left connected through winter
• Pinhole corrosion in older copper
• Failed fittings on grey polybutylene pipe
• High water pressure stressing old joints

Our process on the day

Our first job is to make sure the supply is dead and the room is safe to work in, particularly where water has reached light fixtures or outlets. If that has happened, keep away and have the power shut off at the panel. Next we cut the smallest opening that reaches good pipe either side of the split, remove the bad length and splice in fresh copper or PEX. Before closing up, we restore pressure, check every joint and look for a second split nearby, which is common after a freeze. When the repair is done, we write down where the break was, what material we used and any other weak spots we noticed, so you have a plain record for your insurer and for the next owner of the house.

Repair or replace?

A single freeze split is a straightforward repair. Repeated pinhole leaks in different spots tell a different story: the pipe itself is wearing out, and patching will go on and on. In that case we will talk you through repiping, or polybutylene replacement if your home has Poly-B. If the leak's source is not obvious, leak detection finds it without opening every wall.

Keeping it from coming back

Disconnect hoses and shut the inside valve for outdoor taps each fall. Insulate pipes in cold spots and keep the heat on when you travel. When it is bitter out, swing open the sink cupboards on outside walls. Our pages on frozen pipe thawing and frozen pipes prevention go into more detail, and first-minutes flood card deserves a spot taped to the wall by the main valve.