If you haven’t already done so, protect the pipes in and around your house to avoid damage during this arctic blast.
Dennis Rodriguez with Paradigm Plumbing in Baton Rouge says you’ll want to drip all your faucets inside your home – both hot and cold faucets.
“Homeowners think that the hot side is not going to freeze. But actually, it’ll freeze quicker than the cold will,” says Rodriguez. “Less than a pencil size stream on the hot and the cold is what’s essential. And you’ll want to leave it dripping furthest from where the water comes in the house.”
Rodriguez says you also need to cover your hose bibs on the outside of your house.
A styrofoam box-shaped cover sold in home improvement stores should do the trick.
If you don’t, those water lines could burst when the weather warms back up.\
“When it expands, it’s going to bust, and you’re not going to know it for another day or two,” says Rodriguez. “When the water defrosts, that’s when you’re going to notice you’ve got a leak. And it will run your water bill up, because it’s going to be a full stream.”
Rodriguez says you’ll also want to disconnect any hoses on the outside of the house.
“The hose is going to freeze, and then the ice will permeate right up into the hose bib and could even possibly go into the wall structure and cause the pipes inside the wall to burst.”
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