How to Protect Your Home's Plumbing for the Winter

Tips for Winterizing Your Plumbing

Introduction:

Winter is quickly bearing down on us and sure as the sun will rise tomorrow many homeowners will experience plumbing problems. Knowing how to protect your home’s plumbing for the winter is critical if you want to avoid major freeze ups and expensive plumbing repairs. Plumbing in the winter can be very problematic. If you have just bought your first home or just moved to a region of the country that gets very cold in the winter, you may have little to no idea of what to do with the plumbing for the winter.

The following suggestions address some of the things for you to protect your home’s plumbing for the winter. These tips for winterizing your home can avoid expensive repair costs.

Kitchen and bathroom sinks:

Kitchen and some bathroom sinks are often positioned with the pipes near an exterior un-insulated wall. This is a very common problem area. These pipes and fixtures can be the first to freeze during the early days of winter. An easy way to prevent freezing mishaps is to simply leave the cabinet doors below the sink open. The heated air from inside the house will work to keep the pipes at a safe temperature.

Exposed piping:

To prevent frozen sink pipes any exposed kitchen sink pipes or any directly exposed piping should insulated to avoid freezing. For a DIY solution use electrical heating tape to wrap the pipes and then cover them with some type of foam insulation material to avoid frozen pipes. You can get advice on just how to do this from a professional plumber or your nearby home improvement supply center.

Exterior plumbing fixtures:

Exterior plumbing fixtures are called sill-cocks or more commonly called faucets or spigots. These exterior fixtures are often left untreated and filled with water during the winter, leading to enormous and costly problems to repair. Make sure that you have drained all the water out of these exterior plumbing fixtures before the cold winter months arrive. As an added measure consider covering them with insulation.

Water shutdown offs:

Exterior fixtures need to have the water supply shut off. If you have a vacation property or second home that you are vacating for the winter insure to shut off the entire water supply and drain all the plumbing.

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