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A freeze warning threatens your home’s safety, but if you take proactive steps, you can prevent thousands of dollars in home damage from power outages, frozen pipes, and structural issues. It can also ensure your home remains safe and livable.
Below, learn how to prepare for freezing temperatures, what to do during a freeze or snowstorm, and how to respond after a freeze hits.
How To Prepare Before the Freeze
The most important thing is to protect your home before a freeze hits. Extreme cold can quickly destroy an unprepared home. Follow these tips to keep your family and home safe and comfortable.
Insulate Your Home
Proper insulation is your first defense, so check your attics, doors, and windows to see if additional insulation would benefit your home. In the attic, you should have insulation at least 12 inches deep.
Install weather stripping along the edges of doors and windows, especially along the bottoms of exterior doors, to prevent air from seeping in. Outlet covers on exterior walls may also benefit from caskets to avoid heat loss.
If your home is older and inadequately insulated, adding blown-in insulation, especially inside walls that face cold winds, can help protect vulnerable areas.
Protect Water Pipes
Frozen pipes are a massive threat to your home in freezing temperatures, with the potential to cause catastrophic damage. Any exposed pipes should be insulated with foam sleeves (cut-up pool noodles work well) or heat tape, especially parts of pipes that run through crawl spaces, attics, garages, or other unheated areas. Before adding foam insulation, you can even wrap them in heat cables for severe climate protection.
For your sink pipes, keep cabinet doors open to allow warm air to circulate them. You should also leave your faucet on a drop to maintain moving water, which requires much lower temperatures to freeze.
Know Where Your Water Shut-Off Valve Is
If you don’t know where your water shut-off valve is located, find it before a freeze and ensure all household members know how to access it. This valve is your “emergency brake,” you must ensure it remains operational. To do that, mark it with reflective or bright tape so it’s easy to find even without light. Test it before winter arrives to ensure it stops water flow when activated.
Consider installing an automatic water leak detection system for early warnings of problems so you can act quickly before they become catastrophic.
Clean the Gutters
Ice dams can threaten your home’s foundation, and gutters are critical in preventing their formation. Any debris accumulated in your gutters should be cleaned before winter, so water and snow can drain properly. Gutter guards can also help prevent new leaves or debris accumulation.
At the end of your gutters, measure downspouts and add material if they don’t extend at least five feet from your home’s foundation. The additional length prevents water pooling.
Annual Maintenance
You should schedule a winter safety inspection every year to verify that your home systems are working as they should. Your annual maintenance should include:
- Heating system professional serviced – Furnace cleaning, ductwork inspection, filter replacement
- Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors – Replace batteries, update old units
- Evaluate home insulation – Identify vulnerable areas where heat loss is evident
- Document maintenance work and save it for insurance or warranty purposes
- Check your disaster survival kit – It should be updated annually to replace expired items and hold non-perishable food, drinking/sanitation water, battery-operated radio, flashlights, batteries, first-aid kit, prescription medications, important documents, special needs items, infant supplies, and mobility aids.
- Safety plan – Your strategy should include an emergency safe/warm room with insulation and minimal windows, family communication protocols, meeting points, emergency contacts, an emergency evacuation plan, ready access to snow shovels/ice melt, emergency shelter locations, and potential travel routes.
Fill Insurance Gaps
Is your home insurance up to date and prepared to cover you in case of winter emergencies? Review your policy for winter-related incidents, like freeze damage or ice dams. Take photos to document your home’s condition before winter arrives and update your inventory of valuables, including purchase records, serial numbers, and costs, where possible.
Add new coverage protection for specific winter risks in your area, and update any coverage amounts to reflect value changes or home improvements.
Ensure your insurance documentation is included in your emergency kit.
Turn the Heat On, Water Off If Leaving
If you plan to leave before the freeze hits, we can’t blame you, but don’t leave your house vulnerable. Crank the heat on, shut the water off, and consider pouring antifreeze into your toilet bowls and drain traps. Another great idea is installing a smart thermostat system to monitor the indoor temperature remotely to confirm it stays at 55º minimum.
If you’re close with a neighbor or have a friend who lives nearby, arrange for them to stop by and check the property for damage.
