A burst pipe is the one kind of water damage where the first move is always the same: close the main water valve. A split supply line keeps feeding water into the house until that valve is shut, so every minute it stays open adds to what has to be dried later.
GA Water Damage is a free referral service that connects callers with independent local restoration providers. It is not a plumber and not a contractor, and it does no drying, cleanup or repair work itself. Call the number on this page and you are connected with an independent local provider; the scope of the job, the price and the schedule are settled between you and that provider.
This page is written for the whole state, from the hills north of Atlanta to the coast. It leans on dated Georgia records: the readings of the December 2022 freeze station by station, what the state insurance commissioner told policyholders afterward, and where several water utilities draw the line between their pipe and yours.
The next ten minutes
The Insurance Information Institute’s cold-weather guide gives the order plainly: if pipes burst, turn off the water first, then mop up to stop further damage. The steps below follow that order and add the safety points from federal guidance on wet buildings.
- Close the main shut-off valve. If you do not know where it is, the next section says where to look.
- Open a cold tap on the lowest floor. With the main closed, an open tap lets the water still sitting in the lines drain into a sink instead of through the break.
- Handle electricity only from a dry place. CDC guidance is to switch off the main power only if the panel can be reached from a dry place, and never to switch power on or off while standing in water. If reaching the panel means stepping into water, leave it alone and call an electrician.
- Stay out from under a sagging ceiling. Water from a pipe in an attic or an upper floor collects on top of the drywall below it. Federal guidance for water-damaged homes tells people entering to look for sagging ceilings and floors, and a ceiling that bulges is carrying weight it was not built for.
- Photograph everything before you move it. Take wide shots of each room, then close shots of the break, the water line on the walls and each damaged item.
- Move belongings and mop up. Lift rugs, papers, electronics and light furniture out of the water, then start on the standing water with towels, a mop and buckets.
- Make the two calls. A plumber repairs the pipe and a restoration provider dries the building. Which comes first is covered below.
Water shut off and the floor still wet? Call to be connected with an independent local restoration provider in your part of Georgia.
Where the main shut-off is
Consumer Reports, in a guide updated January 23, 2026, says the main shut-off valve is usually at the water meter or where the main line enters the house, and that it should be closed when a pipe bursts. Those are the two places to check. Start where the water line comes into the building and work back toward the meter.
The Insurance Information Institute advises every household to know where the valve is before it is needed, because a damaged hose or a burst pipe can send water racing into the home. The City of Sandy Springs says the same thing in its cold-weather advice to residents: find the home’s water shut-off valve in case a pipe bursts.
The useful version of that advice is to find the valve on a dry day, check that it turns, and show it to everyone who lives in the house. A valve nobody has touched in years can be stiff. If it will not move, do not force it until something snaps; a plumber can free or replace it, and while water is still running it is worth asking your water utility whether it can close the supply at the meter.
In an apartment, a condo or a townhome the valve for your unit may not be the valve for the building. Ask the property manager or the association where yours is and who is allowed to close the building supply. The time to ask is before a cold night.
Plumber or restoration provider?
They are two trades doing two jobs, and a burst pipe needs both. The plumber stops the leak for good by repairing or replacing the failed section. The restoration provider deals with what the water did: extraction, drying, and removing materials that cannot be saved.
Georgia law is specific about the first job. Nobody may work as a master plumber or a journeyman plumber in the state without a valid license from the Division of Master Plumbers and Journeyman Plumbers (O.C.G.A. 43-14-8), and the state’s definition of plumbing includes repairing piping connected with water supply systems (O.C.G.A. 43-14-2). The pipe repair is licensed plumbing work.
The trade standard for drying work, the IICRC S500, puts the same split in writing. It says that determining and correcting the source of the water is the responsibility of the property owner and not the restorer. In practice the owner hires the plumber, and the provider you are connected with through this site handles the wet building.
| Job | Who does it | What the sources say |
|---|---|---|
| Stop the water | Anyone in the house, at the main valve | The Insurance Information Institute lists turning off the water as the first step when pipes burst |
| Repair the split pipe | A licensed plumber | O.C.G.A. 43-14-8 requires a license; O.C.G.A. 43-14-2 counts repairing water supply piping as plumbing |
| Dry the building | A restoration provider | The IICRC S500 is the trade standard for water damage restoration; it leaves the source of the water to the owner |
| Rebuild walls, ceilings and floors | A contractor | Georgia requires certain types of residential and general contractors to hold a state license; the statutory definition of a residential contractor applies where the work is worth more than $2,500 |
Which call comes first depends on whether the water is off. If the valve will not close and water is still coming out, the plumber comes first, along with a call to the water utility to ask about closing the supply at the meter. Once the supply is shut, the two calls can be made back to back, because extraction and drying do not have to wait for the pipe repair as long as the water stays off.
