KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Starting this weekend and early next week, temperatures will be dropping and staying well below freezing. FOX 4 is working for you to help you save money and protect your home from these frosty temperatures.
“When I went to open the outside faucet, it was just free-flowing water, so it obviously burst, the pipe had burst,” said homeowner Jim Robertson, as he recalled last year’s headache caused by wintry weather.
“I had to have a good bit of money to have it replaced,” Jim said.
He called a plumber out on Friday because he was having faucet problems… again.
“I don’t want to spend a lot of money if I don’t have to!” he exclaimed.
Robertson, like many others, wants to avoid the problems freezing temperatures have on homes. Gabriel McCollum– the plumber Jim called to his house — said he gets the same type of calls this time of year.
“A lot of frozen pipes, a then a lot of my stuff isn’t working, and don’t know why, and when it warms up it starts to work again,” McCollum said.
Travis Andrews — a manager at Strasser Hardware — said there are ways to keep this from happening.
“There’s a plastic material that you heat with a blow dryer that you shrink around your windows and that will keep out any drafts or anything coming in through the bottom of your windows,” Andrews said.
“Seal off all your exposed areas as well as possible, re-insulate your wall if you’re having problems with the wall being extra cold,” added McCollum.
He said besides the usual tips to protect your pipes, he has another that might not be as obvious.
“Open your cabinets,” McCollum said, “And that will allow the warm air from the room to get in to where your cabinet is.”
Robertson said he want’s to avoid the problems he had last year by taking precautions before something happens this year… he’s already shut off all the outside faucets from the inside.
“This is a lovely 75-year-old cottage home, I want to take care of it!” says Jim says.
For more information on how you can protect your home please visit this link.