Get Ahead of Winter: Pipe Protection Tips for the PNW

Homes in regions with long, harsh winters are typically built with pipe protection as standard — insulated crawlspaces, buried lines below the frost depth, heat trace on exposed piping. Homes in milder climates like ours often aren't, simply because deep freezes are less frequent. That gap is exactly what turns an occasional cold snap into a plumbing emergency. Here's how to close it before the next one arrives.

Find and Insulate Exposed Pipes

Walk through your crawlspace, garage, and any unheated utility areas and look for pipes that aren't insulated. Foam pipe sleeves are inexpensive and straightforward to install, and they're most important on pipes running along exterior walls or through unheated spaces, where they're most exposed to outside temperatures.

Disconnect and Drain Outdoor Hoses

A garden hose left connected to an outdoor spigot can trap water in the line, and that water has nowhere to expand if it freezes. Disconnect hoses before cold weather arrives, drain them fully, and if your spigot has a shutoff valve inside the house, consider using it during extended cold snaps.

Know Where Your Main Shutoff Valve Is

This matters year-round, but especially in winter — if a pipe does freeze and split, being able to shut off the water immediately limits the damage substantially. If you don't already know where your main shutoff is, find it now, before you need it in a hurry.

Let Faucets Drip During Extreme Cold

During a hard freeze warning, letting a faucet fed by an exposed pipe drip slightly keeps water moving through the line, which makes it much less likely to freeze solid. This is a small step but genuinely effective during the coldest stretches.

Seal Gaps and Drafts Near Pipes

Cold air infiltrating through gaps around pipe penetrations, vents, or foundation openings can drop the temperature around a pipe faster than the surrounding air. Sealing these gaps with caulk or foam helps keep the immediate area around vulnerable pipes warmer.

Most winter pipe failures we see aren't from a single hard freeze — they're from pipes that were never protected in the first place, sitting exposed until the one week it mattered.