FROZEN PIPE REPAIR — THAWED, FIXED, AND REINFORCED

Water expands roughly 9% when it freezes. A pipe full of ice is already overstressed, and the moment a fracture forms, you're racing the thaw. By the time water starts dripping out, a 1/8" crack at 60 PSI is dumping 4–8 gallons per minute into your drywall, subfloor, or basement. The repair is rarely the expensive part — the water damage is. That's why we treat every frozen-pipe call as urgent, day or night.

Our crews carry the right thawing tools (electric pipe thawing machines, infrared, hot water circulation — never open flame, ever) and the parts to splice or replace common runs on the same trip. Copper, PEX, CPVC, galvanized, polybutylene — we've worked all of it. We start by isolating the section, locating the fracture (or potential fracture), and giving you a clear go/no-go on whether the line can be saved with a coupling repair or needs a full replacement.

What we do on a frozen-pipe call

1. Shut off and assess. First step is finding your main shutoff and isolating the affected branch so the thaw doesn't flood the house.
2. Locate the freeze and any cracks. We trace the cold section by feel and infrared, then pressure-test once it's thawed to find micro-fractures you can't see.
3. Thaw safely. Pipe thawing machine for metal lines, hot-water circulation or warm-air for PEX. No torches — ever. Open flame near a frozen pipe in a wall cavity is how houses burn down.
4. Repair or replace. Small fracture in an accessible run = SharkBite or soldered coupling. Long damaged section, polybutylene, or repeat-freeze location = full replacement with PEX-A or copper.
5. Reinforce the run. Pipe insulation, heat tape with thermostat, and air-sealing the cold air leak that caused the freeze in the first place. Most freezes are an air-leak problem, not a plumbing problem.

Why North Louisiana pipes freeze

North Louisiana's climate brings surprise hard freezes — temperatures dipping to the low 20s°F overnight, and many homes built without freeze protection in the plumbing. The freeze almost always happens in the same five places: garage walls, exterior kitchen walls, crawl spaces, attic-mounted hose bibs, and the line feeding a frost-free spigot if a hose was left attached. We see the same five every hard winter.

What Mark Johnson & Sons does differently

Real 24/7 dispatch — answer is a person, not a machine. Same-day response on any active or recent freeze. Flat-rate pricing quoted before we open a wrench, even at 2am. All repairs come with a 1-year warranty on parts and labor. Classic Membership members get 15% off and priority dispatch — which matters when calls spike during a cold snap.