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Burst Pipes
First, Shut Off the Main. Then Call.
Before you read another word: if water is pouring out somewhere, find your main shutoff. In most Central Texas homes it is a valve at the meter box near the street or where the line enters the house, often by a hose bib. Turn it clockwise until it stops. If you cannot find it or it will not turn, call us and we will walk you through it on the phone. Every minute of pressurized water into drywall, cabinets and flooring adds to the repair bill, and stopping it is the single most useful thing you can do.
Pipes here burst for a handful of reasons. A hard freeze like February 2021 splits lines in attics, garages and exterior walls that were never built for single digits. Water pressure that runs high strains every joint in the house. Old galvanized steel rusts thin from the inside, and copper under a slab wears through as the clay soil moves the foundation. Radiant replaces the failed section, pressure-tests the repair and tells you which of those causes you are dealing with. If it is pressure, a pressure reducing valve fixes the root problem. If it is age, we will give you an honest price on repiping next to the price of the patch. For a slow leak rather than a burst, start with leak detection.
- Nights, weekends, freeze weeks Pipes do not burst on a schedule. We answer around the clock with upfront pricing and no surprise fees.
- The cause, not just the crack Freeze, pressure, corrosion or slab movement. We tell you which so the next pipe does not go the same way.
- Priced before we cut You approve the repair in writing first. The quote holds for 72 hours under the Home Comfort Guarantee.
What to Watch For
Signs a Pipe Has Burst or Is About To
Some of these mean shut the water off now. The rest mean call before the next cold front or pressure spike.
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Water coming through a ceiling or wall
A bulging ceiling, a stain that spreads while you watch or water at a light fixture. Shut off the main and stay away from the electrical.
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Pressure dropped everywhere at once
A sudden loss of pressure at every fixture usually means a big opening in a supply line, often in the attic or under the slab.
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A faucet that stopped during a freeze
Ice blocking the line. The split usually shows up when it thaws and pressure returns, so treat a frozen pipe as a burst waiting to happen.
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Banging or a loud hiss in the walls
Water hammer stresses joints until one lets go. A hiss with no fixture open is water escaping under pressure.
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Rusty water or flakes in the aerators
Galvanized steel corroding from the inside. Pipes thin enough to shed rust are thin enough to split.
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A soggy patch in the yard or a wet slab edge
The service line or a slab line has opened underground. The lawn stays green in a drought for a reason.
What We Repair
Any Pipe, Any Material, Any Hour
Copper, PEX, CPVC, galvanized and polybutylene, in the attic, the wall, the slab or the yard.
- Emergency shutoff and water control Stopping the flow at the main or the nearest valve, then draining the affected line so the repair can start.
- Section replacement Cutting out the split and replacing it with new pipe and proper fittings, not a clamp meant to last a weekend.
- Freeze-damaged lines Attic runs, garage lines, hose bibs and exterior-wall pipes that split in a hard freeze, repaired and insulated so they survive the next one.
- Slab and underground bursts Located from above and fixed by direct repair or reroute. See our leak detection page for how we find them.
- Pressure problems behind the burst Testing static pressure and installing or replacing a pressure reducing valve when the house is running too high.
- Dry-out guidance Honest advice on what got wet, what needs a restoration company and the documentation your insurer will ask for.
How It Works
What Happens When You Call About a Burst Pipe
Stop the water, fix the pipe, find the cause. In that order.
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We help you stop the water
On the phone, we walk you to the main shutoff if you have not found it. Then we dispatch, day or night, with the price upfront and no surprise fees.
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We find the break and the reason
The split itself is usually obvious. Why it split is the useful part: pressure reading, pipe material, insulation, and whether other runs are at risk.
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You approve the price
The repair, and anything that should be fixed with it, in writing. Nothing is cut until you say yes.
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We repair, test and turn the water on
New pipe in, pressure restored and every joint checked under full pressure before we leave. Then we tell you what to watch for.
Current Specials
Save on the work your home needs most.
Water Where It Should Not Be?
Shut off the main and call. We are on the way, any hour, with no surprise fees.
What Our Customers Say
Don't just take our word for it — hear from our satisfied customers
★★★★★
I had Radiant Plumbing replace my tankless water heater, damaged in the Feb. 2021 snowmageddon storm with a new unit. The process was smooth and professional from start to finish. The plumber, James, was extremely knowledgeable and thoroughly explained my options to me. The cost and time to perform the installation were just as estimated. When he was done, James explained how to maintain the system, what service would be needed and how to perform it, and answered all of my engineering geek questions. It was a thoroughly positive experience. I have used several different plumbers in Austin over the past 15 yrs, but my search is over - I will not hesitate to call Radiant next time and would recommend them unreservedly.
