DFW weather: How to prepare your home for freezing temperatures

DALLAS — Wintry temperatures are transferring into North Texas later this week. 

While this climate occasion shall be nothing just like the February 2021 winter storm – the place all the state noticed sustained, below-freezing temperatures for greater than every week – there may be nonetheless the possibility for energy outages brought on by the icing over of energy traces and tree branches. 

Taking motion now to prepare your home can assist you in the long term, within the occasion we have now freezing temperatures and energy outages.

Insurance firm AAA recommends householders know the place their water shutoff valve is and to know the way to flip it off in case of an emergency.

To discover it, your largest clue, in accordance to Angi.com, is figuring out what sort of basis you home is constructed on.

If it is on a slab, your valve ought to be discovered close to your water heater tank. If your home has a basement, it’ll seemingly be there, in the identical locations as your outside hose bib, simply on the opposite aspect of the wall. If you have got a crawl area, it’ll seemingly be there, often alongside the entrance wall of the home.

Worst case situation, if you cannot discover your shutoff, and your home is quickly filling with water, you’ll be able to flip it off from the principle water line, often situated within the entrance of the home in a coated field.

AAA recommends repairing or changing any drawback spots on the outside of your home that would permit for chilly air to leak. This consists of climate stripping round home windows and doorways, vents and followers, plumbing, air conditioners and electrical gasoline traces. Also, use caulk or insulation to seal any holes, cracks or small openings. 

You must also take away all hoses from exterior taps, and clear gutters and trim any tree branches that would fall on your home, in accordance to Home Advisor. 

Finally, ensuring your basements and crawl areas are well-insulated – together with wrapping susceptible pipes – will assist defend exterior pipes. 

AAA says the air inside your home’s partitions, the place pipes are situated could be colder than the inside rooms. AAA recommends setting the thermostat at a “reasonable temperature,” to preserve the temperature regulated.

Also, AAA recommends maintaining toilet and kitchen cupboard doorways open to permit hotter air to flow into pipes.

Experts advocate letting chilly water drip from one faucet, which ought to be as far-off from the water supply as potential to permit water to stream all the size of the system. 

Letting the tap drip helps stop pipes from bursting in the event that they occur to freeze over. But the true perk of letting the water drip, in accordance to HowStuffWorks.com, is to assist relieve the strain that would construct within the pipes between the ice blockage and the tap.

• Water meter key
• Insulation for indoor and outside pipes
• Hose bib cowl for outside taps
• Battery-powered flashlights
• Battery-powered radio
• One gallon of water per particular person for every day
• Emergency warmth supply, like a wooden or coal-burning range, and additional gasoline
• Fire extinguisher, in case of an emergency

Contributing: KVUE’s Britny Eubank and Meave Ashbrook.