Bone-chilling cold makes you think about the impact arctic invasions have on you and your family as well as your pets and vehicles. If you don’t consider the ways sub-zero temperatures can harm your home, you may wake up one day to frozen pipes that take hundreds if not a few thousand dollars to repair as well as several hours or longer with no water. This expensive and time-consuming problem can be avoided by calling Fitz Brothers Mechanical to do necessary Plumbing Repairs in Baltimore, MD so that you can avoid the headaches of frozen pipes.
Pipes located outside the home or in an exterior wall typically freeze first because they’re exposed longer to extreme temperatures. Pipes in unheated basements or crawl spaces often have insufficient or no insulation to protect them. Because water expands as it freezes, it puts extra pressure on pipes. If there’s a hairline crack or weak spot in the pipe, the material will crack further, allowing up to a couple of hundred gallons of water per day to gush out of the pipe. Your home can suffer water damage and structural damage as well as subsequent mold and mildew problems that will require expensive Plumbing Repairs.
There are some things you can do to help prevent frozen pipes when weather forecasters predict unusually cold temperatures. Sealing areas around the pipes that allow cold air to flood the area is a good first step. If the area still very cold and properly insulating it isn’t an immediate option, heat tape or heat cables can be wrapped around the pipes to provide necessary warmth. You may want to consider turning off unused outside pipes. This can prevent damage to the interior sections of these pipes. Finally, if you don’t have time to take any of these steps, simply turn on your faucets so that drips or trickles of water run through the pipes. This is a particularly good step to take when temperatures drop dramatically overnight.
Your water lines may need to be repaired or replaced before cold temperatures set in. Business Name can assess your pipes using camera inspection and repair cracks that could cause problems.8 The technicians can also add insulation to the pipes and the areas in which they’re located. If you don’t want to deal with frozen pipes, call on Fitz Brothers for Plumbing Repairs in Baltimore, MD.