If a pipe in your Macomb home just froze, or it already split and water is running into the basement, here’s the short version: call a licensed plumber to shut off and repair the pipe itself, and call Flood Solutions inc at (586) 580-0197 the moment water is on the floor, soaking a wall, or dripping from a ceiling. Flood Solutions has handled water damage calls across Macomb County since 1996 and runs a 24/7 line, so the water side of the response doesn’t wait for business hours.
Frozen pipes are a January-through-February problem for Macomb, Clinton Township, and Chesterfield homeowners alike: exposed crawlspace lines, unheated garages, and pipes running along exterior walls all freeze first when a cold snap settles over Macomb County. The confusing part isn’t the freeze itself. It’s figuring out whether you need a plumber, a water damage crew, or both, and in what order.
Is a Frozen Pipe a Plumber Call or a Restoration Call?
A frozen pipe that hasn’t split yet is a plumber’s job, not a restoration job. There’s no standing water to extract, so the fix is thawing the line safely and insulating it before it fails.
Once that same pipe cracks, or you find water already inside a wall cavity, under flooring, or pooling in the basement, the job splits in two. The plumber isolates the water supply and repairs or replaces the damaged section of pipe. Flood Solutions inc does not perform plumbing repairs, and won’t claim to: our crews handle what the water does to the structure once it’s out of the pipe, not the pipe itself.
Those two calls run in parallel, not back to back. Waiting for the plumber to finish before calling a restoration crew costs you hours that matter: wet drywall and subfloor start supporting mold growth within roughly 24 to 48 hours, a window the S500 standard for water damage restoration is built around.
How Do You Know If a Pipe Is Frozen or Already Burst?
A frozen-but-intact pipe shows no water at all: you turn on the faucet and get a trickle or nothing, but you won’t see any dripping, staining, or pooling anywhere in the house. A burst pipe shows the opposite: water where it shouldn’t be, even if the faucet itself is dry.
Signs the pipe has already split, not just frozen:
- A ceiling stain spreading or a bulge forming overnight
- Water pooling at a baseboard or seeping from under a door
- A hissing or dripping sound inside a wall
- Your water meter spinning with every fixture in the house shut off
- Standing water in the basement or crawlspace
If you see any of these, stop trying to thaw the pipe yourself. Shut off the main water valve if you can reach it safely, and make both calls: the plumber for the pipe, Flood Solutions for the water already in your home.
What Happens When You Call Flood Solutions for Frozen Pipe Damage?
The call starts with a few fast questions: where the water is, how long it’s been running, and what it’s touching (flooring, drywall, insulation, a finished basement). That tells the crew what equipment to bring before they’re on-site.
On arrival, the first job is extraction, pulling standing water off floors and out of carpet padding before it migrates further into the structure. Next comes moisture mapping: a technician uses a moisture meter to find exactly how far the water traveled inside walls and under flooring, since a frozen pipe behind drywall often wets a much bigger area than what’s visible. From there, air movers and a dehumidifier go in to dry the structure to the S500 standard, and the crew documents the loss with photos and moisture readings your insurance adjuster will want to see.
If you haven’t already dealt with the first few hours of a burst pipe (shutting off water, moving valuables, photographing the damage), our burst pipe emergency checklist walks through that step by step.
What If the Water’s Still Running When You Call?
If the pipe is actively spraying or the main shutoff isn’t accessible, that’s a plumber-first situation; a restoration crew can’t dry a structure that’s still taking on water. If there’s any risk of water near an electrical panel or outlets, or you smell gas, that’s a call to the utility company or 911 before anyone starts cleanup.
Once the active leak is stopped, whether by you, a plumber, or the fire department, the restoration clock starts. That’s when a call to Flood Solutions gets a crew moving on extraction and drying while the plumber finishes the pipe repair separately.
A little prevention goes a long way heading into a Michigan winter: Ready.gov’s winter weather guidance covers keeping a trickle of water running through vulnerable lines and sealing drafts near exposed pipes, both of which cut down on frozen-pipe calls in the first place.
Flood Solutions inc has worked water damage claims throughout Macomb, Sterling Heights, Warren, and the surrounding area since 1996, and carries a 4.4 Google rating across 35 reviews. If a frozen pipe in your home has already split, call Flood Solutions inc at (586) 580-0197 and get the drying process started while the plumber handles the repair.