Experience draining pipes for winter? (Big Lake: house, water heater, floors)

[Teresa1127]

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with winterizing a vacant house. I've heard that it is not good for a house to be subjected to below freezing temps. That it can cause walls to crack, etc. If you've had experience winterizing a house, please let me know if you feel it did any harm to it to go through a winter without heat.

We bought a house with the intention of demolishing it. The boiler in the house just broke and needs to be replaced. We aren't 100% certain we are going to demolish it - so need to preserve the house. Would like to avoid putting in a new boiler until we are certain we are not going to demolish it. The house is on Long Island.

TIA

[Nephler]

I have always used RV Anti-freeze to pour down the drains and in the toilet. Also, drain the water tank and water heater. Leave all facets open to.

[Marty Van Diest]

Originally Posted by Teresa1127

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with winterizing a vacant house. I've heard that it is not good for a house to be subjected to below freezing temps. That it can cause walls to crack, etc. If you've had experience winterizing a house, please let me know if you feel it did any harm to it to go through a winter without heat.

We bought a house with the intention of demolishing it. The boiler in the house just broke and needs to be replaced. We aren't 100% certain we are going to demolish it - so need to preserve the house. Would like to avoid putting in a new boiler until we are certain we are not going to demolish it. The house is on Long Island.

TIA

Don't mess around...hire a plumber. It's worth it.

If it's on Long Island in Big Lake you may not want to demolish it. It may have some grandfather rights that you will lose if you demolish it. check it out. You might want to PM me.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

Don't mess around...hire a plumber. It's worth it.

Very good advice if you don't know what you are doing.

Like Marty said, you may not want to distroy the place until you find out if there is a chance you can't rebuild there due to restrictions that have been enacted after the place was built.

Oh, and if the place has already been frozen since winter set in, it will be too late for the plumber anyway, it will aready be damaged as it will get, and the piping will have been split open aready.....

[Teresa1127]

I just wanted to hear from as many people as possible whether they felt leaving a house with out heat for a winter would do it any harm - assuming the pipes were properly winterized - drained and antifreezed. Our house is brick with a basement. If I limited myself to NY I would surely not get many replies. In fact - not one person so far.

[Nephler]

If the place is in NY, drained and antifreezed proper you should be fine. I have always used a lot extra anti-freeze than really needed, just to be safe. If it's an old place and has the old type water pipes (cast ?) then you will for sure be ok.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by Teresa1127

I just wanted to hear from as many people as possible whether they felt leaving a house with out heat for a winter would do it any harm - assuming the pipes were properly winterized - drained and antifreezed. Our house is brick with a basement. If I limited myself to NY I would surely not get many replies. In fact - not one person so far.

Well there is a whole lot of other issues that you may encounter without heat.

If there is sheetrock, it tends to gather moisture and swell up and can be useless except for stripping out and replacing.

The paint can get moisture in it also and cause the paint to bubble up and crack, or in some cases and just slide down the wall a bit.

The vinyl flooring can contract in the cold and cause cracking and/or will leave the floor in "rolling" lumps when it warms back up.

Mold may get started in the spring and cause some issues too....

The list goes on, but if it is frozen already, not much you can do til spring now, so I wouldn't lose any sleep about it... But good luck anyway.

[Nephler]

Originally Posted by starlite9

Well there is a whole lot of other issues that you may encounter without heat.

If there is sheetrock, it tends to gather moisture and swell up and can be useless except for stripping out and replacing.

The paint can get moisture in it also and cause the paint to bubble up and crack, or in some cases and just slide down the wall a bit.

The vinyl flooring can contract in the cold and cause cracking and/or will leave the floor in "rolling" lumps when it warms back up.

Mold may get started in the spring and cause some issues too....

The list goes on, but if it is frozen already, not much you can do til spring now, so I wouldn't lose any sleep about it... But good luck anyway.

Good points, where I always did this was in a log cabin, logs, just logs. Didn't have to worry about those things.

[Teresa1127]

Originally Posted by starlite9

Well there is a whole lot of other issues that you may encounter without heat.

If there is sheetrock, it tends to gather moisture and swell up and can be useless except for stripping out and replacing.

The paint can get moisture in it also and cause the paint to bubble up and crack, or in some cases and just slide down the wall a bit.

The vinyl flooring can contract in the cold and cause cracking and/or will leave the floor in "rolling" lumps when it warms back up.

Mold may get started in the spring and cause some issues too....

The list goes on, but if it is frozen already, not much you can do til spring now, so I wouldn't lose any sleep about it... But good luck anyway.

Lord have mercy! It does sound as though winterizing could cause many future problems. When my husband heard a plumber tell him today that there could be problems even in a properly winterized hosue (not so graphically as above tho) and also that we should really to be extra safe add rv antifreeze to the drinking water pipes . . . well he's about ready to pay $4000 for cheap new boiler. I am wondering though if the fact that we're in Long Island and we really rarely have more than a few days in teens, if the damage could be so extensive to walls, floors, etc.

Thanks for all the info!

[Marty Van Diest]

I thought you were on Long Island in Big Lake Alaska.

NY is likely a different matter. But I wouldn't know. It's best to use local knowledge.