Frozen Pipes in Your Home - A Challenge You Do not Want

Maintenance problems around your home can really turn into a disaster, learn how to not let this happen to you. You would not believe how many of these disasters happen to homeowners just like you each year, when you don't take preventive measure to prevent your pipes from breaking and sending water everywhere. Lives are turned upside down as well as some ceilings coming down also. With a bit of common sense and just a touch of planning, this can be avoided.

With winter comes these plumbing disasters, make sure that you winterize your home before you have large problems. As I noted earlier, you have to make sure that you protect and take care of your plumbing pipes. When the cold weather hits you will wish that you took the time to prepare. I hope that you have never had to experience bursting water pipes in your home. It is not a pleasant site when you see the damage that all that water can cause and the amount of property damage that has to be repaired.

So what could be some of the reasons why your water pipes may freeze. There are many different reasons, but I will list 3 of the main reason. You've poor insulation around your pipes, you set your thermostat way to low and or there was a vastly quick drop in temperature that can happen in colder and even warmer climates. One little crack in a water pipe can send two hundred to three hundred gallons of water a day into your home. And what if you're not home to turn the water off. Oh my, this could be a big problem. The damage to the structure of your home could be impaired, and the mold that is going to occur and the smell from it might just send you out of your home until your remove all the moldy parts. What about the flooding that is going to go on in the home? This could be immense when you think about all that water pouring into your home.

Simple steps that may prevent the winter problem from costing you a lot of money:

Keep the water pipes warm It can get very cold in the attic and the crawl space of your home, make sure that you go there and check for just about any exposed piping. When you find the exposed pipe, be sure you have some insulation with you and wrap that pipe with the insulation. More is better in this case. Having those exposed pipes wrapped with the foam rubber pipe insulation will protect them in the cold weather.

One thing to consider is that if you live in a place that has very harsh winters, you might need to consider having the pipes wrapped with heat tape. This heat tape is controlled by the thermostat and will keep the pipes really warm and have almost a zero chance of freezing. Simply follow the manufacturer's instructions for the proper installation method.

The water pipes are located in the walls of your home. When you know that it is going to be getting cold outside, make sure that you open the cabinet doors up. This is going to allow the warm air that is inside your home to reach those back walls. This can help a lot in preventing the water pipes from freezing.

Seal air leaks. Even a very small air leak from the outside that is letting in the cold air, may have an impact on your water pipes and cause them to freeze up and blow up. You need to go around your home exploring for just about any exterior pipes that are entering the exterior wall of your home and seal up the area's around those pipes. You might want to also look at where your dryer vent is and make sure that is sealed and check for any electrical wires or cables that may allow air to enter the home of get inside the walls where the water pipes are located. You might want to check for these types of places in the attic and crawl space of your home That caulk that expands as you spray it is great to use to fill up these spaces that are allowing air to enter in. It is simple to use and easy to find in your local hardware store. As I just described, using that expanding foam works well with air leaks from the outside of your home. You can cut away the excess once it has dried completely.

The water system. Just the smallest of flows out of a faucet will prevent the water from freezing in the pipes. Moving water is much harder to freeze than water that is standing still. There are some that say you need to run the hot water. This appears like a huge waste while heating and continuously running the water. I've tried and running the cold water will work just fine.

A faucet as close to an outside wall is the best one to run the water thru. If there are any air leaks from the outside coming in, this will prevent the pipes from freezing and bursting. Running the hose to the garden could be a great choice, but what I found was just running the faucet in the sink works fine.

When you are planning a winter trip and you're going to be away from your home for an extended time frame, it is better to be safe than sorry. Make sure that you shut off the water to your home and if you can drain the system. This will ensure that nothing can happen while you are away. Also set your thermostat no lower than 55F.

Your plumbing is one of the bigger investments when it comes to your home. The thing is that you need to make sure that it'll run and last for as long as the house is still standing. Do not use cheap plumbing material when it comes to your home. You don't want to have a water leak inside your wall that you don't know about. Large plumbing jobs is not something that you want to do a DIY repair on, especially if you don't know what you're doing and you are going to attempt to just figure it out as you go along. Huge mistake. Leave these varieties of jobs to the professionals like us to make sure that the job is done right the first time and you do not have any problems down the road.

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