It’s that time of year again! As the weather turns cold outside, it’s important to make sure your home is winterized to help avoid possible water issues that can cost you time and money.
- Winterize your in-ground sprinkler system.
- Disconnect and drain outdoor hoses. Detaching a hose allows water to drain from the faucet. Otherwise, a single, hard overnight freeze can burst either the faucet, or the pipe to which it’s connected.
- Turn off water going to the outside of your house. (Look in your basement underneath your outside hose faucets.)
- Insulate and/or heat pipes or faucets in unheated areas. If you have pipes in the attic, an unheated garage or cold crawl space under the house, wrap and/or heat the water pipes before temperatures plummet. Hardware or building supply stores will have materials available.
- Seal off outside access doors. Winter winds whistling through can quickly freeze exposed water pipes.
- Make sure all able bodies in the house know where the incoming water shutoff valve is, and how to turn off the water coming in from the outside water line. If a pipe bursts anywhere in the house – kitchen, bath, basement or crawl space – this valve turns the water off to the house.