Burst pipes and winter emergencies: a Cumbrian homeowner's checklist

The cheapest emergency callout is the one you never need. Cumbria gets real winters, and the difference between a nuisance and a ruined ceiling is usually ten minutes of preparation in the autumn. Here is the checklist.

Before winter: the ten-minute jobs

1. Find your stop tap today

When a pipe bursts, the first five minutes decide how bad it gets - and most people spend them searching for the stop tap. It is usually under the kitchen sink, in a utility room, or where the mains enters the house. Find it, turn it (they seize up when never used), and make sure everyone in the house knows where it is.

2. Lag the pipes in cold spots

Pipes burst where they freeze: lofts, garages, outbuildings and under suspended floors. Foam lagging costs a few pounds a metre from any Do-It-Yourself shop and takes minutes to fit. Do not forget the loft header tank and the condensate pipe from the boiler - a frozen condensate pipe is one of the most common reasons boilers cut out in a cold snap.

3. Isolate and drain outside taps

An outside tap connected all winter is a burst waiting to happen just inside the wall. If it has an isolation valve, shut it and open the tap to drain the last of the water.

4. Clear the gutters before the leaves finish falling

Blocked gutters overflow down the wall, soak it, and then freeze. In an older stone house that is how damp gets a foothold - and in any house it is how fascias rot. Twice-yearly clearing is one of the most boring, highest-value jobs a house gets.

5. Going away? Leave the heating on low

An empty house in a cold week is when the worst bursts happen. Leave the heating ticking over at a low setting rather than off, and ask a neighbour to look in if you are away long.

If a pipe bursts anyway: the first five minutes

• Stop tap off. This is why step one mattered.
• Open the cold taps downstairs to drain the system and take the pressure off the leak.
• Electrics: if water is anywhere near sockets, lights or the consumer unit, turn the affected circuits off.
• Catch and contain - buckets, towels, and if a ceiling is bulging, a small hole through it into a bucket beats a collapse.
• Then pick up the phone.

Emergency callouts run 24/7: call 07585 802940 and Dave will tell you straight away if he can get to you. And once the emergency is over, the repair is usually a straightforward plumbing job - along with a bit of lagging so the same pipe never does it again.