On the plumbing bill alone, HomeAdvisor’s guide, updated June 20, 2026, puts burst pipe repair at $500 on average with a range of $200 to $3,000, plus $100 to $300 for an emergency call-out. Those are HomeAdvisor’s national estimates for the pipe repair only. They do not include drying or rebuilding, and they are not prices from this site or from any provider.
Why pipes burst in a warm state
Georgia’s ordinary cold is mild. The normal January low is about 30 F in Alpharetta, 33.8 F in Athens and 38.2 F in Columbus. Consumer Reports gives 20 F as the temperature below which frozen pipes generally occur, and an ordinary January night in any of those cities does not come close.
The damage comes with the front that breaks the pattern. At the Atlanta station on December 23, 2022, the high was 52 F and the low, reached before the day ended, was 11 F. The low on December 24 was 8 F, and the high that day got no further than 27 F. Lows stayed at 18 F and 19 F on the two days after that.
Columbus followed the same curve farther south: a high of 54 F on December 23, a low of 18 F the same day and 13 F on December 24. Athens fell to 11 F on December 23, a record low for the date, and to 7 F the next day. The table sets the readings side by side.
| Station | Low | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Gainesville | 5 F | December 24, 2022 |
| Athens | 7 F | December 24, 2022 |
| DeKalb-Peachtree Airport | 7 F | December 24, 2022 |
| Atlanta | 8 F | December 24, 2022 |
| Columbus | 13 F | December 24, 2022 |
| Macon | 13 F | December 24, 2022 |
| Savannah | 21 F | December 25, 2022 |
The first six rows come from the National Weather Service’s December 2022 climate summary for north and central Georgia. The Savannah figure is from the Weather Service’s record of that city’s December 25 readings, where the average low for the date is 42 F.
Which pipes freeze is not random. Consumer Reports names the pipes most at risk as those in unheated interior spaces: basements, attics and garages. The same guide quotes the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety ranking burst pipes among the most common causes of property damage in very cold weather.
Water expands as it turns to ice, and a pipe that is blocked by ice can split under the strain. The split is often found only on the thaw, when the ice lets go and water starts moving through the break. That is why a house can seem fine through the cold night and flood the following afternoon.
One insurer’s figures for the twelve months that took in the 2022 freeze give a sense of the scale. State Farm said it paid more than $806 million nationwide on frozen pipe and water damage claims from August 2022 to August 2023, and that Georgia led every state with about $100 million in claim costs. Those are one company’s numbers, not a statewide total.
It was not a one-time event. For the late January 2025 storm Governor Brian Kemp declared a statewide State of Emergency, in effect through January 28, 2025, and the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency told residents to let pipes drip or insulate them so they would not freeze. Earlier that month the Weather Service logged 2.10 inches of snow at Atlanta on January 10, a record for the date. A year later the Atlanta station recorded lows of 19 F on January 26 and 14 F on January 27, 2026.
If a pipe has already let go, call to be connected with an independent local provider for the dry-out.
How the risk changes across Georgia
Hard freezes are on the record from the northern suburbs to the coast, but freezing nights are not equally common. The climate figures below come from the same station records used on this site’s city pages.
| Place | Ordinary cold | On the record |
|---|---|---|
| Alpharetta | Average January low about 30 F | Weather Service climate sites in north Georgia read 5 F at Gainesville and 7 F at DeKalb-Peachtree on December 24, 2022 |
| Atlanta station | About 36 nights a year at or below freezing | 8 F on December 24, 2022 |
| DeKalb-Peachtree Airport | Normal January low 32.7 F | 7 F on December 24, 2022, with a high of only 24 F |
| Athens | Average January low 33.8 F | Record low of minus 4 F on January 21, 1985 |
| Columbus | Normal January low 38.2 F | 13 F on December 24, 2022 |
| Savannah | About 21 days a year with a low below freezing | Record low of 3 F in January 1985 |
Two things stand out. The Atlanta station averages more freezing nights than Savannah does, so plumbing around Atlanta is tested more times in a normal year. And the coast is not exempt: Savannah’s all-time low of 3 F is well under the 20 F mark Consumer Reports gives for frozen pipes, and it recorded a low of 21 F in the 2022 outbreak.
