What You Should Do If Your Pipes Freeze In The Winter

Posted on: 18 October 2019

Finding out that a pipe in your home is frozen is not a good problem to have on your hands. A frozen pipe can result in major water damage to your house and can be a costly repair to make. The best thing you can do is try to avoid frozen pipes this winter by properly preparing your pipes; however, if you still experience a problem like this, you might be able to file a claim with your home insurance for the costs of the repairs.

Ways to prevent pipes from freezing

Preventing problems like this is not terribly difficult to do in most homes, and this is the best option you have. If you can prevent your pipes from freezing, you could avoid having to file a claim on your insurance policy, and you could avoid all the problems that go along with frozen pipes. The best type of prevention for this problem is insulating any pipes in your home that are exposed. An exposed pipe is one that is in a location where there is no heat. If you have pipes like this, wrapping them in pipe insulation will probably help you prevent them from freezing this winter.

Steps you should take when you discover the problem

If you do all you can and still end up with a frozen pipe, you may not know what to do when you find it, and there are right and wrong ways to handle this. The best thing to do is contact a plumber to come to fix the problem, as this is a better option than handling it yourself. Your gut instinct might be to place a heater on the pipe to melt the ice in the line, but this could be a bad idea if you do not handle it correctly. Another good step to take is to turn the water off to your home, as this can help prevent water from leaking from the pipe if it happens to burst.

How your home-insurance policy can help

Your home insurance policy might cover the costs for fixing a frozen pipe, but this will depend on the situation. The best thing to do is contact your insurance company as soon as possible to talk to them about the situation you have on your hands.

If you do not currently have home insurance, you should purchase a policy, as it can offer a lot of protection over unforeseen problems like this. To learn more about home insurance and the costs for a policy, talk to a homeowner's insurance agent today.

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