Plumbing in Dallas fails in two signatures that people mix up. Black clay shifts under slabs and worries buried lines until a hot spot shows in the floor or a toilet rocks because the soil moved. A short hard freeze, the kind that lasts a night or two, bursts attic supplies, hose bibs, and fittings at a garage water heater. One is a slow soil story. The other announces itself on the thaw. Name which morning you are in.
Freeze damage hides in the places Dallas houses forget. Pier-and-beam cottages often run lines through unconditioned attics and along exterior walls. The ceiling stain appears under that run after the ice lets go. A bib on the north wall splits and stripes the brick. An irrigation backflow cracks and floods a bed. Shut the water off if finishes are getting worse, and do not patch the ceiling until the open pipe has been seen. Save the split fitting.
Slab leaks are the other Dallas classic, and they do not need a freeze. A warm stripe in the flooring, the sound of running water with every fixture off, or a damp carpet that never dries deserves a test, not a new floor first. The repair has to find the line. Guessing a location from a stain wastes the opening in the concrete.
Older drains add a third, quieter problem. Cast iron and roots from mature oaks will slow a line until it backs up, and that is not the same event as a freeze break or a pressurized slab leak. Say if more than one fixture is slow, and if the backup is sewage. Garage heaters also rust at the pan and die on their own schedule. Tell the call where the tank sits so the venting and the flood risk to stored belongings are obvious.
Have the address, slab or pier and beam, and one description: freeze break, slab leak, slow drain, or a heater that quit. Say if the water is already off. Mention hail only if a limb or roof leak is wetting the same ceiling you think a pipe stained. Ask the visit to find the source before the floor is opened wide. Call the number on this page.