Each city page carries the rest of the local picture, including the water utility and the housing stock. The four with climate figures in the table are water damage in Athens, GA, water damage restoration in Alpharetta, GA, water damage restoration in Columbus, GA and water damage in Savannah, GA.
Frozen but not yet burst
A tap that gives a trickle or nothing at all on a freezing morning usually means ice somewhere in the line that feeds it. Nothing is wet yet, and at this stage the job belongs to you or a plumber, not to a restoration provider.
Consumer Reports’ method is to thaw the pipe with gentle electric heat, such as a heating pad, a hair dryer or a portable space heater, and to leave the faucet open so the melting water can run. It rules out a blowtorch, a kerosene or propane heater and any open flame.
- Find the main shut-off before you start, in case the pipe turns out to be split.
- Open the faucet the frozen pipe feeds and leave it open.
- Warm the pipe gently with electric heat only, and keep cords and appliances away from any water.
- Watch the pipe as it thaws. If water appears at a crack or a joint, close the main at once.
The same guide says a licensed plumber is the right call when the frozen section cannot be found, cannot be reached or will not thaw. If the pipe thaws and holds, there is nothing to dry. If it thaws and leaks, close the valve and go back to the ten-minute list at the top of this page.
What drying involves after a burst pipe
Once the water is off, the provider’s work is to find how far the water traveled, remove what is standing, dry the structure and take out what cannot be dried. The step-by-step account of that work, the equipment and the daily readings, is on the page about water mitigation in Georgia. What follows is only what is particular to a pipe break.
Water from a broken supply line starts out as what the trade calls Category 1: water from a sanitary source. That is the best case, but the category is not fixed. Clean water can deteriorate to a worse category depending on time, temperature and the growth of microbes, which is one reason a pipe break found after a weekend away is handled differently from one caught in the first hour.
EPA’s table on water damage cleanup, which applies to clean water only, is blunt about a few materials. Wet fiberglass and cellulose insulation are discarded and replaced even when the water was clean. Drywall may be dried in place only if it shows no obvious swelling and its seams are intact; otherwise it is removed and the wall cavity is ventilated. Carpet and backing can be saved if dried within 24 to 48 hours.
That 24 to 48 hour window is also the mold clock. The Georgia Department of Public Health says mold can grow within 24 to 48 hours where a wet surface or material is not dried or discarded promptly, and the example it gives is water from a burst pipe. What happens after that window has passed is covered on the page about mold remediation in Georgia.
Published drying times vary. FEMA’s mold brochure says a wet area usually takes two to three days to dry completely and that rebuilding should wait until then. HomeAdvisor’s guide, updated June 17, 2026, says a water-damaged home takes around five days, depending on the damage. On an actual job the provider’s moisture readings decide when drying is finished, not the calendar.
Insurance after a burst pipe in Georgia
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners described the general position in a consumer article dated February 8, 2024. The plumbing loss a homeowners policy pays for is a discharge that is both sudden and accidental. Policies often cover water damage from a frozen pipe that bursts, provided the owner took reasonable steps to keep the pipes from freezing.
The condition matters most in an empty house. The same NAIC article says policies generally require a minimum temperature or a shut-off water supply in a vacant home. The standard HO-3 sample form published by the Insurance Information Institute puts it this way: freezing of plumbing is covered only if the owner used reasonable care to keep heat in the building, or shut off the water supply and drained the system.
That sample form covers accidental discharge of water from a plumbing system but does not pay for the failed pipe itself. It also lists the owner’s duties after a loss: protect the property from further damage, make reasonable and necessary repairs to protect it, and keep an accurate record of what those repairs cost. It excludes loss caused by neglect, meaning a failure to use all reasonable means to save the property. A real policy can differ from the sample, so read your own.
Those duties are why the shut-off and the first drying steps should not sit until an adjuster visits. The Insurance Information Institute also advises keeping receipts for what you spend, giving the adjuster an inventory of damaged items and not throwing damaged items out before the adjuster has seen them. No provider reached through this site can tell you what your insurer will pay; that is the insurer’s decision under your policy.
Georgia has a state office for claims that stall. After the December 2022 freeze, Insurance Commissioner John King told Georgians with burst-pipe claims to contact his office when an insurer was not returning calls or processing a claim. The Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire asks policyholders to raise the problem with the insurer first, gather the policy number, the claim number and copies of supporting documents, and then file a complaint through its online portal.
