Emergency Plumbing Repairs · Waterloo

Emergency Plumber in Waterloo

The first ten minutes of a plumbing emergency decide how bad it gets. Shut the water off, then call. Here is how to do both in a Waterloo house.

An emergency call in Waterloo is usually one of five things: a supply pipe that has burst or split, a frozen line in an outside wall or a garage ceiling, a water heater that has rusted through at the bottom, a sewer or main drain backing up through the lowest fixture in the house, or a shut-off valve that broke in the hand of someone trying to fix something else. All of them get worse by the minute, and the damage is rarely the pipe. It is the finished basement, the hardwood, the ceiling below.

What to do before the plumber arrives

• Find the main shut-off. In most Waterloo houses it is on the wall where the water service comes in, usually the front basement wall facing the street, near the water meter. Older uptown and Mary-Allen homes often have a round gate valve that takes several turns and may be stiff. Newer Laurelwood and Vista Hills houses have a quarter-turn ball valve. Turn it until it stops.
• If the main will not turn, do not force it. A seized gate valve that snaps is a second emergency. Open the lowest tap in the house to drop the pressure and call.
• For a water heater leak, shut the cold supply valve on top of the tank and, for a gas unit, turn the gas control to off. Do not touch the gas piping itself.
• For a sewer backup, stop running water anywhere in the house. Every flush and every load of laundry is going to come up through the basement floor drain.
• Move what you can off the floor, and if water is near the electrical panel or outlets, stay out of it.

Burst and split pipes

In the older houses around uptown, the usual culprit is a galvanized line that finally rusted through, or a copper line that was joined to it with the wrong fitting and corroded at the joint. The repair is cutting out the failed section and replacing it with copper or PEX, and the honest question is how much of the rest of the line is in the same state. A plumber who fixes one leak in a galvanized system without telling you the second one is coming has not done you a favour.

In newer houses a burst is more often a fitting: a crimp ring that was never fully seated, a push-fit that was pushed onto a scratched pipe, or a plastic supply line under a vanity that cracked. Those are quick repairs. The finished ceiling below them is not.

Frozen pipes

Waterloo winters freeze the same pipes every year: a hose bib that was never shut off from inside, a line run through an unheated garage ceiling or a cantilevered floor over a porch, a kitchen sink on an outside wall with the cabinet doors closed, and the basement bathroom in a student house where somebody turned the heat down over the holidays. A frozen pipe that has not yet split can sometimes be thawed without damage. One that has split shows itself when it thaws, which is why the call often comes on the first mild day in February. The fix is the repair plus a change so it does not happen again: a frost-free hose bib, insulation and a heat cable, or rerouting the line off the outside wall.

Water heaters letting go

A tank that has scaled up on Waterloo's hard water for twelve or fifteen years eventually rusts through at the bottom seam. It does not burst; it seeps, and then it runs, and forty gallons ends up on the floor. If the tank is in a mechanical room with a floor drain, you get lucky. If it is in a finished basement in Columbia Forest, you do not. The emergency response is to isolate it, drain it and get hot water back, usually the same day. The water heater page covers the replace-and-what-with decision.

Sewer and main drain backups

When water comes up through the basement floor drain or the lowest shower, the main drain or the lateral to the street is blocked. In the older parts of the city that is often roots in a clay lateral. In a student rental it is often grease, wipes and whatever else six people put down the drain. The emergency fix is clearing the line. The real fix is finding out why, with a camera, and that is on the drain page. If the backup came from the street side during a heavy rain, a backwater valve is the conversation to have.

What it costs, and when we tell you

Emergency calls are priced as emergencies. The rate for an after-hours visit is stated when you call, and the price for the actual repair is given in writing at the house, after the problem is found and before it is fixed. If the repair can safely wait until a regular-hours visit and save you money, you will be told that. Planning ranges are on the cost guide.

What is not a plumbing emergency

Water coming in through the foundation wall, through a floor crack or at the joint between the wall and the slab after a storm is a waterproofing problem, not a pipe problem, and a plumber cannot fix it. If it is unclear where the water is coming from, we will help you find out, and say plainly when it belongs to another trade.

Frequently asked questions

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