North Texas plumbers assist as thaw triggers wave of burst pipes

Experts warn of hidden pipe damage as temperatures thaw

As temperatures gradually rise as the Texas winter storm weakens, plumbing experts say now is the time to be wary of damage caused to your pipes by the cold. FOX 4's Amelia Jones has more.

DALLAS - Local plumbers and fire crews have been busy as the thawing process has exposed some pipes that expanded and cracked in the bitter cold. 

FOX 4 has seen burst pipes flood homes and apartments across North Texas. 

Pipes 'split wide open'

Local perspective:

Over the last 24 hours, Matthew Workman has worked around the clock to help homeowners in East Dallas. He showed us two pipes he replaced on Wednesday. Both of which were busted pipes located on the outside of a home that connect exterior hoses. 

"During the thaw, it's pipe burst, pipe burst, pipe burst," said Workman. "But you can see, it just gets so cold that these will eventually fill up with ice, and they'll actually just split wide open. You can see here and these will just start spraying inside your house and inside your wall."

Apartment floods and sprinkler failures

Dig deeper:

This video shows water from a pipe burst flowing off a balcony at Windsor West Lemmon Apartments in Oak Lawn.

This video was taken on Tuesday, showing water gushing out of a Burleson apartment in the same complex where the resident, Maureen Rabe, lives.

"Like it was coming through light fixtures. It was coming through vents, it was coming through the walls. It was everywhere," said Rabe.

Rabe helped her neighbor clean up and save important items. She says when the fire department got there, they ripped open the wall to get to the source.

Firefighters told them the water line to the sprinkler system burst. 

"So the apartment, the new apartment manager, was just kind of telling us, like, ‘Hey, things like this is just kind of out of our control,’ like we can't help the sprinklers, which I kind of understand," said Rabe.

How to Protect Your Home

What you can do:

Dallas fire rescue says it's responded to 137 calls for burst pipes, cut off water or waterflow alarms. 

Matthew Workman

"Here in Texas we really just don't have the infrastructure for it," said Workman.

Workman says there are things people can do as North Texas is still in a thaw and refreeze phase. 

"I think the biggest thing is knowing where your shut-off valve is."

If you're able to, run a stream of hot and cold water in your faucets, instead of a drip. 

"Every time we have these really cold winters, people will have it down to a drip, but it's not enough, not enough water circulating."

What's next:

Workman says a lot of the issues he's seen are with pipes that are on the exterior of homes or pipes that are not well insulated in a crawl space underneath homes.