Freezing Weather Alert

Freezing Weather Alert



Protect Your Home and Your Listings




With the freezing temperatures forecast for the next few days dfwREALTORS.com - MetroTex wants to remind you to protect your home and advise your clients to do the same. Frozen water in pipes leads to pipes bursting at their weakest point and can cause incredible damage to a residence. Pipes in attics, crawl spaces and outside walls are particularly vulnerable to freezing in extremely cold weather, where holes in your house’s outside wall for television, cable or telephone lines allow cold air to reach them. An eighth-inch crack in a pipe can leak up to 250 gallons of water a day. By taking a few simple precautions, you and your clients can save yourselves the mess, money and aggravation frozen pipes can cause.

To keep water in pipes from freezing, take the following steps:

Wrap outdoor pipes in newspapers or insulation and cover with plastic.

Insulate pipes in your home's crawl spaces and attic. These exposed pipes are most susceptible to freezing. The more insulation you use, the better protected your pipes will be.

Heat tape or thermostatically-controlled heat cables can be used to wrap pipes.

Seal leaks that allow cold air inside near where pipes are located. Look for air leaks around electrical wiring, dryer vents and pipes. Use caulk or insulation to keep the cold out and the heat in. With severe cold, even a tiny opening can let in enough cold air to cause a pipe to freeze.

Disconnect garden hoses and, if possible, use an indoor valve to shut off and drain water from pipes leading to outside faucets. This reduces the chance of freezing in the short span of pipe just inside the house. If you don't have a separate valve to turn off outside water, wrap or cover faucets or hose bibs with an insulating material.

Letting a faucet drip during extreme cold weather can prevent a pipe from bursting. Opening a faucet will provide relief from the excessive pressure that builds between the faucet and the ice blockage when freezing occurs. A dripping faucet wastes some water, so only pipes vulnerable to freezing (ones that run through an unheated or unprotected space) should be left with the water flowing.

Open cabinet doors to allow heat to get to pipes under sinks and appliances near exterior walls.