How to Avoid Frozen Pipes In Your Vacant New Paltz Home

11/6/2020 (Permalink)

Some key preventative measures can save your vacant home from a frozen pipe disaster in the winter.

Perhaps you own a rental property or maybe you live at your home in New Paltz seasonally, but regardless of how often the home is occupied or not, preventative steps must be taken each winter to avoid pipes freezing and bursting. It's important to have it winterized or take precautions against the extreme elements the Hudson Valley throws at us in the winter months.

Follow these tips to avoid a major and expensive disaster in your un-occupied home! 

While there are always unforeseen issues that can happen, like appliances failing or storm damage, it's the water that causes the most damage. Water will ALWAYS get into everything, forever seeking a way out is the name of the game. As we say in the remediation industry, "water always wins."

Couple of key tips for your vacant property to help stave off water damage:

-Don't turn the heat off in the colder months, keep it set to at least 55 degrees and make sure you’ve had an oil delivery or are on a schedule for a rotating one if needed.

-Protect your pipes like wrapping them with pipe insulation, keeping windows and doors sealed and emptying outside spigots and water sources. Any additional insulation around windows and door is always helpful. Additionally, caulking or weather stripping around pipes leading outside could mean a big difference in temps too.

-Have your furnace, heating systems and hot water heater maintained regularly by a professional. All too often, our restoration technicians see these systems fail in the winter for various reasons and they can cause significant water damage and secondary issues like structural problems and mold growth.

-Have someone check on your house regularly for any issues, making sure to pay attention to mechanicals, pipes and leaks. Make sure to leave them with all pertinent service provider information (like the plumbers, the oil guy, the hvac person). The last thing you want is to be notified from 500 miles away that your house is now an igloo or has water gushing out of the windows.

- Speak with your insurance agent before the winter about tips they have and make sure your policy is where it needs to be. If you have a sump pump in the basement or crawl space, make sure you have the necessary coverage for it should there be a system failure. In the event of a power outage, a back-up generator can keep the sump pump going but you certainly don’t want that running with no one to monitor and refuel it.

-Keep our name and number in your phone and taped to your fridge if anyone ever needs it on your behalf.

Should you ever suffer from water damage, or any kind of loss to your property, call the experts in damage restoration. SERVPRO of Kingston/New Paltz has been the local leader in the industry for over 28 years, we're here to help 24/7 with certified technicians, extensive experience and the best technology around.

Call us immediately so we can give you piece of mind quickly, no matter the damage and no matter the size, 845-255-4334.