Winter Tips to Prevent Water Damage from Frozen Pipes Bursting

11/28/2017 (Permalink)

Frozen Pipes

With the cold weather upon us, it’s important to take some steps to ensure you don’t experience water damage from pipes freezing and bursting. Below we will cover some common areas where water pipes are prone to freeze and how to prevent that from happening.

Top Locations Where Water Pipes May Freeze

• Crawlspace

• Exterior Walls

• Under Kitchen Sinks

• Attics

• Garages

• Exterior Spigots

How To Prevent Pipes from Freezing & Bursting

• Insulate Water Pipes

If you have water pipes that run through an uninsulated or under-insulated area like a garage or crawlspace, you can purchase pipe insulation sleeves that slip over the exposed pipes. These black foam sleeves can easily be cut and usually have an adhesive that sticks to the pipe so they don’t slip off.

• Keep Garage Door Closed

It’s OK to open your garage door to get the car out or for the kids to grab their sleds but never leave it open for extended times. Remind your kids to shut it right away after opening it. It doesn’t take long for the bitter cold to freeze an exposed water pipe in your garage.

• Open Kitchen & Bathroom Cabinets

During really cold days and nights, you might want to consider opening up the cabinet door under your kitchen sinks and bathroom sinks that are against an exterior wall. Kitchen sink water pipes are one of the most common water pipes to freeze due to the fact that kitchen sinks are usually facing an exterior wall.

• Keep Thermostat Set Above 55 Degrees

While you obviously won’t have your thermostat set that low while you’re home, many people do set their thermostats that low when away for vacations. If you want to save a little money by turning your thermostat down while you’re away for a week or even the whole winter season, be sure to at least keep it at 55 or above. This will ensure that any water pipes that may be far away from your thermostat will still be warm enough not to freeze.

• Insulate Crawl Spaces and Attics

Many attics and crawl spaces have very minimal insulation. The insulation that there is in an attic or crawl space is usually there to insulate that area from the rest of your house and not the actual attic or crawl space. If you have water pipes that run through your attic or crawl space, you can insulate the entire area or you could just insulate the water pipes in the area as described above.

• Shutoff Valves to Exterior Spigots

Many exterior spigots are frost-proof to prevent them from freezing and bursting. If your spigots aren’t frost-proof or you don’t know, you can do one of two things to prevent them and the pipes they’re connected to from freezing and bursting. You can buy a spigot insulator that is usually a piece of styrofoam that covers the spigot or you can cut off the water to the exterior spigots and drain the remaining water in the pipes by opening up your spigots.

What to Do If a Pipe Does Burst

If you happen to have a water pipe burst in your home, the first thing you want to do is turn off the water to your home or to the area where the pipe has burst. The next step is to deal with all the water and water damage. Even a little water can get under carpets and behind walls and lead to more problems like mold.

It’s important to call the water damage restoration experts of SERVPRO of Indianapolis West immediately. We will work right away to identify the steps to clean and restore your home while taking steps to prevent any unnecessary further damage from occurring.

If you should suffer water damage at your home, call SERVPRO of Indianapolis West at 317-243-3149 to start taking the appropriate steps to clean and restore your home as if nothing ever happened.