The snowy winter weather brings fun activities like sledding down a nearby hill or snowball fights in the front yard. At the same time, winter weather can be hard on your home. Severely cold conditions can encourage the water lines in your plumbing to freeze and burst, which may lead to serious water damage and long-lasting negative effects.

When your pipes are covered in ice, you should call a plumber in Smyrna to handle the problem. That being said, there’s several tasks you can do to keep this from happening – and even minor prevention can go a long way.

What Pipes Are at Risk of Freezing

The pipes at the greatest risk of freezing are uncovered water lines. Common locations for exposed pipes are inside attic crawlspaces, near exterior walls, in the basement or even running under a modular home. Water lines that are not appropriately insulated are at the highest risk.

How to Keep Pipes from Becoming Frozen in Your Home

Sufficiently insulating exposed water lines is a great first step to keeping your pipes free of ice. You’ll often have access to most of these materials from a local plumbing company, and could also already have some someplace in your home.

Be mindful not to wrap other flammable insulation materials where they may light on fire. If you don’t feel comfortable insulating the pipes on your own, call your local plumbing services professional in Smyrna to do the job.

If you do choose to insulate the pipes yourself, popular insulation materials for pipes consist of:

  • Wraps or roll insulation: Multiple plumbers, hardware stores and national retailers provide insulation – usually fiberglass, foam wraps or pipe sleeves – that you can use to cover or fit around your pipes. They are supplied in differing lengths and sizes to suit the needs of your home.
  • Newspaper: To a decent degree, newspaper can be used as an insulator. If the weather is going to get cold and you aren’t able to put in more insulation in time, try wrapping uninsulated pipes in this.
  • Towels or rags: If you aren’t able to add insulation and don’t have any newspaper to use, wrapping notably vulnerable pipes with towels or clean rags as a last-ditch effort could be just enough to keep the cold air away from the pipes.

An additional preventative step you can take to prevent pipes from freezing in your home is to fill any cracks that may allow cold air into your home. Focus on the window frames, which can allow in surprisingly intense drafts. Not only will this help to stop your pipes from freezing, but it will have the added benefit of making your home more energy efficient.

Five More Ways to Keep Your Pipes from Freezing:

  • Open the cabinet doors. Opening the cabinet doors underneath the sinks and other areas of your home with plumbing will allow more warm air from the rest of the room to get to the pipes.
  • Letting water drip. Keeping the water flowing by letting your faucets drip even just a little can help avoid frozen pipes.
  • Open interior doors. By opening doors for rooms or hallways, your home can be heated more equally. This is mostly important if you have a room that is generally colder or hotter than the rest of the home.
  • Close the garage door. The exception to the open doors tip is the garage door, which you should keep shut – especially if your water lines are installed under the garage.
  • Keep the heat flowing. Experts suggest setting the thermostat at a persistent temperature and leaving it in place, rather than letting it get lower at night. Set it no colder than 55 degrees.

How to Stop Pipes from Freezing in an Unused Home

When you’re in your own home, it’s easy to realize when something isn't right. But what added steps can you take to stop pipes from freezing in a vacant home or vacation home when the damage from a frozen pipe might not be discovered for days or even weeks?

As with the main residence, adding insulation to any exposed water lines, opening interior doors in the home and winterizing the vacant home are the basic steps to try at first.

Other Steps to Prevent Pipes from Freezing in an Empty Home:

  1. Leave the heat on. Even though you aren’t going to be there, it’s best to keep the heat on – even if you switch the thermostat down colder than you would if you were there. As with a primary home, experts encourage keeping the temperature at no cooler than 55 degrees.
  2. Shut water off and drain the lines. If you’re going to be away for a long time or are winterizing a rustic cabin or cottage, switching the water off to the house and clearing the water out of the water lines is one way to stop pipes from freezing and bursting. Remember to flush the water out of your appliances, including the hot water heater, as well as the toilets. See to it that you clear out all the water from the pipes. If you’re unsure of how to drain the water from the pipes, or don’t feel comfortable performing it on your own, a plumber in Smyrna will be delighted to assist.