01/24/2026
With winter weather arriving in St. Louis and temperatures dropping into the single digits, be sure you and your home are prepared.
During these extreme freezes, please remember to bring your pets indoors and check in on elderly neighbors in your community. To prevent property damage, this is also the critical time to take precautions against freezing pipes.
🚰 Drip Your Faucets: Allow a slow, steady trickle of water to run from faucets served by pipes near exterior walls. Moving water is much harder to freeze.
🚪Open Cabinet Doors: Keep kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors open to allow warmer house air to circulate around the plumbing under your sinks.
🔥 Maintain Consistent Heat: Keep your thermostat at the same temperature day and night. Avoid the common practice of lowering the heat at night to save money, as this is when most pipes freeze.
🚗 Keep Garages Closed: If you have water lines in your garage, keep the large garage door closed as much as possible to retain heat.
⛲️Disconnect Hoses: Remove all garden hoses from outdoor spigots immediately. Leaving them attached can cause water to back up and freeze inside the wall, leading to a burst pipe.
🚰 Cover Outdoor Spigots: Use insulated faucet covers (often called "socks") to protect exterior fixtures.
💨 Seal Drafts: Use weatherstripping or even a rolled-up towel to block cold air from entering through cracks near windows, doors, or where pipes enter the home.
