As you know, it has been very cold for the past few weeks and will get extremely cold over the next few days. While your house has been built to the highest standards for this area, it is always possible that some areas of a home can become cool enough over extended periods to have isolated pipe freeze ups. There are several things that you can do to help prevent this from happening and a few things to do if a freeze-up does occur.

Insulation only slows the transfer of temperature, it does not stop it. Without some source of heat counteracting the exterior cold, spaces will continue to cool. To help prevent any freeze ups:

1) If you have vanities on exterior walls, open the doors to the vanities to allow a little warm room temperature air into the cabinet interior.

2) If you have experienced any freeze ups in the past, allow the faucets attached to those pipes to drip (keep water moving) during this extreme cold spell.

3) Ensure that all of your hoses have been disconnected from the hose bibs. If the hose remains attached, then the water cannot drain from the bib and will freeze. It is probably too late now if you have not already done so, but please keep a very close eye on any that may still have a hose connected.

4) While we all like to save money on heating costs, turning your thermostats lower than 68 for an extended period can create situations where not enough heat penetrates into the wall cavities when it is so cold out. So, please keep temperatures set at around normal during these periods.

5) If you are away, please make sure that someone comes to the house on a regular basis to make sure that there are no issues. A small problem can become a big one if not found within a relatively short period of time.