First, Shut the Water Off

If water is coming out somewhere it should not be, the most useful thing you can do before we arrive is close the main shutoff. It is usually where the supply enters the house, in the garage, a basement, or a crawlspace, and there is a meter shutoff at the street as a backup. Turning it off stops the damage clock, and damage is almost always more expensive than the plumbing repair.

It is worth finding that valve now rather than at two in the morning. If it will not turn, tell us when you call, because a seized main shutoff changes what we bring.

What It Costs After Hours

After-hours and holiday calls carry a higher rate than a scheduled visit. Saturday during normal hours does not: that is the regular rate, with no weekend premium. Whatever the hour, you get a fixed price agreed before we start rather than a clock running while you watch.

Here is the part most companies will not tell you. Roughly nine times out of ten, once the water is off at the main, the situation is stable and waiting until morning costs you less and fixes the same problem. If that is your situation we will say so on the phone. For the times it genuinely cannot wait, we come out.

Burst and Frozen Pipes

Burst pipes here are usually a freeze. Nashville gets just enough hard cold to catch out pipes in crawlspaces, exterior walls and unheated garages, and the split often does not show until things thaw and the water starts moving again. If a tap has stopped running in a cold snap, that is the warning: shut the main off before it thaws rather than after.

We repair the split section, pressure test what is left, and tell you honestly whether the rest of that run is likely to go the same way. On older galvanized or badly routed pipework, replacing the run is sometimes the cheaper answer than being called back twice. See whole-house repiping.

Sewage Backing Up

Waste coming back up into a tub or a floor drain is the other genuine emergency, because it is a health problem as well as a plumbing one. Stop using water in the house, which includes the washing machine and the dishwasher, since everything you run adds to what is coming back. Then call.

We clear the blockage first and then put a camera down to find out why it happened, because a main line that backs up once will usually do it again. See sewer camera inspection.

Gas Is Different

If you smell gas, do not call us first. Leave the building, and call the gas company from outside. They will make it safe. Once that is done we handle the leak detection and the repair, permitted and tested. See gas leak detection and repair.