Why a frozen pipe in a commercial building is a different problem
A frozen pipe in a house threatens one home. A frozen pipe in a commercial or multifamily building threatens every unit below it and beside it. Water follows gravity, so a break on the fourth floor shows up on the third, the second, and the ground floor before anyone traces it back. The pattern is predictable enough that you can map where the water will land, which is why the first 72 hours of a commercial water loss follow a known sequence.
Shared risers, mains, and fire suppression lines raise the stakes further. A suppression line is not a small supply line. It can move tens of thousands of gallons once it lets go. In an occupied building you are also managing tenants while the water spreads, which is why restoration in occupied commercial buildings has to be phased around the people still living there.
The cost tells the same story. From 2024 through June 2025, State Farm received more than 20,000 frozen-pipe and winter water-damage claims totaling over $628 million, with an average claim payment of more than $30,000, according to State Farm’s winter claims data. That data is largely residential, but the freeze mechanics are identical in a multifamily building, and shared systems make the exposure climb. Treat a freeze as a potential five-figure water event, not a maintenance ticket.
What to do in the first 30 minutes when pipes freeze
Your first move is to control the water, before you think about heat. In the first 30 minutes, your job is to confirm the freeze, get to the shut-off, and be ready to stop the flow the instant a pipe fails.
Work in this order:
- Confirm and locate the freeze. Find which line is frozen and whether it feeds a supply line or a fire suppression system.
- Get someone to the shut-off. Send a person who can close the water or the suppression system fast. As our operations director puts it, someone has to turn the water off, whether that is the fire department or somebody confident enough to shut the fire sprinkler system down before 40,000 gallons go through the entire building.
- Keep occupants clear. Move tenants and staff away from the affected line and anything below it.
- Hold off on heat. A pipe frozen for hours may already be cracked, and heat is what releases the water.
- Assess and contain. Note where water would travel, and stage towels, containment, and extraction gear before you thaw.
That fifth step is where most people jump ahead, so it is worth understanding why speed to thaw works against you.
Why rushing to thaw turns a frozen pipe into a burst pipe
Thawing a frozen pipe too fast is how a frozen pipe becomes a burst pipe. Ice expands and can split a pipe wall while the line is still frozen. As long as the ice plug holds, that crack stays sealed. Thaw it quickly with an open flame or high heat and the plug melts, the crack opens, and the water runs.
Never put an open flame or a torch on a pipe. State Farm’s guidance says the same, and an open flame adds a fire on top of a water problem. Warm a suspected line gently if at all, and watch the faucets while you do it.
Here is the decision rule. If you open a faucet and it runs dry while the pipe thaws, stop. That usually means the line is cracked and about to release. Leave the faucet open, shut the water at the valve, and call a plumber.
When to call a mitigation contractor instead of a plumber
A plumber fixes the pipe. A mitigation contractor handles the water that already left the pipe. Those are two different jobs, and on a commercial loss you often need both.
The plumber’s scope ends when flow is restored and the line is repaired. Everything else is the water event: extraction, moisture mapping, containment, drying to a standard, and any asbestos or mold the water exposes. Our operations director describes extraction as 99% of the water you pull out on any loss, the standing water, with the last 1% being wet building materials you dry with fans and dehumidification. Knowing whether you are dealing with standing water or hidden moisture tells you how extraction and drying differ.
The real risk is hiring a crew that does neither well. A crew with no moisture meters and no thermal cameras will blow air movers around, miss the water inside the walls, and sometimes disturb asbestos and force a building closure. Certified drying follows the ANSI/IICRC S500 standard, which defines how materials get metered and dried instead of assumed dry.
Here is the line. If water moved past the immediate fixture into floors, ceilings, or a second unit, call a mitigation contractor, not just a plumber.
If the pipe already burst, what the first hour looks like
If the pipe already burst, the first hour is about limiting how many units join the loss. Shut off the source, start extraction immediately, and contain the adjacent units first, not last.
That order is the whole game. A fire suppression line burst during a deep freeze at a multifamily property in Greeley, and water reached three units before it was stopped. What protected the building was not the rebuild. It was fast extraction, selective demolition of soaked materials, and containment of the surrounding units before any reconstruction started. Speed of containment decided whether the neighboring units stayed dry or joined the scope.
Start documentation in the same hour. Photograph the source and the spread before anyone moves materials, because those first images anchor the claim.
If a pipe has already burst in your building, our emergency team can start extraction and containment fast. Reach out about emergency mitigation services.
Document the damage before you thaw anything
Your insurance file is built in the first hour, not the first week. A sudden and accidental burst pipe is usually covered, while gradual leaks and long-term seepage are often excluded, so how you document the event shapes what gets paid. Photograph and video the frozen or failed line and the water’s path before you thaw, extract, or demolish anything. Once conditions change, you cannot recreate them.
Speed protects the building too. The EPA advises drying wet materials within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth. Miss that window and a water claim can grow a mold problem on top of it. If you want to see what a water damage policy usually covers and excludes, read it before the adjuster arrives, not after.
How to keep a freeze from becoming a burst next time
Most freeze losses trace back to heat that was never verified in a space nobody visits. Vacant units and riser rooms lose heat first, along with the mechanical closets nobody walks through in winter. Before the cold hits, confirm heat is on in every vacant unit and every riser room, and make sure your team knows where each shut-off is without hunting for it.
Colorado’s freeze-thaw swings add a problem crews learn the hard way. After a four-day freeze, two-wheel-drive box trucks cannot always reach a site, and truck-mount hoses can freeze solid at zero degrees. Air movers running without enough dehumidification hit dew point on cold surfaces and soak exterior sheathing, which our operations director calls a good way to turn exterior sheathing into a terrarium. An equipped, winterized crew matters more here than in a mild climate.
Line up the contractor before the loss, not during it. In Colorado multifamily, a serious habitability problem like water generally has to be addressed within roughly a day of notice, so the scramble to find help is time you do not have. The same steps that prevent water damage in a Colorado commercial building also make your freeze response faster.
Your next move before the next cold snap
The buildings that come through a freeze cleanly are the ones that knew their shut-offs and had a mitigation contractor on file before the pipe failed, the way fast containment saved the units next to that Greeley burst. If you want a freeze-response plan and known rates on file before the next cold snap, contact our team to walk through your building.
