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It's been said about the weather around here that if you don't like it just wait, it'll change.
While there is some truth to that it is also true that it's heat, not cold, that we build our houses to endure. It's not often we get frigidly cold weather around here but when the mercury does drop it can cause some real problems.
In the Great White North (north of Dallas) where cold weather is more prevalent precautions are taken when homes are built to prevent waterlines from freezing. Water services are buried deeper and houses are designed so that the waterlines are routed away from outside walls where they can freeze. When houses are built in the Austin area providing for freeze protection is a lower priority because we don't get bitterly cold weather as often. Below are a few steps you can take to protect your plumbing in case of a hard freeze.
If you have a lavatory, tub and shower, or kitchen sink on an outside wall, they are at risk of freezing when the temperature drops. Vanity and kitchen cabinet doors should be left open so that heat from your house can get to the pipes and keep them above the freezing mark.
If you have old style hosebibbs you can wrap them in insulation or any of the covers designed to prevent them from freezing. If you have freeze proof sillcocks you need to disconnect your garden hose or water will remain in the sillcock and it will freeze anyhow. A freeze proof sillcock works because the water shuts off inside your house and the long tube leading to the outside is tilted downward to allow drainage. It can't drain with a hose attached.
If you have a tub or shower faucet on an outside wall or any fixture on the north wall you can drip the faucet which will let water flow through the pipes so they won't get cold enough to freeze. Make sure that both the hot and cold are on so that water is flowing through both pipes feeding the faucet. Yes this will waste water but it's cheaper than repairing frozen pipes.
