Signs of a Burst Pipe in Your Wall

A pipe that fails inside a wall does not announce itself with a spray. It soaks insulation and drywall for days or weeks, and by the time you see a stain the damage behind it is usually larger. In Gwinnett homes the likely suspects depend on the house's age, so it helps to know what is in your walls.

What Is in the Walls of Your House

• Built before the 1970s: galvanized steel supply lines, which rust from the inside and leak at threaded joints. Copper may have replaced some runs.
• Late 1970s through mid-1990s: some houses were plumbed with polybutylene (gray or blue plastic pipe) with plastic or crimped fittings. It can fail at the fittings, often with no warning.
• Newer houses: copper, CPVC or PEX. Failures here are more often a bad fitting, a nail through a pipe, or a freeze.

Not sure what yours is? Look at the pipe where it comes out of the wall under a sink, or at the water heater.

What You Might See

Stains and bubbling paint

Brown or yellow rings on a wall or ceiling that grow or come back after drying. Paint that bubbles or peels in a patch.

Soft, warped or cracking drywall

Press on the area. If it is soft or spongy, it has been wet a while. Baseboards may swell or pull away, and hardwood may cup or buckle near the wall.

Musty smell without a source

Mold needs only moisture and a dark enclosed space, and a wall cavity in Georgia humidity is ideal. A damp smell in one room is worth chasing even if you cannot see anything.

Warm spots

A warm patch on the floor or wall can be a leaking hot line. On slab homes it can also be a slab leak, which is a different job. See what causes a slab leak.

What You Might Hear

• Hissing or whistling near a wall when nothing is running.
• Dripping or running water sounds inside the wall.
• New banging or knocking in the pipes that was not there before.

The Water Meter Test

Turn off every fixture, the ice maker and the irrigation. Go to the meter box near the street, lift the lid and look at the small leak indicator (usually a triangle or a dial). If it spins while everything is off, water is escaping somewhere. Then close the main shutoff at your house and watch again. If the meter stops, the leak is inside the house. If it keeps moving, the leak is on the line between the meter and the house.

What To Do

1. Shut off the main water. See how to shut off water in an emergency if you cannot find the valve.
2. Turn off power to wet areas at the breaker if water is near outlets, a panel or a ceiling light.
3. Open a faucet at the lowest point to drain the lines.
4. Photograph everything before cleanup for your insurance company.
5. Call (770) 285-5619. We connect you with an independent local plumber who handles burst pipe repair and leak detection.

Ask the plumber how they plan to find the leak, how many openings in the wall they expect, and for the price before they start. If the house has gray polybutylene or heavily rusted galvanized pipe, ask about repiping, since one failure often means the next is coming. See signs you need to repipe your Lawrenceville home.

Reducing the Odds

• Know where your main shutoff is and test it once a year.
• Insulate pipes in crawlspaces and exterior walls before winter. See how to prevent frozen pipes.
• Watch your water bill for a jump you cannot explain.
• Fix small drips at fixtures before they turn into bigger problems.
• Think about a leak sensor near the water heater and under the kitchen sink.

Frequently Asked Questions