Deadlines: read the policy, not a rule of thumb
Georgia’s claim-handling timetable in insurance rule 120-2-52 states its purpose as claims under private passenger motor vehicle policies, so its day counts should not be read as settled deadlines for a homeowner’s water claim. The deadline to sue is a separate matter. In White v. State Farm (2012) the Georgia Supreme Court enforced a one-year suit deadline written into a homeowner’s policy, so the limit in your own policy is the one that counts and it can be as short as one year.
Water and freezing claims are common enough to have their own statistic. The Insurance Information Institute, working from ISO data, reports that about one in 60 insured homes has a property damage claim caused by water damage or freezing in a year. Its table of average homeowners losses for 2019 to 2023 shows an average paid claim of $15,400 for water damage and freezing.
One boundary to keep straight: a burst pipe is not a flood in insurance terms. The HO-3 sample form excludes flood and surface water, and that kind of loss follows different rules, covered on the page about flood damage restoration in Georgia.
What cleanup costs
GA Water Damage sets no prices and quotes none. The provider you are connected with prices the job after seeing it. The only figures that can honestly be printed here are a national cost guide’s dated estimates, which give a sense of scale and nothing more.
| Item | HomeAdvisor national estimate | Guide updated |
|---|---|---|
| Burst pipe repair, the pipe only | $500 average, $200 to $3,000 | June 20, 2026 |
| Emergency plumbing call-out | $100 to $300 added | June 20, 2026 |
| Cleanup, clean water | About $3.50 per square foot | June 17, 2026 |
| Cleanup, gray water | About $5.25 per square foot | June 17, 2026 |
| Drywall repair | About $300 to $850 | June 17, 2026 |
| Floor repair | About $200 to $550 | June 17, 2026 |
| Ceiling repair | About $450 to $1,600 | June 17, 2026 |
| Water damage restoration, all causes | $3,868 average; most homeowners $1,383 to $6,369 | June 17, 2026 |
Four things move a burst pipe job up or down those ranges. How long the water ran before the valve was closed comes first, followed by the area it reached, including the rooms below. The third is what got wet, since insulation and swollen drywall come out while sound framing can be dried. The fourth is the rebuild, which HomeAdvisor prices as its own stage, separate from drying.
A water main break is a different problem
Searches about burst pipes in Georgia mix two events: a pipe that failed inside a house and a main that failed in the street. They have different owners. A main break is the utility’s to repair and is reported to the utility. A break on your side of the meter is yours, and a plumber repairs it.
Where the dividing line sits is published by several Georgia utilities, and they agree with each other. The table covers the systems that serve six of the cities on this site.
| Where you are | Water system | What the utility says |
|---|---|---|
| Athens | Athens-Clarke County Public Utilities | The owner maintains and repairs the service line from the meter to the building; the county has the street side, the meter included |
| Sandy Springs | City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management | A leak between the main and the meter is the City of Atlanta’s to repair; a leak between the meter and the house is the homeowner’s |
| Duluth | Gwinnett County Water Resources | A leak between the home and the meter is on private property and is the homeowner’s to repair |
| Alpharetta | Fulton County, North Fulton system | The county takes reports of main breaks and other drinking-water emergencies; roadway and stormwater problems go to the resident’s own city |
| Roswell | Roswell Water Utility or Fulton County | The city utility supplies about 18,500 residents; the remaining 80 percent of the city is on Fulton County water |
| Decatur | DeKalb County Watershed Management | The county’s emergency line takes main breaks, sewer backups, loss of water and water quality problems |
Each utility prints its current emergency number on its own page, which is the safest place to get it: Athens-Clarke County, Atlanta Watershed, Gwinnett County Water Resources and Fulton County. Sandy Springs states that it is not a utility provider and sends its residents to Atlanta Watershed. In Roswell, the water bill tells you which of the two systems you are on.
After a main break, think about backflow
Fulton County warns that pressure swings in the public system, for example from a main break or from firefighting, can reverse the flow through uncontrolled cross connections. Owners who have testable backflow devices must have them tested each year by a certified tester.
If water from a broken main ends up inside your home, the drying is the same work described above and the same call from this page applies. Who pays for it is a question for the utility and your insurer, and this page does not try to answer it.
Renters, condos and the unit below
Water from a pipe on an upper floor does not stay in the unit where it started. It runs down through the ceiling below and sideways through shared walls. If you rent or live in a building with an association, tell the landlord, the property manager or the association at once, and tell the neighbors under you.
