The February 2021 Freeze in Lewisville: What 973 Broken-Pipe Calls Taught Us

How did the freeze week unfold for Lewisville's crews?

From Sunday, February 14 through Sunday, February 21, 2021, Lewisville Fire Department and city crews answered 973 calls for broken water pipes. That averages roughly 120 calls a day across eight days. The city also waived plumbing and electrical permit fees for storm repairs, while still requiring permits and inspections.

The number comes from reporting on the city's own response, and it counts calls to the fire department and city crews, not homes. One home can generate more than one call, and not every burst pipe gets a call. It should be read as a measure of how heavily the town's responders were used, not as a count of damaged houses.

We have not sourced statewide casualty or insured-loss figures for that storm, so this page does not use them. What we can say with a source is local: the city's crews spent a full week answering broken-pipe calls.

A week of calls like that tells you something about how a freeze works in a town of this size. Lewisville had 111,822 residents at the 2020 census, and a freeze that sends pipes bursting across a town at once stretches every responder, plumber and restoration crew at the same time.

What did the city's permit-fee waiver actually change?

Lewisville waived plumbing and electrical permit fees for storm repairs, but it still required permits and inspections. The contractor registered through the city's permit site and noted that the repair was storm related. The waiver removed the fee, not the safety check on the work.

Permits for plumbing and electrical work exist so that someone checks the repair. After a freeze, a rushed pipe repair or a rewired outlet near a wet wall is exactly the work you want inspected. The waiver made that easier to do, and did not make it optional.

If you have a plumbing or electrical repair after a freeze, ask your plumber or electrician who is pulling the permit and when the inspection happens. The rule on the city's website now may differ from the 2021 waiver, which applied to that storm. Ask the building department before you assume it still applies.

Whether drying, drywall replacement or other repair work needs a permit is a question for the city, not for this page.

Why do pipes freeze in some places before others?

Pipes freeze first where they run through unheated or poorly insulated spaces: attics, garages, exterior walls and outdoor spigots. A frozen line can hold ice for hours without leaking, then split open or leak at a seam once it thaws and pressure returns to the line.

Water expands as it freezes, and a closed pipe has nowhere for the expansion to go. The pressure builds between the ice and the closed valve or faucet, and the pipe wall gives out at its weakest point. That point is often not where the ice is.

Supply lines can run through attics and exterior walls, where cold reaches them first. Hose bibs, irrigation backflow assemblies and lines in garages are the other usual places. Those places tend to be out of sight, which is why a break can run unnoticed.

Because the leak often starts at the thaw, a house can look fine through the coldest night and flood the next afternoon. Check the ceilings, walls and floors once temperatures rise, not just during the freeze.

What should I do before a freeze warning?

Learn where your main shutoff valve is, protect exposed pipes and outdoor spigots, open cabinet doors on exterior walls and let a faucet drip when a hard freeze is forecast. Disconnect hoses, cover hose bibs and ask a neighbor to check on an empty house. Do these things before the warning, not during it.

The National Weather Service Fort Worth office posts freeze and hard-freeze warnings for North Texas. When one is issued, you have a window of hours to days. Use it for the steps in the table below.

The most useful step is the least glamorous: find the main shutoff and make sure everyone in the house can reach it. If a pipe breaks, the faster the water stops, the smaller the job. The main valve is often near where the water line enters the house, or by the meter at the street. Test it once in mild weather so you know it turns.

What should I do if a pipe breaks during a freeze?

Shut off the main water valve first, then stay out of standing water near outlets and appliances. Turn off power to the area only if the panel is dry and easy to reach. Take photographs, call a plumber and a restoration crew, and do not use a torch or open flame to thaw a pipe.

With the water off, open a faucet low in the house to drain the lines, and move belongings out of the wet area. If a ceiling is bowed, stay out from under it. Wet drywall can drop without warning.

During a widespread freeze, plumbers and crews can be stretched thin, and phones can be busy. Shutting off the water yourself, moving what you can and documenting the damage is the work that does not need to wait for anyone.

A crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. We do not promise an arrival time.

• Main valve off, then a faucet open at the lowest point in the house
• Photographs of the break, the water and the damage before you move anything
• Power off to the wet area only if you can reach the panel safely
• No torches, heaters or open flames near frozen pipes, which can start a fire inside a wall
• A call to your plumber, a restoration crew and your insurer

What should I check after the thaw?

Check ceilings, walls, floors, the attic and the garage for stains, drips and damp spots, and watch your water meter with every fixture off. A meter that keeps turning means a leak. A line that froze can crack and leak only after the thaw, so the first warm day is the day to look.

Walk the house with a flashlight. Look for stained ceilings under attics and bathrooms, damp baseboards, bubbling paint and soft spots in drywall. Open the attic hatch and look for wet insulation, but do not step on wet ceiling drywall below.

To test for a hidden leak, turn off everything that uses water and read the meter, then read it again after an hour with nothing running. If the numbers changed, a leak is running somewhere. Close the main and call a plumber.

A freeze leak that is found quickly is a smaller job. A freeze leak that runs for days in a closed wall is a larger one, and it can lead to mold. The frozen pipe damage page explains how the crew works through a thaw.

Who repairs what after a freeze?

A licensed plumber repairs the pipe, and a licensed electrician handles any wiring. The restoration crew removes water, opens wet walls and dries the structure. Both repairs and drying may need permits or inspections in Lewisville, so ask the city's building department which ones apply to your work.

Lewisville Water Damage Restoration does not repair pipes. The crew can stop water at an accessible valve, extract it and dry the house. For the part that follows, drywall, insulation and flooring, repairs are quoted after drying.

Because a burst pipe damages the walls around it, the two jobs overlap. The plumber's access to the pipe and the crew's need to open the wall are the same opening, so tell each company what the other is doing. The burst pipe damage page covers the process step by step.

How does insurance fit into a freeze loss?

Your insurer decides whether a freeze loss is covered, under the terms of your own policy, and neither this site nor a contractor can predict it. Read your policy before a freeze, photograph the damage, call your insurer early and ask your agent. Texas law requires you to pay your deductible.

The crew can give you moisture readings, photographs and a list of removed materials to include with a claim. It cannot tell you what the claim will pay, and it does not negotiate with your insurer.

Texas Insurance Code Chapter 707 makes it illegal for a contractor to offer to waive, rebate or absorb your deductible. The Texas Department of Insurance helps consumers with claim questions. See the homeowners insurance guide for what to ask.