8/9/23 Update: I have subsequently used Radiant for a toilet repair, faucet installation (Danny), and drain work (Ezekiel) and they have continued to impress with knowledgeable, friendly plumbers and quality work.
8/9/23 Update: I have subsequently used Radiant for a toilet repair, faucet installation (Danny), and drain work (Ezekiel) and they have continued to impress with knowledgeable, friendly plumbers and quality work.
★★★★★
We called Radiant Plumbing after we noticed a water leak in our kitchen. We were in a time crunch and they were able to schedule us quickly, before we left for vacation. They sent their representative, Preston Nichols, and he was excellent to deal with! He was on time, skillful, friendly, and very professional. It turned out to be a problem with our dishwasher but Preston was quick to diagnose it and set our minds at ease. While he was here, we mentioned that our one year-old water heater needed to be flushed. Preston was quick to take care of that, as well, saving us time and money in the process. Radiant charged us almost half the price another plumber quoted us for that service! While Radiant Plumbing isn’t our usual plumber, they gained a new customer. We won’t hesitate to call Radiant again in the future based on our VERY positive experience with them.
★★★★★
Had 3 different systems installed by them approx. 3 years ago for a total of approx $20k. I was quite happy with the install until the year later when they came for a maintenance call and started finding deficiencies in their own install. they wanted extra money to address those deficiencies. Now I am in the process of selling my home and an inspector has found a few items that need to be addressed and they will not even look at the report unless I schedule a $139.00 service call. Very poor customer service.. This company does not stand by their work and would not recommend.
I am revising my review of this business from 1 to 5 stars. After my original review I was contacted by the company's service manager and he made sure that I was taken care off. I had a team of 3 technicians coming to my house to double check the system and make the necessary adjustments. I was very satisfied by their attention to details and professionalism.
I am revising my review of this business from 1 to 5 stars. After my original review I was contacted by the company's service manager and he made sure that I was taken care off. I had a team of 3 technicians coming to my house to double check the system and make the necessary adjustments. I was very satisfied by their attention to details and professionalism.
Maintenance Membership
Join the Care Club
Home maintenance for $9.99 a month.
Care Club members get two HVAC tune-ups and a plumbing safety inspection every year, priority scheduling, no dispatch fees — ever — and 5% off every repair.
- Priority scheduling
- Seasonal HVAC tune-ups
- Annual safety inspection
- Exclusive member discounts
- Free dispatch on repairs
- No long-term contracts
Burst Pipe Questions
Where is the main water shutoff on a Central Texas home?
Start at the street. Most homes here have a meter box in the ground near the curb, and inside it is a valve on the house side of the meter. Some need a meter key to turn; a pair of pliers works on many. The second place to look is where the water line enters the house, often at an exterior wall near a hose bib, in the garage, or in a box against the foundation. Newer homes frequently have a lever-style valve there that turns off with a quarter turn. Find yours on a calm day, make sure it actually turns, and show everyone in the house. If it is seized or corroded, that is worth fixing before you need it in a hurry. We can replace a stuck main valve on a regular service call.
Can I use a pipe clamp or tape until a plumber arrives?
As a stopgap, yes, with the water off. A rubber patch and hose clamp or a hardware-store repair clamp can hold a small split at reduced pressure long enough to get through a night. Self-fusing silicone tape works on pinholes. What none of them do is fix the pipe. A clamp on a corroded galvanized line or a freeze-split copper run is holding back full house pressure on metal that already failed once, and the next failure is usually a few inches away. Use the clamp to buy time, keep the pressure low or the line off, and have the section properly replaced. Do not bury a clamped repair back in a wall and forget it.
Does homeowners insurance cover a burst pipe?
Often, for the water damage, and usually not for the pipe itself. Most standard policies treat a sudden burst as a covered event, so the damaged flooring, drywall and cabinets may be claimable, while the plumbing repair is typically the homeowner’s cost. Policies commonly exclude damage from long-term leaks and neglect, and some limit coverage if a home was left unheated during a freeze. Every policy is different, so read yours or call your agent. What we can do is document the failure clearly: photos of the break, the cause we found and an itemized invoice, which is what adjusters ask for. Take your own photos before anything is cleaned up too.
Should I replace more than just the section that burst?
It depends on why it burst. A copper line that split in a freeze is a one-spot problem in an otherwise sound system; replace the section, insulate it and move on. A galvanized steel pipe that burst from corrosion is a different story, because every foot of that system is the same age and rusting the same way. The same goes for polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe used in many homes built from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s that fails at the fittings. In those cases we will give you the price to patch and the price to repipe, and an honest read on how many more calls like this one the old system has in it.
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