A burst or a freeze, right now
Frozen pipe repair in Aurora
A frozen pipe and a pipe that has already split are urgent. Thawing it with an open flame is not a method this guide will describe. Preventing a freeze next fall is a different page.
Stop the water if you can do it safely
If water is spraying, the useful step you can take without tools on a gas appliance is to close the indoor house shutoff, if you already know where it is and it turns. Do not hunt for a street valve. In Castle Rock the Town says the curb stop is theirs, tells customers not to operate it, and publishes 720-733-6000 for a curb shutoff. That number is the Town's, for houses on Castle Rock Water, and it is not a link here. Aurora's pages reviewed for this guide do not give a homeowner procedure for the utility's valve. Call the utility that bills the address.
Do not use a torch, a grill, or any open flame on a pipe. Do not pour boiling water on a fixture you cannot see behind a wall. If you smell gas, leave and call the gas utility or emergency services. A frozen water line is not a reason to open a gas fitting. Gas work is its own page, and it is not a set of steps.
After the water is stopped
The repair is whatever split: a supply line in a crawl space, a hose bib, or a section in an exterior wall. That is pipe repair unless the failure is the buried service from the main, which is the water service. One burst elbow does not prove the whole house needs new pipe. Ask the plumber to show the split.
Keeping the house from freezing next time, draining a vacant property, and disconnecting hoses is winterization, not this emergency. Castle Rock publishes freeze tips for its customers. Follow that town's page if you are on their water. Do not treat those tips as a license to thaw a gas line.
Questions to settle first
Can I thaw the pipe with a flame?
No. This guide will not describe flame, torches, or other open heat on a pipe. If water is spraying, close the indoor shutoff you already know how to use, and call a plumber. If you smell gas, leave the building and call the gas utility or emergency services.
Should I close the valve at the street?
Not by guesswork. Castle Rock tells its customers the street valve is the Town's and to call 720-733-6000 instead of operating it. Other utilities are not that sentence. Use the indoor shutoff if you can, and call the utility on your bill for the curb.
The pipe split. Do I repipe the house?
Not from one split. Repair the section that failed, then ask whether other exposed pipes are at the same risk. Whole-house repiping is a different project. A buried leak between the main and the house is a water-service repair, not an indoor repipe.
How is this different from winterization?
Winterization is what you do before a vacant house or a hose bib freezes. This page is the burst or the freeze that is happening now. Drain-down and hose removal belong on the winterization page. They do not stop water that is already on the floor.
