Frozen pipe leaks in Columbus homes: what the crew dries, what a plumber fixes, and how to shut the water off.
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A frozen pipe is a supply line where the water has turned to ice and split the pipe or a fitting. The leak usually appears when the ice thaws, not when it freezes. A restoration crew handles the water and the drying, and the pipe repair goes to a licensed plumber. Phones are answered 24/7.
In central Ohio the normal first 32-degree reading comes on 27 October, and the normal last one falls on 18 April, based on the National Weather Service's 1991-2020 normals for Columbus. That is a long season. Burst pipes are a regular part of it, concentrated in December through February, with shoulder risk in November and March. The usual starting points are pipes in exterior walls, unheated garages, crawl spaces and attics.
The pattern is familiar to anyone who has lived through a Columbus winter. The house runs cold for days, a warm-up arrives, and then the phone rings. Water that has been pushing against a split fitting for hours comes through a ceiling or pools in a basement once the ice lets go. Vacant rentals and student houses over winter break are a common case, because nobody is home to hear the drip. The details of the burst itself are covered on the burst pipe page.
The crew's job is the water and what it soaked into. It stops the spread as far as it safely can, removes standing water, and dries the structure. The pipe itself is plumbing work. In Columbus, that work is done by a licensed plumber who is registered with the city, and the crew will not attempt it.
Do not thaw a frozen pipe with an open flame, a torch or a heat gun aimed at the pipe or the framing, because the wall cavity can catch fire. Do not run a propane or kerosene heater indoors to warm a room. Keep away from standing water near outlets, the furnace and the panel until the power is confirmed off. Do not cut out a split pipe or try to solder it yourself, since that work belongs to a licensed plumber and a bad joint can leak again inside the wall.
This is the most common version in two-story houses, where a supply line in an exterior wall or the attic splits and the water shows up in the room below. The crew works from the ceiling down, cutting only as much drywall as the moisture readings call for. Insulation in the cavity usually holds water and has to come out before the wall can dry. Staining that looks minor from below often covers a much wider area inside the cavity.
Many Columbus basements have supply lines running along exterior walls, near the water heater, or across the ceiling joists. When one splits, the water runs toward the floor drain or the lowest corner, which can put it under finished carpet or drywall. Finished basements take longer to dry because the materials trap moisture against the foundation wall. The crew will check the wall behind the finish, not only the visible floor.
Crawl spaces are the exception in this market, most often in the older canal and crossroads village housing. A pipe run through an uninsulated crawl space can freeze and split with no one noticing until the floor above feels cold or sags. The wet area is often under hardwood or subfloor, which makes the moisture harder to see. The crew checks the joists and subfloor from below and above where access allows.
When a house sits empty over the holidays, a leak can run for days before anyone notices. The longer the water sits, the more material it reaches and the more is removed during drying. Landlords and owners of vacant properties should know that the leak was often caused by the heat being turned down. Tell the crew how long the house has been empty, since that affects the scope of the job.
Call any hour and explain what is going on. You get a clear price before any work starts.
Shut off the water at the main and open the nearest faucet to drain the line. Keep clear of standing water near outlets, the furnace and the electrical panel.
Finding the main shut-off before you need it is the single most useful step a homeowner can take. In many Columbus houses the main is where the supply line enters the basement or the utility area, but older houses can have it in an unexpected spot, so it is worth locating on a calm day. Once the water is off, open a cold tap so the remaining line can drain and the pressure drops.
Take photos of the wet area before you move furniture, rugs or boxes. Call your insurer early, and tell the crew what you have already done so it can pick up from there. If you can do so safely, move small valuables out of the water path, but leave the larger items where they sit until the crew has recorded the room.
Coverage is decided by your insurer under your own policy. A standard homeowners policy generally responds to sudden and accidental water damage, such as a burst supply line.
Insurers draw a line between sudden damage and long-term leaks. A pipe that splits during a freeze is generally treated as sudden, but the wording of your policy governs, and the insurer makes the call. Check your policy or ask your agent what it says about freezing and about water damage from supply lines.
The crew can give you moisture readings, drying logs and photos to share with your claim. It cannot decide coverage, and it cannot tell you what your insurer will pay. If you disagree with how a claim was handled, the Ohio Department of Insurance takes consumer complaints at 800-686-1526. It reviews whether the insurer followed the policy terms and state insurance law, but it does not settle disputes over the value of the damage.
The crew uses moisture meters and thermal imaging to find hidden water, then sets air movers and dehumidifiers and re-checks readings until the materials are dry.
Water from a frozen pipe does not stay where you can see it. It wicks into insulation, sill plates, subfloor and the back of drywall, and it can run down a wall cavity before it shows on the surface. Meters and thermal imaging let the crew map the wet zone, so the drying equipment goes where the water actually is and not only where the stain is.
Drying is a matter of days, not hours. The crew keeps taking readings, adjusts the equipment, and only calls the job dry when the materials reach their targets. Wood framing can read dry on the surface and still hold moisture inside, which is why the readings matter more than appearance.
A licensed plumber repairs the pipe. In Columbus, a plumbing contractor is registered with the city, and trade permits are pulled by that registered contractor.
Plumbing work is licensed in Ohio. The state board licenses commercial plumbing contractors, and city building departments handle residential registration. Readers can ask any plumber which license it holds and check it with the issuing office. For Columbus, the city's Department of Building and Zoning Services registers plumbing contractors and issues journeyperson plumber licenses; its number is 614-645-7433.
