With wintertime temperatures plummeting, the need to ensure your house is safe during a freeze is unavoidable. One of the most important ways for you to winterize your home and protect it from catastrophic damage during the winter is to have seasonal pipe maintenance performed promptly. A professional plumbing service can help you achieve the goal of protecting your home from pipe leaks and bursts that are common emergency occurrences in cold weather this time of year.
Having a winter checklist for reference can help you determine which quality plumbing service you will need to use for seasonal pipe maintenance. Here are the most crucial services involved in seasonal plumbing maintenance and inspections.
Insulation Maintenance Service
Several factors in protecting your pipes through the winter cold involve assuring you have proper insulation installed in your home. Your professional plumbing service should check all the following:
- Available heat or insulation in areas with exposed pipes (for example, basements and attics)
- Proper attic insulation to reduce loss of heat around piping
- Insulating covers on outdoor faucets
If some of your exposed pipes are at risk of freezing and bursting, your technicians may suggest pipe sleeves or heat tape to insulate those pipes. They may also tell you to obtain space heaters to help preserve the integrity of under-counter pipes such as those in bathrooms and kitchens which may be vulnerable if on an outside wall.
An outdoor faucet should be turned off and covered with an insulated cap to help protect it from freezing temperatures. Your Paradise Home Services technician can assist with this.
In addition, if your attic lacks adequate insulation, you may need to consider adding more to reduce the chances that overwhelming heat loss could cause damage to your pipes. Our Paradise Home Services technicians can help you determine the best courses of action and give you more information about scheduling additional services as needed to maintain the integrity of your home and save your family future headaches.
Outdoor Precautions & Pipe Maintenance
Many consumers think about their indoor situation only. It’s terrifying to consider a burst or leaky pipe destroying the inside of your home. However, it’s easy to forget about any outdoor pipe maintenance that could cause just as much or even more damage.
For example, faucet covers should be used to protect your outdoor faucets from damage. This also includes assuring all hoses are properly disconnected before temperatures reach the freezing point. Your plumbing service company should check and ensure that all your hoses are drained, your outdoor valve is shut off, and garden hoses are disconnected.
In addition, consider having your sprinkler system serviced as well. If you have a sprinkler system, talk to our technicians about having it drained before a winter freeze to avoid any unnecessary disasters, both with the system and with your yard.
Additional Seasonal Pipe Maintenance in Florida
Aside from the above suggestions, a good plumbing company will also offer you several other important checks and repairs. Scheduling a professional inspection of your pipes and plumbing system can help you identify any of these issues that may need to be addressed before the freeze comes.
With a full inspection, we can identify any leaks, as well as areas in the pipes that are weak and could be prone to leaking. Our technicians can seal those vulnerable spots, as well as assist with cracks and gaps in walls that could allow cold air to get to pipes that should be protected.
Water Heaters
In addition, you should consider having professionals service your water heater. This could include having it drained, which will help remove sediment. That sediment could be problematic for the efficiency of your water heater, something you don’t need during the winter months.
Know Your Home
Another benefit our expert service technicians can offer is showing you exactly where your main shut-off valve or valves are. This will allow you to stop water flow in case of an emergency so that you can avoid extensive flood damage to your home while you contact Paradise Home Services for further assistance. Many homes have a main shutoff for the water supply in the crawlspace which leads to several issues in the event of a plumbing emergency. Consider having a main shutoff installed somewhere inside your home, so you can quickly stop the flow of water if you need to.
Corrosion Identification
Metal pipes can corrode, and this can lead to weak points and a decline in integrity. A plumbing service can identify any areas that are corroded and fix them for you. In addition, our team can also help replace corroded spots, install new piping that is corrosion-resistant, and apply coatings that help protect metal pipes against corrosion. In addition to working with a plumbing professional, it’s a good idea to regularly look at any pipes that are visible in your home regularly to check for signs of rust or corrosion.
Water Heaters
A blockage in your pipes could lead to water backing up, even if you have your faucets dripping. If this happens, the built-up water could freeze and cause the pipe to burst. Having these clogs identified and removed before cold weather is crucial to protecting your home.
It’s important to know what will work best to remove a block in this situation, as some chemicals will create more problems. Our technicians have the proper tools and chemicals to ensure that whatever is blocking the flow of water in your pipes is removed without risking any further damage to the area.
Expert Advice
Another important part of maintaining the integrity of your pipes is getting expert advice on what to do between service calls. Your technician can help you determine at what temperature you need to allow your faucets to drip to ensure that water doesn’t freeze in your pipes. You can also learn at what temperature your heat should remain set to better protect your plumbing system during the bitter cold.
At Paradise Home Services, we can answer all your questions about seasonal pipe maintenance and what you should do to keep your pipes safe from harm.
Contact the Seasonal Pipe Maintenance Specialists in Florida
You take pride in your home. It’s your expression of who you and your family are, and it’s your shelter from the freezing temperatures outside. At Paradise Home Services, we want to ensure that your home is well-protected and equipped to keep you and your precious family and things safe and sound.
Finding the right professional service to fulfill your winter checklist for your plumbing system is important to give you complete peace of mind. That’s why Paradise Home Services should be your first choice when it comes to assuring prompt, hassle-free, guaranteed work in plumbing, heating, cooling, and HVAC. We offer inspection, seasonal maintenance, installation, repair, and other services for plumbing and HVAC in the Florida panhandle to get you the comfort you deserve. Whether you’re in Pensacola, Navarro, Destin, or the surrounding areas, we’re here to meet your plumbing needs. Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you.
