Preparing Your Fort Worth Home's Plumbing for the First Freeze

Fort Worth's freeze reality

The first hard freeze in Fort Worth is historically mid-November to early December. But the February 2021 freeze is a reminder that our worst cold events don't follow the historical pattern — pipes burst, millions of dollars in damage, weeks of plumbing emergencies.

October is the right time to prepare. It's not cold yet, so plumbers (us included) have availability. Supplies at hardware stores are fully stocked. If you catch a problem now, you have time to fix it before weather matters.

Running this checklist in October is cheap insurance against the February phone call where there's a 2-week wait for anyone to come out.

The outside: disconnect, drain, cover

1. Disconnect every garden hose from every outdoor spigot. This is the single most important thing on this list. Water trapped between a connected hose and a closed spigot has nowhere to go when it freezes — it cracks the spigot and often the pipe behind it inside your wall. Disconnect, drain the hose, store it.
2. Drain each outdoor spigot. If you have interior shut-offs for your exterior spigots (common in newer homes), close the interior valve, open the exterior spigot, let the water in between drain out. Leave the exterior spigot slightly open.
3. Cover exterior spigots with foam insulation covers. $3–$5 each at any hardware store. Takes 30 seconds per spigot.
4. Shut down the irrigation system — close the main valve, drain the backflow preventer, and if you have an air-blow-out capability, use it. If you have a service plan with your irrigation company, confirm your winterization date.

The garage: usually the most vulnerable

Garages in Fort Worth are often unheated and share a wall with the house. Water lines that enter from outside often pass through the garage before reaching heated space. Those lines are the most freeze-vulnerable in most homes.

• Locate every water line in your garage. Follow pipes from where they enter the garage to where they go into the heated part of the house.
• Insulate any exposed section with foam pipe insulation ($1–$3 per 6-foot section). Slit it along the pre-cut seam, snap it around the pipe, tape the joints.
• Pay special attention to the water heater if it's in the garage — the cold-water inlet is especially freeze-vulnerable.
• Keep the garage door closed during cold snaps. Especially overnight. An open garage door turns the garage into effectively outside temperature.

Attics and crawlspaces

If your home has pipes in the attic (common in Texas since there are no basements), or in an unconditioned crawlspace, those are freeze risks.

• Attic pipes: inspect what's visible from the attic access. Any uninsulated pipe should be wrapped in foam insulation. If the attic has very poor insulation generally, consider having insulation added — it protects both the pipes and your heating bill.
• Crawlspace pipes: same approach — wrap exposed water lines. Make sure the crawlspace vents are closed in winter if your home has them (ventilation that helps in summer hurts in winter).

Interior preparation

• Know where your main shutoff valve is and make sure it works. Test it in October. Turn it off, confirm all water stops in the house, turn it back on. If the valve is seized, replace it now — not during the emergency.
• Walk every room and identify any plumbing against an exterior wall. Kitchen sinks on exterior walls are a common freeze point — leaving the cabinet doors open during a cold snap lets interior heat reach the pipes.
• Check your water heater's exhaust vent is clear (for gas heaters). A blocked vent in winter is a carbon monoxide risk.

What to do during the first actual freeze

Once a hard freeze is forecast (temperatures below 25°F for 6+ hours), the night-of actions:

• Let faucets drip — a slow trickle, not a stream — on any faucet connected to a water line that runs through unheated space. Moving water doesn't freeze as easily. Prioritize the kitchen sink if it's on an exterior wall.
• Open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so interior heat reaches the pipes.
• Keep garage doors closed.
• Set the thermostat no lower than 65°F, even if you're sleeping or away.
• Don't bother with hair dryers on pipes you suspect are freezing — call a plumber. DIY thawing frequently causes the pipe to crack as it thaws.

What to do if a pipe freezes anyway

1. Shut off the water at your main shutoff immediately. A frozen pipe may crack as it thaws, and the shutoff keeps the ensuing water damage minimal.
2. Open the nearest faucet downstream of the frozen section. If water starts flowing, the pipe is thawing without cracking — great. If no water flows and you shut the main off, the pipe may be cracked.
3. Call us the next business day if the pipe needs repair. If it's after hours and water is actively leaking, call a 24/7 service.
4. Do not use open flames (torches, hair dryers close to walls, etc.) to thaw pipes. Fire risk and often damages the pipe.

Scheduling check-ups now

If you'd like a plumber to walk through this with you — identify the vulnerable spots in your specific home, insulate what needs insulating, test the main shutoff, inspect the water heater — our $99 fall visit covers it. Scheduling in October is much easier than scheduling in late November when the first forecasted freeze has everyone calling at once.