What to do if a pipe bursts and there is a flood in the apartment?

Troubles, as a rule, happen exactly when you least expect them, and problems with the plumbing system in the apartment take you by surprise. It’s not scary if a faucet leaks or water leaks from the toilet tank, but what to do if a pipe bursts? Who to call, what actions should be taken first, so as not to flood the neighbors below?

Where to call?

In the case where a broken pipe looks quite impressive and liquid very quickly pours out of it, filling the room, you cannot solve this problem yourself - you need to immediately call specialists. If there is another person nearby, then this is just great, because while someone calls the professionals, you can at least somehow reduce the pressure and plug the gap.

• If such an event occurred on a weekday, then you need to call the housing maintenance service or simply the housing office; their number can be found at the entrance to each house.
• If an emergency occurred on a weekend, then you should call the emergency service of the water utility; their number should be written down in the telephone address book. If this is not the case, then you need to quickly use the reference book. It is better to always have a list of such necessary telephone numbers on hand, because you never know what might happen tomorrow. Forewarned is forearmed.

What should owners do if a pipe bursts?

Of course, when a pipe breaks, specialists will not be able to immediately appear on the threshold of your home, so before the plumbers arrive, you need to take some measures to reduce the amount of water in the apartment.

1. Firstly, the most important thing is not to panic and not run around the apartment at breakneck speed. At such a moment, it is necessary to be adequate and restrained, to give an account of every action.
2. Secondly, you need to place a container under the broken pipe so that water does not spill onto the floor and you do not flood your neighbors. This must be done before calling the plumbers. Don’t forget that containers need to be emptied by pouring them into a bathtub or sink to prevent water from spilling over the edges.
3. Then you need to shut off the water supply in the apartment or in the basement. The valves that regulate the water supply are usually located in the same place as the meters that control the volume of hot and cold water. You will need to turn the required valve all the way and check whether the water has stopped flowing. Usually, when performing such a manipulation in the basement, you turn off the water at the entire entrance.
4. After all these steps, it is necessary to collect all the water that ended up on the floor. This needs to be done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Any rags will do; you need to do everything quickly.

Pipe sealing

After all the steps described above, you need to quickly seal the hole in the pipe so that it does not leak, because when you turn off the water in the basement of an apartment building, you leave all the residents of the entrance without it.

You can try to restore the tightness of the pipe yourself. To do this you need to do the following.

• You need to wrap a piece of thick rubber (a bicycle inner tube will do) around the hole, do it very tightly in order to thoroughly tighten the leak.
• After this, you need to secure the piece of rubber with two screw clamps, screwing them all the way. There is no need to spare money, let there always be 5 extra clamps in your house, they are very cheap, but sometimes they are simply irreplaceable.
• After installing such a patch, be sure to rewind the leak with a piece of thick fabric. This will help contain the pressure for a couple of hours, which is just enough for specialists to arrive.
• You also need to go down to your neighbors below, see if you have flooded them, if this happens, then apologize and solve the problems.

Who is to blame for the pipe burst?

Who is to blame for the burst pipe in the apartment? This is a very important and necessary question that appears immediately after the flood problem is eliminated. In the case where this happened in a private house, laying the sewer system is the responsibility of the owner. Accordingly, all problems that may arise with the plumbing system fall solely on his shoulders.

If the breakthrough was in an apartment building, then several options are possible.

• If a pipe breaks from the riser to the first tap, then the management organization that manages this house will be responsible for all this; in fact, all complaints should be addressed there.
• The remaining pipes in the house are the problems of the residents. Therefore, you need to monitor the condition of the pipes, change them from time to time, clean them, and so on.
• If a problem arose with the heating system, then this is a completely different case - the management company should bear all responsibility if the tenant did not change anything in the system.

Now you know exactly what actions need to be taken if a pipe breaks. To ensure that such an incident never mars your life, you should regularly check the condition of the pipes.If they need to be repaired or replaced, the management organization must be notified. You also need to inspect the pipes that are installed in your home and replace various parts if necessary. The presence of rust, drips and other inconsistencies indicates that the pipe is in unusable condition. You also need to inspect the valve in the basement - it is important that it functions correctly and can be easily unscrewed and tightened. After all, if an emergency does happen, you will need to quickly turn off the water supply system.