Burst pipe repair cleanup is the busiest thing we do in January and February. Wasatch Front cold snaps can drop overnight lows into the single digits, and when an inversion sits over Utah Valley the cold can hang on for days. Pipes in exterior walls, garage ceilings and crawl spaces freeze first.
The most common burst we see in Orem is the outside hose bib. A frost-free sillcock only works if the hose is disconnected. Leave the hose on and water stays trapped in the long valve body inside the wall. It freezes and the pipe splits. Nothing happens until the thaw. Then the next time someone opens the tap, water sprays inside the wall and runs into the basement ceiling.
Here is what to do first. Shut off the main water valve, usually in the basement where the line comes in from the street. Turn off power to any wet area. Then call us. Our crew handles the cleanup side: water extraction, removing wet drywall and insulation, and structural drying. You will need a plumber for the pipe itself, and we work around that repair so walls can be closed up once everything reads dry.
Older Orem homes may still have galvanized steel supply lines, and some houses from the 1980s and early 1990s have gray polybutylene tubing that tends to leak at the fittings. Copper and PEX handle cold better but still split when full of ice. If the leak ran into a finished ceiling, see ceiling and drywall water damage. Call (385) 853-1062.