How to prepare your home’s pipes for cold weather in the CSRA

AUGUSTA, Ga. - As the temperatures drop lower, the most common thing you hear is to make sure your faucets are dripping.

Plumbers say this weekend it’s time to ditch the drip and embrace the stream.

“The stuff coming our way I believe tonight and tomorrow night, over the weekend, it’s fixing to get pretty bad. So would definitely take all precautions,” said Matt Lever, owner of Plumbing Unlimited.

He means precautions like running more than just cold water.

“Most of the busted pipes that we see are on the hotline because most people don’t realize that the hot water when it’s in the pipe, and it just sits there, it turns cold,” said Lever.

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If you don’t have the option to run both, Lever said: “Usually some of these newer faucets, you can’t do hot and cold, you just kind of set it in the center and let it drip. But it’s not just a drip, it’s more of almost a steady stream.”

He says another good practice to prepare is running all lines in your home, even the toilet.

“It’s good practice if it gets really cold at night, to go throughout your house in the morning and run every fixture you have, a washing machine included,” said Lever.

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He says to also cover every pipe you have that is exposed.

“What we always suggest is lines that are exposed, they make an installation, you can get it at Home Depot or Lowe’s. It’s very easy to use. You can do most of this yourself,” said Lever.

If you have spigots on the outside, buy a cover.

“Definitely anything outside you want to wrap, make sure that it’s covered good and if you can’t find one of those Styrofoam covers, I would definitely drip it or wrap it really good with something to get where you just don’t want the wind and the cold just getting to it,” said Lever.

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