01/12/2024
🚨🚨🚨🚨 Tips:
1. Turn up the thermostat in your house 3-5 degrees higher than you'd normally have it set at to build up residual heat in the house structure itself.
2. Open cabinets, closets, and pantry doors to allow that heat access to more walls of the house.
3. Prop open the attic access door inside your house a few inches to allow some heat to get into your attic, again building up that residual heat in the structure of the house.
4. Disconnect hoses from outside spigots and then wrap those spigots, hopefully you have the Styrofoam covers as well.
5. If your water main line enters the house through the wall of your garage, then up to the attic, understand that those garage outside walls are not insulated and lines can freeze.( lots of those plumbing repairs was done last freeze)
6. To help with #5 you can put a space heater in the garage to raise the temp. a few degrees and monitor that heater periodically and use some common sense about where you put it ie: not close to anything flammable.
7. As a last resort fill your bathtubs with water so you can flush toilets and then turn off the water main outside the house and drain all the lines to every sink, spigot, toilet, tub, shower, etc... It's inconvenient but it's better than burst pipes and all the damage that comes with it.
8. Don't open your outside doors or windows unless you absolutely have to, keep all that warm air inside.
9. Firewood. If you've got a fireplace use it, but don't burn any pressure treated lumber, and monitor the fire.
10. If you use space heaters in the house, olug them directly into the wall, not an extension cord. Also, use common sense and don't put them near anything easily flammable ie: Christmas trees, curtains, carpets or rugs, etc., and monitor the heaters.
11. Do your laundry on the coldest nights, moving water through the lines is a good thing and the heat from the dryer can add heat to the attic or walls depending on where it vents to.
12.🙌🏽🙌🏽 🚨🚨🚨I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DO BUT but If you don't turn off your water then periodically walk through the house and flush every toilet, run water hot and cold at every sink, shower, tub, etc. for a few seconds to move that water around in the pipes. The incoming water is warmer than the stagnant water in the pipes. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, hope it helps. Feel free to add to this list if someone has other suggestions.
