Avoiding the Burst Pipes Due to Freezing! (Houston, Dallas: foreclosure, rent)

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by testmo

good idea houston_2010! they have feral cat houses that keep the kitties warm in the winter time. I think Friends for Life was doing a drive to help pay and set up these.


I am about to close on a house, but do not have ownership yet. do i assume all this prep for the cold weather has been taken care of?

Nope. I have a closing Monday and called the seller's agent to ask the seller to go by and take precautions. Neither the seller nor the agent had even thought about it. Ask your Realtor to call the other Realtor tonight.

[testmo]

well if i dont hear back from him maybe ill go out there in a parka and sneak around and do it myself ha

[kmalone4]

Serious question: Are the pipes and such built different here than they are in Chicago? I ask because it never occurred to me that I needed to be so vigilant when the low temps are in still in the 20s. Back in the Chicago area, we wouldn't be worried until it was much colder.

No sarcasm here; simply a question. Should I be more concerned?

[kmalone4]

Answered my own question:
weather.com - Severe Weather Readiness

Seems like you guys are right on track. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an attic door to crack.

[TVC15]

Originally Posted by SLoriginal'71

Sprinkler Systems and a hard freeze -

Please listen to the person who wrote the above post! Just wrapping that part of your sprinkler system will not keep it from freezing and then blowing the valve. Last year we wrapped it up really good and did not drain it....it froze and blew the valve. Almost everyone in my neighborhood, who have sprinkler systems had this happen to them. Every other house had a geyser of water spraying from the valve once it thawed. If this happens then you have to buy a new valve. Save the money and headache........take 5 minutes and drain your sprinkler system.

Good luck! Hope nobody has any frozen pipes or valves!

I have no clue how to drain a sprinkler system. My mom just bought a house with a sprinkler system and she has no clue how to do that. Is it easy? I know she did not drain it this evening...I hope the valve survies tonight!

Opps! Never mind I just realized the youtube video was a demo on how to drain it.

[Felixmp]

Originally Posted by kmalone4

Serious question: Are the pipes and such built different here than they are in Chicago? I ask because it never occurred to me that I needed to be so vigilant when the low temps are in still in the 20s. Back in the Chicago area, we wouldn't be worried until it was much colder.

No sarcasm here; simply a question. Should I be more concerned?

My guess would be its because the pipes in Chicago are typically in the basement and therefore in a warmer environment than in an attic. But maybe someone who use to live in the windy city can comment.

[dmarie123]

Originally Posted by kmalone4

Serious question: Are the pipes and such built different here than they are in Chicago? I ask because it never occurred to me that I needed to be so vigilant when the low temps are in still in the 20s. Back in the Chicago area, we wouldn't be worried until it was much colder.

No sarcasm here; simply a question. Should I be more concerned?

Yes- I grew up in Michigan and we never worried about this stuff. We just dealt with the -10 degrees and 17 inches of snow and went about our lives. No faucets dripping, no attics open, just normal life with a little salt on the sidewalk.

Pipes up north usually have to be INSIDE THE WALLS and on the inner side of insulation. No need to be protected. I dunno what happens with the outside faucets... be we never worried about it and they never blew.

The only time you were in trouble was if the ice shelves took down the power lines... but in new neighborhoods even those are underground.

[ethanw]

Crap I am in Europe right now heading to Asia. I hope my wife followed my instructions.
I don't have the pool pipes covered but the pool starts running automatically when freezing temperatures. It pushes water at around 2000 rpm so I guess as long the water is moving it won't be freezing. Ideas? Sugestions?

[houstonfan]

Originally Posted by dmarie123

Yes- I grew up in Michigan and we never worried about this stuff. We just dealt with the -10 degrees and 17 inches of snow and went about our lives. No faucets dripping, no attics open, just normal life with a little salt on the sidewalk.

Pipes up north usually have to be INSIDE THE WALLS and on the inner side of insulation. No need to be protected. I dunno what happens with the outside faucets... be we never worried about it and they never blew.

The only time you were in trouble was if the ice shelves took down the power lines... but in new neighborhoods even those are underground.

Yup, got that right. We never had to worry about anything when it froze other than making sure there was enough oil in the oldstyle heaters and hope there's no power outage.
Not sure why houses down here aren't built like that so the neighborhood doesn't have to go bananas everytime there's a freezing threat. I know we live in a hot an humid climate, but just wondering if there's any downside to doing it the way of the north in our hot climate?

Originally Posted by ethanw

Crap I am in Europe right now heading to Asia. I hope my wife followed my instructions.
I don't have the pool pipes covered but the pool starts running automatically when freezing temperatures. It pushes water at around 2000 rpm so I guess as long the water is moving it won't be freezing. Ideas? Sugestions?

We don't really have a hard freeze here like the north, and moving water is much harder to freeze so as long as water is moving through pipes i think you'd be ok. Having said that, I'll knock on wood just incase I'm wrong.

[Seoid]

Originally Posted by cheryjohns

Nope. I have a closing Monday and called the seller's agent to ask the seller to go by and take precautions. Neither the seller nor the agent had even thought about it. Ask your Realtor to call the other Realtor tonight.

Yeah, that would definitely be the seller's responsibility if something happened.