Prepare your pipes ahead of another cold front, North Texas plumbers warn
DALLAS - Many North Texans are dealing with expensive damages brought on by the long deep freeze.
And with more below-freezing temperatures on the way, experts say it is not time to let your guard down.
The nearly four-day-long arctic blast was enough to do a lot of damage to pipes in North Texas. And while it may feel over right now, you will need to drip those faucets yet again.
Even when homeowners try to think of everything, sometimes, there are hidden problems.
Colten Brown, a plumber with Baker Brothers, says this freeze was nothing like in 2021 when millions of Texans lost power for days. But even so, many are still dealing with huge headaches.
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"Yesterday, I went to a call. It was a three-quarter line leaking in the attic. Completely flooded their attic. Sheetrock falling off the ceiling. They had to get insurance involved. They might cover it," he said. "It can ruin your whole house. They could be looking at $20,00-30,000 in damage just from water."
And it's not just homeowners dealing with breaks.
An apartment building in Las Colinas was evacuated briefly because of a burst pipe in the parking garage.
With three more nights of temperatures well below freezing, Brown explained how to avoid the most common mistakes.
"People wrapping their hose bibbs with cloths and towels, that is a no, no. If water touches it, it’s gonna freeze, and it’s gonna make that colder. And then, boom. It’s done," he said. "Definitely drip your faucets. Both handles. If you have a single handle, try to meet somewhere in the middle so both are coming into it at once. Open your cabinets. Take your hoses off. Put your little Styrofoam covers on. We’re not built to withstand this weather down here."
Brian Remington with On Time Experts echoed some of that same advice for what to do when it's freezing. He also suggested keeping the furnace running, even if it's struggling.
"Your furnace is your friend during these times. You want to make sure your furnace is operating properly but opening those cabinets will help at least a little bit to keep the warm air because you have to think you have the freezing temps on the outside of the wall so we want the inside of the wall to be as warm as possible," he said.
If your pipes do freeze, Remington said it's not a guarantee that they will break, but you definitely want to take caution.
Keep the faucets open even though nothing is coming out, and if you can, shut off the branch lines to that area of the house.
"If you can, I would just as a precaution turn the water off to your house and let things thaw," he said. "As things start to thaw and as the temperatures come up, take walks around your home every once and a while. Sometimes if you see wet bricks or wet patches in an area where it's not normally wet, that's a really really tell-tell sign you've got something going on."
If you will be out of town during a freeze, you will want to shut your water off, either using your shut-off valves inside or the main shut-off near the curb.
And it is good to be familiar with how to turn your water off in case you do have a break.
"That's one thing I tell every homeowner is make sure you know how to turn off the water to your home. When people don't know how to shut that off, then when they have an issue panic kind of ensues, right? They are trying to figure it out while water is gushing and it's just not a good time to figure that out," Remington said. "Have a plan. Know where your shut-off is and make sure when something or if something happens, you know exactly where to shut it off, saving yourself a lot of damage."