In several Atlanta suburbs, shared buildings make up a large part of the housing. Census estimates put about 52 percent of Sandy Springs homes in buildings of five or more units. In Duluth, more than half of the city’s homes are attached to another home, counting townhomes and multi-unit buildings together. In Alpharetta roughly four in ten homes share a wall, a floor or a ceiling with a neighbor, and in Decatur a quarter of the units are in buildings of 50 or more.
Who pays for what in a shared building depends on the lease, the association’s documents and the insurance policies involved, and this page does not state it. For the mechanics of the landlord and tenant relationship, the Georgia Department of Public Health points renters to their county or city officials on local housing codes, to georgialegalaid.org and to the Georgia Landlord Tenant Handbook.
Housing type changes how a pipe break plays out, and it differs city by city. The pages for water damage restoration in Sandy Springs, GA, water damage restoration in Duluth, GA, water damage restoration in Decatur, GA and water damage restoration in Roswell, GA go further into the housing in each place.
Before the next freeze
Prevention is cheap next to a dry-out, and the published advice is consistent. Consumer Reports lists four steps for freezing weather.
- Let a faucet served by exposed pipes drip.
- Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors so warm air reaches the plumbing.
- Keep garage doors closed.
- Insulate exposed pipes.
Georgia agencies repeat the same points. The state emergency management agency’s guidance for the January 2025 cold told residents to let pipes drip or insulate them. The City of Sandy Springs adds wrapping exposed pipes, opening sink cabinet doors, disconnecting outdoor hoses and finding the shut-off valve.
On the thermostat, the published floors differ. The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety’s FORTIFIED program and Consumer Reports say no lower than 55 F, including when you are away. The Insurance Information Institute says at least 65 F, because the inside of a wall is colder than the room. Whichever number you use, the point is that the heat stays on.
For a long absence, the Insurance Information Institute advises having the water system professionally drained. That lines up with the insurance condition described earlier: reasonable care to keep the building heated, or the supply shut off and the system drained. A house left cold with the water on is the situation that condition is aimed at.
Checking the provider and related pages
Providers reached through this site are independent businesses, and it is the homeowner’s job to confirm that the one hired carries the license and insurance the work requires. For contracting work, the Georgia Attorney General’s Consumer Ed site gives the route: go to sos.ga.gov, choose Licensing, click Licensee Search, open the Building and Contractors tab and select Residential and General Contractors. The contractor board says the search works by name or by license number.
None of the Georgia state sources reviewed for this site names a state license or certification specific to water damage restoration companies. What the state does license is the general or residential contracting, plumbing, electrical and conditioned-air work that a restoration job can include. So the license to ask about depends on which of those the job involves.
On insurance, the Residential and General Contractors Board advises asking for proof of general liability insurance and checking that the name on it matches the licensed person or business. The Attorney General’s office warns against any contractor who asks for full payment up front, takes only cash or refuses to give a written contract.
A pipe can let go at any hour, and some participating providers offer emergency and 24/7 burst pipe cleanup. That availability depends on the provider, the location and demand, as the notice at the foot of this page states, and GA Water Damage makes no promise about availability or arrival times on any provider’s behalf.
Two more pages round this out. The homepage on water damage restoration in Georgia explains how the service works statewide, and the page about GA Water Damage sets out what the site is and is not.
Main valve closed and photographs taken? Call to be connected with an independent local restoration provider in Georgia.
Questions people ask
What should I do first if a pipe bursts in my house?
Close the main water shut-off valve. The Insurance Information Institute’s guide puts that first, followed by mopping up to stop further damage. After that, open a cold tap on the lowest floor to drain the lines, keep away from the electrical panel unless you can reach it from a dry place, stay out from under any sagging ceiling, and photograph the damage before moving anything.
Where is the main water shut-off?
Consumer Reports says the main shut-off valve is usually at the water meter or where the main line enters the house. Check those two places, starting where the water line comes into the building. The Insurance Information Institute advises every household to know where the valve is before it is needed. In an apartment or a condo, ask the property manager which valve serves your unit.
Should I call a plumber or a water damage company first?
If water is still running because the valve will not close, the plumber comes first, along with a call to your water utility to ask about closing the supply at the meter. Once the supply is off, make both calls back to back. In Georgia, repairing water supply piping is licensed plumbing work, and the restoration trade’s own standard leaves fixing the source to the owner. A restoration provider dries the building; it does not replace the plumber.
