Emergency Plumber in Houston — 24 Hours, Every Day

Water where it shouldn't be? Call (832) 520-2623. A plumber answers — not a call center — and talks you through stopping the damage while a truck heads your way. If you're reading this in a panic, the two things that matter most are in the next three paragraphs.

If water is actively flowing, shut off the main first. In most Houston homes it's at the meter box near the curb — a concrete or plastic lid set flush with the yard or sidewalk. Lift the lid and turn the valve a quarter-turn with a wrench or meter key until it stops. Some homes also have a shutoff on the house wall near the hose bib. Either one works; the curb valve always works.

If it's the water heater flooding, close the cold-water valve above the tank — the handle on the line feeding into the top of the heater — then turn off the breaker (electric) or set the gas control to OFF. The tank holds 40–50 gallons; the valve is what stops it refilling.

If you smell gas, leave the house before you do anything else. Don't flip switches, don't unplug anything, don't call from inside. From outside, call CenterPoint Energy's emergency line or 911. (811 is the dig line for before you excavate — for an active leak you want CenterPoint or 911.) Once the utility has made things safe, we repair the line, pressure-test it, and get it city-inspected.

What counts as a real plumbing emergency?

Honest answer: fewer things than the industry would like you to believe, but the real ones can't wait. Call us any hour for:

• A burst or leaking pressurized pipe — supply lines run at 50–80 psi, so even a small split moves a startling amount of water. Houston saw this citywide in the February 2021 freeze.
• Sewage backing up into tubs, showers, or floor drains — a health issue, not just a mess, and usually a main-line blockage rather than a fixture clog.
• Gas smell — rotten egg odor indoors or hissing near appliances. Leave first, call the utility, then call us for the repair.
• No water to the house when neighbors have service — often a failed main or a supply-side break under the slab.
• A flooding water heater, especially one installed in the attic, where the water comes through ceilings.

A dripping faucet, a single slow drain, or a running toilet is not an emergency, and we won't charge you emergency rates to pretend it is. We'll book it for the next regular slot instead.

What should you do while you wait for the plumber?

Stopping the source buys you everything. After the shutoffs above, a few minutes of triage keeps a bad night from becoming a bad month:

• Open the lowest faucet in the house (a tub spout or outdoor hose bib) to drain pressure off the lines after closing the main.
• Move rugs, furniture legs, and anything electrical out of standing water. Photograph the scene for your insurer before you mop.
• For a sewage backup, stop running all water — every drain in the house feeds the same blocked line, including the washing machine.
• If a ceiling is bulging with water, put a bucket underneath and relieve it with a small screwdriver hole. Controlled drip beats collapsed drywall.

How does our 24/7 dispatch actually work?

When you call, you reach a plumber — someone who can tell you which valve to turn while the truck is en route. That first conversation is free and it's often the most valuable ten minutes of the night, because water stopped at minute two does a fraction of the damage of water stopped at minute forty.

On arrival, we diagnose before we quote. That's house policy at any hour: you get a fixed price in writing for the repair in front of us, you approve it, and only then does work start. Emergency work costs more than scheduled work — we won't pretend otherwise — but you will never learn the number after the fact. If the honest answer is "stabilize it tonight, do the real repair Tuesday for less," that's what we'll tell you.

We also don't use an emergency as a sales opening. If your burst pipe points to a larger problem — aging galvanized supply lines, a slab leak, a corroded heater — we'll document it with proper leak detection or camera footage and give you a separate, no-pressure quote to consider in daylight.

Why do Houston homes have these emergencies?

Our housing stock and our soil write the script. Slab-on-grade foundations over expansive gumbo clay flex with every wet-dry cycle, stressing supply lines run under or through the slab. Pre-1970s homes in the Heights, Montrose, and West University still carry original cast iron drains and, sometimes, galvanized supply piping at the end of its life. Attic water heaters — a Houston builder favorite — put 50 gallons over your bedroom ceiling. And once every few years a hard freeze finds every uninsulated hose bib and attic line in the city; the freeze-prep guide covers the cheap prevention that beats the expensive cure.

None of that is a reason to panic. It's a reason to know where your curb shutoff is before you need it — go find it this weekend — and to keep one number saved for the night you do.

Emergency Plumbing FAQ

Do you charge extra for nights, weekends, or holidays?

Emergency dispatch outside normal hours does cost more than a scheduled daytime visit — that's true of every plumber, and we won't pretend otherwise. What doesn't change is how you find out: we quote a fixed price after diagnosing the problem and before any work starts, even at 2am. You approve the number in writing or we don't proceed.

How fast can you get to my house?

It depends on where you are and what else is happening that night — after a hard freeze, everyone is calling at once. When you call, a plumber tells you an honest arrival window and walks you through shutting off water or gas so the damage stops before we arrive. Stopping the water immediately matters more than which hour we pull up.

Should I call you or CenterPoint if I smell gas?

Leave the house first — don't flip switches or use your phone until you're outside. Then call CenterPoint Energy's emergency line or 911 to shut off and make the gas safe. Once the utility has secured the line, call us: repairs to the gas piping on your side of the meter are licensed plumbing work, and we handle the repair, pressure test, and city inspection.

Is a water heater leak really an emergency?

A slow drip from a fitting can wait until morning. A tank that has split or is flooding cannot — 40 to 50 gallons will keep feeding the leak until you close the cold-water valve above the heater. If water is actively flowing, shut that valve, turn off power or gas to the unit, and call. Attic installations are the urgent ones, since the water comes through ceilings. More on replacement options on our water heater page.