I received my first report of a frozen pipe.  You heard me, someones pipes froze.  The weather has turned and its cold.  8 degrees was the reading on my thermometer on Monday morning.  Today is better about 35, which made the roads really slick.  We will discuss this at another time.

Lets talk about winterizing your home.  Why? Because if you do not, it will, not it may, it will cost you alot of money. 

This time of year were busy, I understand.  I've got at least 6 appointment this week, but that is no excuse.  I visited a home on Tuesday and the hose was still hooked up to the faucet.  Yes, it was frozen, and this can lead to a busted pipe just inside the wall. Here's a short list of things you need to do:

  • Remove all hoses from outside faucets.
  • If you can turn the water of to a exterior faucet, do so, and make sure you drain it.
  • Visit your crawl space and make sure that the vents are closed.  they were open during the summer months to help ventilate the crawl space.  make sure they're closed.  This will help you heating bill and protect against frozen pipes.
  • Have your furnace inspected.
  • Change the filter in the furnace, this will lessen the wear and tear on the unit.
  • If you have storm windows, now is the time to put them on.
  • Make sure your snow blower is working properly
  • buy several bags of snow melt and have it ready.
  • Clean out your gutters, this helps protect you from ice damming.

This only takes at most an hour of your time.  Calling the plumber when the pipes freeze could take hours, and the bill could be in excess of $15,000. Yes, that's right.  One repair bill I saw after the pipes froze was in excess of $15,000. There was a lot of damage done to the home.

It's winter, take of your home. Oh, bythe way, put new wiper blades on this weekend.  If it snows you'll really appreciate it.