Does homeowners insurance cover a burst pipe in Georgia?
Often, but it depends on your policy. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners says the plumbing loss a homeowners policy pays for is a discharge that is sudden and accidental, and that policies often cover a frozen pipe that bursts if the owner took reasonable steps to prevent freezing. The standard HO-3 sample form does not pay for the failed pipe itself. Only your insurer can confirm coverage.
Will insurance pay if the pipe froze while the house was empty?
That depends on what was done before the house was left. The NAIC says policies generally require a minimum temperature or a shut-off water supply in a vacant home. The standard HO-3 sample form covers freezing only if the owner used reasonable care to keep heat in the building, or shut off the water and drained the system. Check the wording of your own policy before you leave a house empty in cold weather.
How much does it cost to clean up after a burst pipe?
There is no single figure, and this site sets no prices. As a national guide, HomeAdvisor, updated June 17, 2026, estimates cleanup of clean water at about $3.50 per square foot, with drywall, floor and ceiling repair priced separately. Its June 20, 2026 guide puts the pipe repair itself at $500 on average. The provider you are connected with prices the actual job after seeing it.
How cold does it have to get for pipes to freeze in Georgia?
Consumer Reports gives 20 F as the temperature below which frozen pipes generally occur, with pipes in unheated basements, attics and garages most at risk. Georgia’s normal January lows are well above that, but fronts push far below it. On December 24, 2022 the low was 8 F in Atlanta, 7 F in Athens and 13 F in Columbus, and Savannah reached 21 F the next day.
How do I thaw a frozen pipe without splitting it?
Consumer Reports advises gentle electric heat, such as a heating pad, a hair dryer or a portable space heater, with the faucet left open so melting water can run. Never use a blowtorch, a kerosene or propane heater or any open flame. Know where the main shut-off is before you start, and call a licensed plumber if the frozen section cannot be found, cannot be reached or will not thaw.
How long does it take to dry a house after a burst pipe?
Published figures run from days to about a week. FEMA’s mold brochure says a wet area usually takes two to three days to dry completely. HomeAdvisor’s guide, updated June 17, 2026, says a water-damaged home takes around five days, depending on the damage. How long the water ran and what materials got wet decide the real number, and the provider’s moisture readings mark the end.
How soon can mold start after a pipe bursts?
The Georgia Department of Public Health says mold can grow within 24 to 48 hours where a wet surface or material is not dried or discarded promptly, and it uses water from a burst pipe as its example. EPA treats the 48-hour mark as a guideline and not a guarantee either way: mold does not always appear after 48 hours, and it may have started in materials dried inside that time.
Is it safe to use the electricity after a pipe bursts?
Treat it with caution. FEMA’s mold brochure says the main power should be off if wiring is wet. CDC guidance is to switch off the main power only if the panel can be reached from a dry place, and never to switch power on or off, or use an electric tool or appliance, while standing in water. If reaching the panel means stepping into water, call an electrician to turn the power off.
The pipe broke between the meter and my house. Who fixes it?
On the Georgia systems checked for this site, the owner does. Athens-Clarke County says the owner maintains and repairs the service line from the meter to the building. Atlanta Watershed, which serves Sandy Springs, says a leak between the meter and the house is the homeowner’s. Gwinnett County says a leak between the home and the meter is on private property. Confirm the rule with your own utility.
A water main broke in my street. Who do I call?
Call the water utility that serves your address. A plumber works on your side of the meter, and on the Georgia systems checked for this site the street side is the utility’s. Athens-Clarke County, Atlanta Watershed, Gwinnett County, Fulton County and DeKalb County each take reports of main breaks or leaks in the street, and each prints its current number on its own page. If water from the main reached the inside of your home, drying it is a separate job.
Is GA Water Damage a restoration company, and does it cost anything to call?
No, and no. GA Water Damage is a free referral service. It connects callers with independent local restoration providers and does no drying, plumbing or repair work itself. The call costs nothing. Any work is agreed between you and the provider, who sets the price and the schedule, and it is your responsibility to confirm that the provider carries the license and insurance the job requires.
How do I check the license and insurance of the provider I am connected with?
Start by asking which licensed trades the job involves, because none of the Georgia state sources reviewed for this site names a license specific to water damage restoration. For contracting work, the Attorney General’s Consumer Ed site says to go to sos.ga.gov, choose Licensing, click Licensee Search, open the Building and Contractors tab and select Residential and General Contractors. The contractor board advises asking for proof of general liability insurance in the same name as the license.