Reminder to Protect Your Home During Winter Weather

During the cold winter months, this is a reminder on steps you can take to protect your home.

These simple steps will protect your home:

1. Disconnect and drain all garden hoses and install covers on outside faucets.
2. Keep garage doors closed.
3. Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing.
4. Identify water shut-off valve locations and know how to operate them.
5. Wrap pipes nearest to exterior walls and in crawl spaces with pipe insulation or heating tape.
6. Regulate indoor temperature around the clock, primarily by keeping your thermostat set to the same temperature during the day and at night. Temporarily suspending the use of lower thermostat settings at night may raise your heating bill, but it can lower the chances of a frozen and busted pipe causing potentially serious damage to your home. Water damage repairs are expensive and can potentially displace you from your home.
7. Close all windows near water pipes, and cover or close open-air vents. Freezing temperatures combined with drafts of cold air can raise the likelihood that pipes will freeze.
8. Keep water moving at a slow drip if insulation and other suggested tips are not applicable and extreme cold is in the weather forecast – for example, the temperature isn’t expected to rise above freezing even during daylight hours.

 If a faucet or pipe inside your house freezes:

1. Start thawing it nearest to the faucet. Make sure the faucet is turned on so that melted water can drip out.
2. Pipes can be thawed by using a good hair dryer (to avoid electric shock, do not operate a hair dryer close to standing or puddled water.)  Another method to safely thaw frozen pipes is to heat water on the stove, soak towels in the hot water, and wrap them around cold sections of the pipes. Never try to thaw frozen pipes with torches or other means using extreme heat or flame. If heated too quickly, waterlines can explode and cause serious injury.
3. If a pipe bursts, shut off the water at the main valve. If the break is in a hot water pipe, the valve on top of the water heater should be closed. Contact a plumber as soon as possible.
4. If you believe that your water meter is frozen, contact the JSD office during regular office hours at 828-452-1178. If after hours, a weekend, holiday or if the office is closed due to inclement weather, call the Haywood County Sheriff’s Department at 828-452-6600. DO NOT CALL 911! They will contact our on-call staff to help determine if the meter is frozen. All pipes and plumbing on the house side of the meter are considered private and are the customer’s responsibility. JSD does not assist customers with indoor plumbing issues but can cut off the water source to help mitigate the situation if a break occurs. 

Stay warm and safe!

Junaluska Sanitary District

Printable PDF