A split supply line puts several gallons a minute into the structure until somebody closes the main. East Texas gets hard freezes rarely enough that very little local plumbing is protected against them, which is why the calls all arrive on the same thaw morning. We repair the line and then deal with why it failed.
Napps Plumbing — Longview & East Texas since 1957
Supply lines, drain lines and everything between the meter and the fixture. The repair is straightforward; establishing why that section failed is what stops the next one.
Sudden failure with water entering the structure. Close the main if you can reach it and call — this is the one category where the clock genuinely matters.
Ice expands and splits the pipe, but the water only appears on the thaw. Exposed hose bibbs, attic runs and crawl space lines are where it happens here.
Small persistent weeps in copper, often caused by water chemistry or electrolysis rather than any impact. Where there is one there are usually more coming.
Lines beneath the foundation broken by soil movement. Located first, then repaired at that point — or rerouted where that is the better answer.
The run between the meter and the house. Usually announced by a green patch, soft ground or a bill that climbed with nothing visible indoors.
When a house has had leaks in several places, individual repairs stop being economic. A partial or whole-house repipe replaces the problem rather than chasing it.
Three causes account for nearly every pipe we repair in East Texas, and each one implies something different about the rest of your plumbing.
Hard freezes are infrequent enough here that East Texas building stock is far less protected than housing further north — exposed hose bibbs, uninsulated attic runs and lines through unheated crawl spaces are all normal locally. Water expands as it freezes and splits the pipe, but the split does not leak while the ice is still in it. That is why the damage appears on the thaw, and why every plumber in Longview has the same morning.
Emergency Plumbing →Galvanised steel corrodes from the inside out, narrowing until pressure drops and eventually perforating. Copper can develop pinholes from water chemistry or from electrolysis where it contacts concrete or dissimilar metal. The important point in both cases is that the failed section is not special — the rest of the run is the same age, the same material and the same condition, so a single pinhole is usually the first of several.
Leak Detection →The expansive clay across much of Gregg County swells when wet and shrinks in a dry summer, and anything rigid cast into the foundation is strained by that cycle. It is why slab line failures here cluster when a long dry spell breaks. It is also why a reroute is sometimes the better repair — it takes the line out of the environment that broke it rather than putting a new joint back into it.
Slab Leak Repair →One failure is a repair. Two in different parts of the house within a year or so is a pattern, and at that point each individual repair is buying a few months at a time. A partial repipe of the worst run is often the sensible middle ground, and we would rather propose that than a whole-house job you do not need.
Repiping →Assessed on site — this is the general pattern.
| How It Failed | Typical Cause | Usual Remedy |
|---|---|---|
| Sudden split, water under pressure | Freeze or impact | Section replacement, then insulation |
| Persistent small weep in copper | Pinhole corrosion | Section repair, assess rest of run |
| Low pressure and rusty water | Galvanised corroding internally | Partial or whole-house repipe |
| Warm floor, water under slab | Soil movement | Repair at point, or reroute |
| Wet yard between meter and house | Underground line failure | Line replacement |
Or call 903-758-6482 — 24/7
Stop the water, find the failure, repair it, and tell you what it means for the rest.
On an active burst we talk you to the main shut-off on the phone before anything else. That call is free and it is the most valuable part.
Water travels, so the wet patch and the broken pipe are often in different places. We locate before opening anything up.
Section replaced properly rather than patched, with fittings appropriate to the pipe material and the location.
We tell you honestly whether this was an isolated failure or the first of several, so you can plan rather than react.
Most pipes give notice before they burst. These are the signs worth acting on.
Fast when it matters, and honest about what it means for the rest of the house.
Or call 903-758-6482 — available 24/7
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What people ask after a burst, a freeze or a recurring leak.
Close the main shut-off first — usually at the meter near the street or where the supply enters the house, turned clockwise. If water is near electrical outlets or a panel, cut power to that area at the breaker. Then call us. Stopping the flow is worth far more than how quickly anyone arrives, which is why the first thing we do on the phone is get you to the valve.
Because the ice that split the pipe is also plugging the hole it made. The damage happens when water expands as it freezes, but nothing escapes while the plug is in place. As soon as it thaws, pressurised water finds the split. That is why an entire town gets its burst pipes on the same morning, a day or two after the cold snap itself.
Mostly it depends on where the pipe is. An exposed line in a garage or crawl space is a straightforward repair. A line inside a wall or under the slab costs more, because the access is most of the work. That is also why locating it accurately first genuinely saves money — opening the wrong spot is expensive and it does not fix anything. We quote a flat rate once we have found it.
One failure is a repair. Leaks in several different places within a year usually mean the pipework as a whole has reached the end of its service life, and at that point individual repairs are buying a few months each. A partial repipe of the worst run is often the right middle ground. We would rather propose that than a whole-house job you do not need.
Yes. We locate the failure acoustically and with pressure testing first, so the concrete is opened once at a deliberately chosen point rather than exploratorily. In some cases rerouting the line overhead is less disruptive and less expensive than opening the foundation at all, and we will give you the honest comparison.
Insulate the exposed runs — hose bibbs, attic lines, anything in an unheated crawl space — because that is where East Texas freeze splits happen. Cover outdoor bibbs and disconnect hoses before a cold snap. During a hard freeze, letting a tap drip keeps water moving and relieves pressure. And find your main shut-off now, while it is warm, rather than looking for it in the dark.
Detection, emergencies and repiping each have their own page with more detail.
Answered by a person 24 hours a day — and we will help you stop the water before we get there.
Tell us where the pipe is and what it is doing. If water is actively escaping, please call 903-758-6482 instead of using the form.
