How To Winterize A House

your home, shop, business

WINTERIZE

If you live in North Idaho, in Boundary or Bonner County, Bonners Ferry or Sandpoint, you need to winterize your home every year. It may be as simple as draining your garden hoses before storing them away for the winter, or it may be calling for professional help to prep your plumbing and heating systems.

Regardless, winterizing your home, your rental properties, shop, outbuildings, or even your business, is simply part of our lives in the Idaho Panhandle. Turner Plumbing can help you assess, create a plan, and then see that plan through to protect your home this winter.

Why Should a house be Winterized

Temperatures drop, water freezes and expands…if that water is in garden hoses, water pipes or sewage pipes then that expansion can cause those hoses and pipes to burst. If you don’t winterize then the best case scenario might be dragging that garden hose out from the shed in Spring to find out it has split, now you have to buy a new hose.

Worst case scenario? The water freezes in a water line, bursting the pipe and causes a flood INSIDE your house. Now you have to call a plumber to fix the burst pipe and you also have flood damage to your house and it’s continents. Preventing your pipes from freezing, to avoid simple disruption of flowing water, or to avoid a major issue of a pipe bursting, needs to be addressed.

Who Should Winterize Your House or Shop?

Ok, so winterizing your home, preparing your house, shop and outbuildings for the winter months can run from the simple to the complex. So who should take care of it? Depends on your specific need.

What You Can Do to Winterize Your Home

First, if you are not sure…contact a professional. Every house and property is different. Turner Plumbing is happy to come out to your home and walk you through a plan to prevent issues from freezing. We will show you what can easily be taken care of and we will make recommendations for more complex preparations. We do charge a fee for this visit but we also will apply that charge to any work that you choose to have Turner Plumbing address.

What You Should Have A Professional Handle

Turner Plumbing has its roots in North Dakota and North Idaho…we know how to winterize our homes and we can help you be confident that your home is winterized.

As directly as we can put it…if you are not sure, consider calling us to schedule an appointment. Winterizing your home is truly an area where prevention costs less than repairing issues after they happen.

Items to consider Turner Plumbing addressing:

Plumbing – Internal
Plumbing – External
Plumbing for Shops and Outbuildings
Well Systems

How To Winterize a Vacation Property

Even if the house will be empty for a few days…make sure the house stays warm. When the temperatures in a house drop to low it can affect everything – plumbing, furniture, household appliances, window trim and seals all can be compromised…otherwise known as “break”. So contact a professional to develop a plan to safely leave a heating system on, possibly running at a minimum setting. What you do not want is to end up comparing a relatively small heating bill with the bill for a pipe bursting and water flooding your home.

Live out of town and need help with your property?

Items to Consider When You Winterizing A Home

Turning Off Water Sources
Draining Supply Lines
Blowing Out Water Lines
Water Heater
Use Special Plumbing and Line Fixtures
Appliances with Water Lines
Heating Systems
Heating Systems that use water boilers, heat pumps or radiant heat.

This is not an exhaustive list on how to winterize your home. These are the items to consider that are related to plumbing and water – those we are experts on. Other items, like wood stoves and fireplaces, items related to energy efficiency (windows and seals), roofs and walkways all should also be considered. Turner plumbing does want to be your plumber, but even more we want you to be safe so we can see you around town just and say “Hey”!

Serving Residential & Commercial in:

Boundary and Bonner Counties

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208-610-7538

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