Winter water damage · Emergency response
Frozen Pipes and Leaking Water Heaters: Winter's Two Calls, and What Comes After
August 31, 2026 · 5 min read
Winter produces two calls, and they don't look alike. The first arrives fast: a tap that gives nothing, then a pipe that lets go as the ice expands. The second arrives slowly: a puddle under the water heater that has been growing for weeks before anyone notices. The end damage looks the same — wet drywall, a soaked subfloor, a finished basement to redo — but from your insurer's point of view they are opposite stories.
Spotting a frozen pipe before it bursts
CAA-Québec gives three signs, and they usually show up before the rupture. The most vulnerable pipes are those in above-grade exterior walls or in unheated spaces; a crawl space is less exposed, being warmed from above.
- Reduced or absent flow when you open a tap — often the very first sign, on a cold morning.
- Unusual noises in the piping.
- A section of pipe that feels abnormally cold compared with the ones beside it.
Thawing it without setting the house on fire
Open the tap first: running water tells you it's working, and lets pressure escape rather than build behind the ice plug. Then warm the line gently with a hair dryer, moving it slowly toward the frozen section so the heat spreads. A heating blanket, a small radiator or a heat lamp will also do it. Be patient — it takes time, and that's normal. What you must never use is a blowtorch or propane torch. CAA-Québec is categorical: the flame damages plastic pipe and soldered joints, and it can start a fire. A frozen pipe is one expensive problem; a house fire is another.
If it has already burst: the first hour
Immediately
Close the main water supply. The CMMTQ puts this first for a reason: while the line is still feeding, everything else is just managing damage in progress.
2 minutes
Cut power to the affected area at the panel, not at the wall switch. Water crossing a ceiling finds the electrical boxes before it finds the floor.
5 minutes
Photograph before moving anything. That record only exists once, and it's the one your insurer works from.
15 minutes
Call a licensed plumber for the line. Repairing the pipe is their trade, not ours.
Then
Call us for the water. Our line is answered 24/7, and the EPA's 24-to-48-hour mould window starts when the pipe let go, not when the plumber leaves.
The water heater, winter's other call
A water heater rarely announces its end. It weeps first — a rust trace on the base, a ring on the slab, a damp smell in a finished basement — and those weeks matter, because Quebec home insurance policies generally distinguish a sudden, accidental event, which is covered, from a slow leak or a problem the owner knew about and didn't act on, which is often excluded. A pipe bursting on the night of 12 January is a date. A tank that has been seeping since November is a history. If you can see a trace under yours, photograph it today and have it looked at: that is the only window where the information still works in your favour.
10 °C
Minimum indoor temperature recommended for an unoccupied home (CAA-Québec)
24–48 h
The EPA's window before wet material is very likely to grow mould
No flame
Blowtorch and propane torch: never, on any pipe
Once the water is off, what decides the rest isn't the size of the damage but the quality of the file: dated moisture readings, photographs, and a written scope the adjuster can process without a follow-up call. What actually moves an insurance claim, seen from the job site
The plumber fixes the line and leaves, and that is where our part starts: the water that went into the walls, the ceiling below, and the finished basement. We dry to moisture readings rather than to a date, document what got wet, and put back the drywall, insulation, flooring and paint. Our line is answered 24/7 — and in January that is rarely a figure of speech.