How to Prepare Your Home for Winter: Part 1

Maryland Real Estate Podcast with Kathi Kershaw

I’m here with Tony Campanella for part one of our two-part “How to prepare your home for winter” series. Today, we’re talking about how to prevent burst pipes.

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I am looking forward to 2017, and I think it is going to be a fantastic year for real estate. However, heading into 2017, it’s going to start getting really chilly at night. It won’t be long before we have ice and snow, and people need to know how to properly prepare their homes for winter.

So today, I’m here with Tony Campanella of Campanella Construction Company for part one of our two-part “How to prepare your home for winter” series to talk about the best ways you can prepare your home for winter. Tony has a lot of experience dealing with the aftermath that comes from improperly preparing your home for winter and has some tips to avoid those costly repairs.

The most common winter-related issues are burst pipes. On the outside of your home is a hose bib which is attached to piping inside your home. The biggest mistake most people make as cold weather approaches is failing to disconnect the hose from the bib. You have to make sure that’s the first thing you do.

Next, you need to turn the internal valve off, which will typically be where your main water supply line comes into your home or inside an interior bib.

There is going to be water left over in the pipe that leads to the exterior bib, so next you want to go back outside and open the exterior valve to drain out that excess water.

Make sure to drain the excess water!

There is actually a product on the market that makes this process go very smoothly. It’s a freezeless wall faucet called a sillcock. When you shut the outside valve off using a sillcock, the interior valve gets shut off simultaneously. However, don’t forget to let out that excess water!

If you don’t remember to drain your pipes, your pipes have a good chance of bursting. Burst pipes are so dangerous because you won’t know they have burst until after the water thaws and starts coming out of your pipes at a rate of five to seven gallons per minute. You could be looking at an enormous flood if a burst pipe goes undetected.

If you have any further questions for Tony, you can reach him at (301-437-9229) or email him at [e-mail].

Be on the lookout for part two in our series on how to prepare your home for winter. In the meantime, if you have any other questions, feel free to give us a call. We'd be happy to help.