H2 Woe

A simple element like water can create some of the most complicated problems in a home. Dutch Nave has seen them all: soiled carpet, moldy furniture, soggy drywall, gaping ceilings, hardwood floors that look like rippled washboards. Some homes are left uninhabitable. “Water can do a significant amount of damage,” he said. “It causes a lot of damage that people don’t realize.” As temperatures outside drop, the chances that a home’s pipes may freeze and burst rise, resulting in an unwanted pool party for some homeowners. Failure to properly prepare a home for cold weather significantly adds to those chances, said Nave, general manger and customer service representative for ServPro, a fire- and water-damage restoration company. While fires and tree branches also are a greater threat to homes during winter, the No. 1 call to restoration companies like ServPro is to fix damage from broken pipes. Even a little water can do damage if it’s not properly and promptly cleaned up. What’s best, Nave and other professionals say, is to prevent those situations from occurring. The most common pipe-related call made to plumbers and utility companies in winter also is the most preventable: frozen sillcocks - the outdoor spout to which you attach a garden hose. Homeowners often forget to remove hoses from the sillcocks, preventing the spouts from draining the extra water retained. “Once it gets into fall, people tend to keep their hoses screwed in,” said Nate Fields, plumbing manager for Allied Plumbing and Heating. “If the hose isn’t unscrewed, it doesn’t allow the pipe to drain, and then it bursts.” Usually the season’s first cold snap provides a wake-up call to homeowners to check around the house for anything that may lead to a water break, he said. Homeowners should also check their basements or crawlspace; vented windows or doorways allow cold air to creep in and attack exposed pipes. Mobile homes also are susceptible to cold-air infiltration if the home’s skirting comes loose. “A lot of times, we find that (frozen pipes) could have been prevented if they’d been checked,” Fields said. Inside the home, it’s just as important to protect vulnerable pipes, especially those along an exposed wall. If the air inside becomes too cold, problems are likely to develop. So the first thing every professional suggests is to properly insulate. “The best thing to do is insulate your home so you not only keep the heat on yourself, but on your pipes,” Fields said. It’s not always possible to protect every pipe, he said. Some houses, particularly older ones, are more susceptible to cold and wind. The true recipe for disaster, he said, seems to be the combination of freezing temperatures and blowing wind. After a cold, windy night, his company’s service representatives usually keep busy helping homeowners who awaken to discover they have no water or a broken line. “If you get cold weather in combination with high winds - I’m talking about the single digits - that’s when the majority of our calls come in,” he said. Extreme scenarios do arise, and usually are out of a homeowner’s control. Fields said some of the most costly damage occurs when the homeowner isn’t home to immediately catch a leak. While people who go on vacation probably know not to turn the heat down to 55 degrees - the absolute lowest temperature plumbers recommend - they may not anticipate other factors, such as a faulty heater or pockets in the home that are cooler than the majority of the house, such as beneath cabinets (in that case, he suggests opening cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate). If a family does plan to vacation for weeks at a time during winter, Nave suggests they completely drain the water lines and shut off the main valve in the house. It’s time-consuming, but a good method of protection, he said. “A lot of people aren’t going to go through the trouble, but if you are going out of town for a few months to go to your Florida home, that’s an ideal thing to do,” he said. Tools such as electric heat tape can help protect vulnerable pipes from freezing, but Fields recommends checking it often to make sure it is working properly. To protect pipes on those brutally cold nights, Fields recommends an old standby to keep water moving through them: Before bed, turn the faucets on and keep the water running at a trickle the size of a pencil lead (be sure the drain is working). If a pipe does freeze, it can be thawed slowly to prevent a water break, but that requires careful and close observation. If you suspect your pipes are frozen, experts suggest testing every faucet and toilet to see what exactly has been affected. If there is no water, shut off the hot water heater to prevent damaging it. But if it’s too late and one or several pipes have become fountains, here’s what you should do: • Know where the water valve is and how to shut if off. All family members should know how to do this. But if the valve isn’t accessible, call the utility company and ask that the water be shut off at the street valve. • Once the water is off, call a plumber. If there is damage to flooring or ceilings, call a restoration company. • Protect your flooring from further damage. Nave suggested removing magazines and other items from the floor to prevent ink from transferring to the carpet. If wooden furniture touches the carpet, put aluminum foil under the legs to prevent the wet wood from staining the floor. • Start furniture drying as soon as possible. “Some furniture can be saved as long as we get to it quick enough and it starts drying,” Nave said. • Be aware of electrical dangers. If there is a foot or more of standing water and there are electrical outlets in the room, “it may not be the smartest thing to go around splashing through the water,” Fields said. In such cases, call a professional to turn off the power supply before removing any water.