North Texas houses are built for hot summers, not sub-freezing winters. A single 24-hour cold snap can burst pipes across Addison neighborhoods that were never designed for it.
Here is the 30-minute pre-freeze checklist.
1. Disconnect and drain garden hoses
A hose attached to an outdoor bib is a giant freeze conductor. Water in the hose freezes and pushes back into the bib. If the bib is not frost-free, the split travels into the wall.
Disconnect every hose before the first freeze. Drain and store.
2. Insulate outdoor bibs
Foam bib covers ($3 each at Home Depot). Every outdoor faucet.
3. Wrap attic supply lines
The #1 place North Texas homes burst is attic supply lines against exterior walls. Foam pipe insulation, 10 minutes per run. Attic hatch too.
4. Insulate exposed pipes in the garage
If your water heater is in the garage or any supply lines run through it, insulate them. A garage stays 15+ degrees colder than the interior.
5. Identify your main shutoff
Cannot stress this enough. Find it now, not later.
6. Set the thermostat 68+ overnight
House heat keeps interior walls warm and pipes above freezing.
7. Open cabinet doors under exterior-wall sinks
House heat can reach the pipes. Kitchen sink on an exterior wall, master bath on an exterior wall — open those cabinets during a freeze.
8. Drip fixtures during hard freezes
Not a stream — a pencil-lead trickle. Cold water only. On the fixtures farthest from the water heater / against exterior walls.
9. If leaving town — shut off water
Even for 2–3 days. Shut the main, turn off the water heater, and drain the lowest fixture briefly to relieve pressure.
10. Know the emergency plumber number
Save (831) 290-4327 in your phone. Freeze events overload every plumbing company in DFW — we prioritize existing customers and pre-freeze checklist purchasers.
When it does freeze
If a pipe freezes but has not burst:
- Do NOT use an open flame to thaw
- Open the fixture — melting water needs somewhere to go
- Space heater or hair dryer on the frozen section
- Call us to pressure-test before you turn everything back on
If a pipe bursts:
- Shut the main immediately
- Turn off water heater
- Call emergency plumbing
- Start towels on the biggest wet spots
Post-Uri upgrade path
If your home is pre-2010 and still has original attic insulation, add batts against exterior walls. If you have had a freeze burst before, full attic PEX repipe handles ice expansion far better than copper.
Every truck we run carries pipe insulation, heat wraps, and PEX year-round. We rebuilt hundreds of Addison homes after Uri — we would rather help you prevent it.
Visual playbook
Belt Line Plumbing expert insight
This guide reflects what our licensed Texas RMP plumbers see on real prevention calls across Addison, Farmers Branch, Carrollton, and the greater Dallas North Tollway corridor. Belt Line Plumbing Co. has served the Addison area since 2007, with 412+ five-star reviews from north Dallas homeowners, property managers, and Belt Line Restaurant Row operators.
Local factors that affect the advice above: North Texas expansive clay soil drives most residential slab and sewer failures; Dallas Water Utilities supply water at 8–11 grains of hardness per gallon shortens every water heater and tankless system without a softener; and the February 2021 Winter Storm Uri freeze exposed attic supply lines across almost every 1970s–2000s Addison home. If your situation includes any of these local realities, factor them in before deciding between repair, replacement, or a preventive upgrade.