Trade permits are pulled by the registered contractor, after the building permit is issued. A property owner may only pull a plumbing permit for work they do themselves on a single-family home they live in. You may not buy a permit for work a contractor will do, so ask the plumber who will pull it. Homes outside Columbus need the county or city building department where the house is.
The price is confirmed on site before any work begins. Size of the wet area, the materials it reached, access and the age of the building move the scope the most.
The emergency stage, which covers water removal and drying setup, is explained and approved before the crew starts. Repairs after drying, such as drywall, trim and flooring, are quoted separately once the wet area can be seen in its dried state. Nobody can price the full job honestly over the phone, because the damage often extends past what the first look shows.
Several things move the scope. A wet area that covers one room costs less to dry than water that reached several rooms or more than one floor. Finished basement drywall and carpet, hardwood over a crawl space, plaster in an older house and old subfloor each take different handling. How long the water sat before it was found matters, and so do stairs-only access, a crawl space, and whether a plumber has to finish the pipe repair first, which is not part of the crew's quote. If mold is already present, the job becomes a containment job, and after-hours or holiday callouts are priced differently.
The first call is about the shut-off. Close the main supply valve, open the nearest faucet to drain the line, and turn off power to any wet fixture or outlet. If the water has reached the panel or the furnace, the crew will tell you to leave that area until the electrical side is checked.
The crew walks the affected rooms and finds where the water went, including spots that look dry but are not. It takes photos and moisture readings before anything is moved, so the record is there for your insurer. Whether the damage is covered is decided by your insurer under your policy.
Pumps and extractors take out the water that is still pooled on floors, carpet and pad. Carpet and underlay that are soaked are usually lifted at this stage, because they hold water long after the surface looks dry. Removing the bulk water first makes the drying faster and more complete.
Air movers and dehumidifiers are set up to move air across the wet materials. The crew re-checks moisture readings and thermal images over the following days until the materials reach dry targets. Drying quickly is what limits mold, and EPA guidance points to drying water-damaged areas within 24 to 48 hours.
The plumber needs to fix the split pipe before the walls are closed up, and the crew can coordinate with that person. Drywall, trim and flooring repairs come after drying and are quoted separately, once someone has seen the wet area in its dried state.
Columbus has a large share of older houses, and many of them still carry galvanized supply lines. Galvanized pipe corrodes from the inside and narrows over decades, so it can split in a cold snap after years of working fine. Clintonville, Franklinton and the older parts of Bexley and Upper Arlington are typical of this stock, which is why the crew checks the old supply runs before it assumes a new break.
Mains freeze and break here too. The city says water main breaks are more common in winter, with extreme cold and temperature swings shifting the ground. Report a break to 311 or 614-645-8276, and after hours call 614-645-7788. A main break in the street is the city's job, but the water that comes into your basement is the crew's job. The frozen and burst pipes guide covers the winter calendar in more detail.
In the canal and crossroads villages such as Groveport, Canal Winchester and Lockbourne, crawl spaces are common, and a pipe run through one is easy to forget until the floor above starts to give. Houses in Whitehall and the other post-war suburbs often have supply lines in exterior walls and unheated garages. Wherever the house is, the same rule holds: check the lowest, coldest room first, because that is where the water collects and where the drying takes longest. The crawl space page explains how that work differs.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Cleanup and drying after a burst supply line or drain in Columbus homes; the pipe repair goes to a licensed plumber.
Extraction, drying and cleanup for Columbus homes and businesses, with phones answered 24/7 and a crew dispatched as fast as one is available.
Standing water comes out first, then the drying starts. How a crew handles emergency water removal in Columbus basements and ground floors.
Equipment and daily moisture readings to dry plaster, hardwood, framing and finished basements in Columbus homes.
In Columbus, the normal first 32°F reading arrives on 27 October and the normal last one on 18 April.
Water expands as it freezes, and the pressure can split a pipe while it is still solid. The ice then holds the split closed until temperatures rise and the ice melts. That is when the water escapes and starts running through the house. The leak often shows up a day or more after the cold snap, which surprises many homeowners.
You can warm the room and let the air circulate, and open the faucet on the line so that pressure has somewhere to go. Avoid open flames, torches and heat guns near the pipe. If the pipe has already split, shut the water off at the main first. A plumber should check the pipe before the wall is closed, because a split can be hard to see.
A frozen pipe has ice inside it, and it may or may not have split yet. A burst pipe has already lost water through a crack or a broken joint. Many frozen pipes split and then leak when they thaw, so the two problems often come together. The water damage cleanup is the same either way.
Pipes in exterior walls, unheated garages, crawl spaces and attics freeze first, because they are closest to the cold. Hose bibs with a hose still attached are a common weak point too. Pipes near a window that lets in cold air are also at risk. Keeping the heat on in vacant rentals over winter break prevents many of these leaks.
Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. Arrival times depend on how many jobs are already running, especially on the morning of a warm-up after a hard freeze. Tell the person who answers how much water is moving and whether power is still on near it.
The plumbing permit is pulled by the registered plumbing contractor doing the work. A homeowner may pull one only for work they do themselves on a single-family home they live in, and may not buy a permit for work a contractor will do. Ask the plumber who will pull the permit. Building and Zoning Services can confirm the current rules at 614-645-7433.
Wet materials can grow mold if they stay damp, which is why fast drying matters. Mold can trigger allergy and asthma symptoms in some people. Ohio does not license mold remediation the way some states do, so ask any company what standard it works to. The crew can tell you what it is doing to keep the drying on schedule.