Winter-Proofing the Pipes in Your Home

The basics

Ice takes up more room than water. Inside a pipe, the growing ice squeezes water toward the shut tap until the pipe gives way where it is weakest, which is often not where the ice is. The damage stays hidden until the thaw, when water pours through the crack.

Pipes at risk share one trait: they sit somewhere colder than the rest of the house. Typical trouble spots in Brampton homes include:

• Supply lines in exterior walls, especially kitchen sinks on outside walls
• Pipes running through or above an attached garage
• Bathrooms built over a garage or a cantilevered floor
• Basement cold rooms and crawlspaces in split-level homes
• Outdoor taps and the short pipe feeding them
• Lines near the main water entry where the foundation is uninsulated

Step by step

1. Disconnect hoses in fall. Even frost-free taps can split with a hose attached. Our outdoor tap guide covers the full shut-down.
2. Seal the drafts. Caulk or foam gaps where pipes pass through rim joists and exterior walls. Cold air through a small gap does more harm than low room temperature.
3. Insulate exposed pipe. Foam sleeves on lines in unheated spaces are cheap and quick to fit.
4. Keep the heat on. Even when you are away, hold the house at roughly 15 °C or warmer.
5. Open cabinet doors on cold nights. It lets warm room air reach sink pipes on outside walls.
6. Let a vulnerable tap drip. A slow trickle during a deep cold snap relieves pressure and keeps water moving.
7. Keep the garage closed. An open door on a windy January day can freeze lines in the shared wall within hours.
8. Know your main shut-off. Should a line split anyway, a fast hand on the main valve keeps the damage small. See how to find it.

If a pipe has already frozen

Water stops at one tap, or flow drops to a trickle on a bitter morning. Open the affected tap so melting water can escape, then bring gentle warmth: blow-dryer warmth, or a portable heater kept a metre back. Flames are never the answer. When the cold spot stays hidden, or you see frost on a pipe inside a finished wall, stop and call.

Time to bring in the shop

Call if a frozen pipe sits behind drywall, if warming has not restored flow within half an hour, or if you see water once it thaws. Our frozen pipe thawing service works safely on hidden lines, and burst pipe repair covers what to do when the crack has already happened. A pipe that freezes every winter should be rerouted or insulated permanently rather than nursed through each cold snap.

Questions about this job? Call (365) 413-9125 and talk to a plumber.