Invest in Alternative Power Sources
Winter freezes can cause extended power outages for homeowners, posing risks to safety and comfort. You don’t want to be caught in a freezing winter power outage without alternative power sources to keep you and your home warm.
EcoFlow Portable Power Stations can provide essential protection during emergencies, with various capacities and outputs to sustain your devices, large appliances, or even your entire home.
The EcoFlow DELTA Series Portable Power Stations offer robust power for multiple appliances and devices. Specific models, like the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra, can even serve as whole-home backup.
Having these ready to go can ensure continuous power for critical home systems and help keep you warm even in frigid conditions.
What Should I Do During the Freeze?
Your winter storm safety tactics don’t end once the freeze begins. You should actively monitor the situation to take action as needed and prevent further damage.
Check Your Pipes
Check your pipes and plumbing systems throughout freezing conditions, watching for accumulated frost on pipes, which increases freeze risk. If there’s a reduction in your water flow or you hear unusual sounds in your walls, that may point to blockages or pipe stress.
If you notice a leak, address it immediately to prevent water damage. In severe situations, frozen pipes should be dealt with by a professional.
Keep It Warm Indoors
It’s vital to keep yourself (and your home) safe and warm indoors. Keep your garage door closed, shut blinds and drapes, run your ceiling fans clockwise to circulate warm air, and use draft snakes along doors or windowsills if necessary. If your outdoor plants get covered with snow, try to remove the snow to avoid broken branches.
As for you, you can stay warm and toasty indoors even during winter outages with an alternative heat source such as the EcoFlow Wave 2 Portable AC, which also functions as a heater. Another option is using a generator such as the EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 to power heated blankets, space heaters, or other heating devices so you stay nice and cozy.
Keep Devices Charged
Use power while your home has it, keeping your essential devices charged up, like your phone and laptop. You should also use this time to charge up any portable power stations or power banks so that if you lose power, you’ll still have reserved energy you can tap into if needed.
What To Do After the Freeze
Once the freeze ends, spring into action to begin remedying any issues.
Walk Through the Home
Conduct a walkthrough of the home for signs of burst pipes or water damage. As temperatures heat up, you may notice leaks or water spots in walls or ceilings. Test your floors for warping or softening that could indicate water damage to the foundation. If you notice any unusual odors, this could also point to water or mold.
Create a list of affected areas or damage that needs attention.
Turn the Water Back On
If your water was shut off to prevent freezing, restore your water service carefully. Close all faucets and fixtures, then open your main water valve slowly. Once it’s back on and running, check each water fixture for proper operation and monitor for any irregularities.
Don’t assume you’re in the clear if you don’t see any immediate issues. Monitor each faucet and overall water system over the next 24-48 hours and pay close attention to any irregularities or signs of damage.
Inspect the Roof
Once the interior of your home is installed, move on to the exterior, especially the roof. Ice dams apply significant pressure to roofs, so checking for shingle damage or ice dams still present along roof edges is essential.
Examine your gutters, flashing, chimneys, and vents. If you’re not sure how your roof held up using your own eyes and knowledge, hire a professional roof inspector for a more thorough assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
To avoid freezing, keep your home at 55ºF minimum, insulate your walls and pipes, seal any drafts around doors or windows, clear your roof and gutters, and invest in a backup power solution that can prevent heating system failures during winter outages.
Shutting off the water isn’t a fail-safe tactic but can help prevent extreme damage. Always turn your water off if you’re leaving the house before the freeze. However, combine a shut-off water valve with additional home insulation, a warm indoor temperature, and pipe insulation for best results.
Final Thoughts
To protect your home from freeze damage throughout the harsh winter months, be prepared and stay vigilant. Before the winter comes in full force, ensure your home is ready with extra insulation, weather-stripped doors and windows, annual maintenance, a warm internal temperature, and a reliable power source like EcoFlow Portable Power Stations.
With your home well-prepared, you can focus on keeping yourself and your family warm and comfortable. Consider investing in a heating system independent from your home, such as the EcoFlow Wave 2 Portable AC, which can create heat in addition to cool air.