Frozen Pipes

It snowed yesterday in north Texas. Just a small layer of fine snow. It was pretty. However, the snow also brought some below-freezing temps over the night. And when I went to take a shower this morning, nothing came out of the shower head.

I checked the bathroom sink faucets. Nothing.

I checked the kitchen sink faucet. Nothing.

All signs pointed to my pipes freezing over the night when temps were in the teens. Now, I've lived in Idaho and Utah and never once have I had my pipes freeze. In Texas, since freezing events are not common, and because of the ground, we build our homes on piers and beams. My crawl space is quite large, as I live on a slope, meaning I can very nearly stand up in my crawl space/"basement". So my pipes are just hanging out in the cold air with nothing to keep them warm.

I called my friend Stephanie, my trusted homeowner friend (and all-around fantastic friend). She gave the phone to her partner, Chris, who was well-versed in such scenarios. He told me it wasn't really a big deal. He told me that the biggest issues comes when the water thaws and all the water pressure is built up then released. In order to give it somewhere to go, he told me to open up all my faucets. Then he said to periodically check the pipes and make sure they weren't leaking.

That sounded easy enough. I turned open all the faucets and then just waited.

At about 11:15 I was sitting on my bed, taking photos of Biscuit being cute as she laid in the sun, I heard water starting to run! I went into the crawl space to make sure nothing was leaking - and nothing was! It took a bit longer for the hot water to come back, but it has.

Lesson learned: leave your faucets dripping when it's cold, especially in Texas! I'm just glad it warmed up at a decent time to get my water back without any major, costly catastrophes.