What to do first when a pipe bursts

One: water off at the stopcock

Turn the internal stop tap clockwise until it stops. Everything else is secondary to this. If you do not know where yours is, we have a short guide to finding it — and the time to read that is not now, but it is worth ten minutes this weekend.

Two: open the taps

Open every cold tap in the house, and flush the toilets. This drains the pipework down so whatever is still in the system runs into the sink rather than through your ceiling. Leave them open.

If the leak is on the hot side, turn the boiler or immersion off first, then open the hot taps too.

Three: contain what is already out

• Buckets and towels under the leak — a washing-up bowl on a towel makes less noise and splashes less
• Move furniture, rugs and anything electrical out of the way
• If water is pooling above a plasterboard ceiling, it is often better to make one small hole and let it drain into a bucket than to let the whole ceiling come down at once
• Photograph everything before you clean up — your insurer will want it

Four: ring someone

Once the water is off, the emergency is over and you have time to think. Ring a plumber and describe what you have found. A photo on WhatsApp is worth a long explanation — we can usually tell from a picture whether it is a five minute fix or a floor-up job, and what to bring.

Tell your insurer early too. Most home policies cover escape of water and many have a 24-hour helpline, but they generally want to know promptly.

Why pipes burst here

In Norfolk it is nearly always frost, and nearly always a pipe running somewhere unheated: a loft, a garage, an outbuilding, a porch, or the run out to an outside tap. Water expands as it freezes, splits the pipe, and you find out when it thaws — which is why bursts turn up on the first mild day after a cold snap, not during it.

Stopping it happening again

• Lag any pipe in a loft, garage or outbuilding — foam sleeving costs very little and takes an afternoon
• Isolate and drain the outside tap before winter
• If you are away, leave the heating on a low frost setting rather than off entirely
• In an empty property, drain the system down properly rather than hoping