Restored with Premier Restoration of the Carolinas

Heading Into Winter: How To Prevent Frozen Pipes And Costly Water Damage

• Tim Rhoades • Episode 8

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Now That We Are Headed Into Winter, Let's Talk About The Dangers Of Frozen Pipes

Cold weather doesn’t just nip at your fingers; it stalks your plumbing. We break down how frozen pipes turn into costly water damage, why the real trouble starts during the thaw, and the exact steps that keep your home safe when temperatures plunge. With Tim Rhoades of Premier Restoration of the Carolinas, we get practical about the simplest fixes that prevent the biggest headaches, from protecting outdoor spigots to insulating vulnerable runs in crawl spaces and exterior walls.

We start with the hidden physics of freeze-thaw: ice expansion stresses the pipe, but leaks often appear only when liquid water returns. That insight drives the most important move you can make—shut off the main water before a thaw if you suspect a freeze. We map out the highest-risk areas in a typical home, explain why outside hose bibs fail inside the wall, and outline low-cost solutions like foam covers, frost-free sillcocks, and proper pipe insulation. You’ll hear when to bring in a licensed plumber, where heat tape makes sense, and how small gaps in crawl spaces pull in cold air that puts your lines at risk.

When prevention falls short, timing is everything. We walk through the first five minutes after you spot a leak: cut the water, protect what you can, and call a restoration team that can extract, dry, and document the loss for insurance. Tim shares what a 24/7 response looks like, from moisture mapping to setting drying equipment that stops secondary damage like swelling subfloors and mold growth. The goal is simple—turn a bad moment into a contained incident and use it as a roadmap for smarter winter prep next time.

If you want a home that weathers cold snaps without drama, this guide gives you the plan. Subscribe for more practical restoration insights, share this with a neighbor before the next freeze, and leave a review to tell us what winterproofing tip you’ll tackle first.

To learn more about Premier Restoration of the Carolinas visit:
https://www.PremierRestorationoftheCarolinas.com
Premier Restoration of the Carolinas
888-847-2214

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Restore with Premier Restoration of the Carolinas, where we turn floods, fires, and multi-mayhem into clean plates and fresh starts. Hosted by Tim Rhodes, the guy who's been knee-deep in disaster, so you don't have to be. If your home or business has been through it, don't panic. Tim's here to talk recovery, restoration, and everything in between. Let's get things restored.

SPEAKER_02:

Frozen pipes aren't just inconvenient, they're very expensive. And can be. Tim shares how to prevent a winter disaster before it strikes. Welcome back everybody. Skip Monty here, co-host slash producer, back in the studio with Mr. Tim Rhodes, owner of Premier Restoration of the Carolinas. Tim, how you doing? I'm doing good, Skip how are you? Doing fine, doing fine. A little hard to get used to colder weather, but you know, it is what it is. So speaking, it's coming. It is coming for sure. Well, speaking of that, um, you know, what should homeowners know about the dangers uh now that we're going into wintertime, uh frozen pipes as as winter comes along?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you know, when when the pipes freeze and bust, that creates a lot of uh a lot of problems for the homeowners. Uh you know, whatever whatever room it's in, water flows downhill. So anything under it's going to get wet and it's going to ruin. And so uh, you know, frozen pipes could be a very costly problem.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, they can. I have personal experience, unfortunately, with that. Well, what are some of the most common areas in a home uh where pipes tend to freeze more often?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, they freeze, they they like to freeze on the outside water spigots. Uh if uh if you don't have those protected, they'll freeze inside the wall and they'll bust inside the wall. Uh, and depending on what level of the house they're on, it can flood parts of your house on from that. Uh, you know, crawl spaces will flood if they're not heated, if they're not controlled, uh, they'll you know, pipes will bust down in there. So anything that's you know close to outside air is gonna freeze.

SPEAKER_02:

Now uh with the spigots, you mentioned if they're not protected, how how do you protect outside spigots? I just I should have learned this a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you know, they make uh they make all kinds of little doodads to do that with. If you go to Lowe's or any big box store, you can buy any kind of protection thing to go on outside spigots, or they make those frost-free spigots your plumbers can put in. There's several different ways you can you can protect against it.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, how quickly can a frozen pipe turn into a busted, a burst pipe or busted pipe?

SPEAKER_01:

Just as soon as the water thaws. So I mean if you're if you water if your water's on and it freezes, as soon as it thaws, it's leaking.

SPEAKER_02:

So that that raises another question. If if you've got frozen pipes, but you can catch it before it thaws out, is there anything you can do to to prevent a bust?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I mean, you know, if if if you have a frozen pipe and it don't bust, you're good. Uh but if you have a frozen pipe and it does create a crack in your pipe, then yeah, if you can catch it before it stalls out, yeah, you can cut that water off and you I think you'd be fine. But the problem is, is how do you know about it if it's if it's in a wall?

SPEAKER_02:

That's exactly right. You don't. Well, are there warning signs that homeowners should look for b before damage occurs? Or is is there something that you can look for?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean really there's not. It's just, you know, it's it's all in maintenance, uh, for you know, preparedness for winter. Uh if you get prepared for winter and and you and you winterize uh and you make sure everything's insulated, then you you should be good to go. But you know, accidents happen to anybody.

SPEAKER_02:

That's true. Now, what are there some or what are some simple steps that people can take? Simple things we can do to prevent freezing in vulnerable areas if you know it's gonna, you know, there's a cold wave coming.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, always, you know, whichever way you want to insulate the outside spigots of your house, you know, do that. Um, you know, if your crawl space, if it's not a controlled area in your crawl space, and if it's not cold, just make sure your pipes are insulated.

SPEAKER_02:

Hmm. And that's not that's not something that's that hard to do, right? I mean, you can go to Lowe's.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you can you can go to Lowe's and buy the insulation you need and put it on there.

SPEAKER_02:

Now, is that something that you guys do, like preventative? No. No, you don't you don't do that. You just when they when they don't do that. That's called a plumber. Yeah. There's it go. Okay, gotcha, gotcha. So is is insulation or pipe wrapping is it worth the price, the investment?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I would think so. I would do it at my I mean, it's done at my house. Um, I mean, just think of the think of the damage that water can do when your pipes bust and and and and creates a a a wet environment or mold or you know, everything that it could calls at your house over, you know, pipe insulation. It's which I would hands down it's worth it.

SPEAKER_02:

I would agree. I would agree. Because it I and I would think insulation's that expensive either. I wouldn't think.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's it's not bad.

SPEAKER_02:

Well if uh let's say somebody doesn't do the preventative work that they should do in winterizing, getting, you know, getting their house ready uh for for cold weather. If you do have a pipe that frees, what should somebody do immediately to to uh to minimize the damage? Call Tim?

SPEAKER_01:

Cut the water off. Cut the water off. Cut the water off.

SPEAKER_02:

And then call Tim.

SPEAKER_01:

Then call Tim.

SPEAKER_02:

Now you guys uh if somebody has a problem in the middle of the night, you guys uh come out. Oh yeah, we'll come out. Oh, good that's good to know. 24 hours a day. Twenty-four seven, wow. Well that's good to know because you know, uh in my experience, bad things don't necessarily happen at a convenient time. You know, oh no. My my personal experience anyway. Well, very good. Cut the water off, then call Tim.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, very good. Well, Tim, I can't tell you how much we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to tell us all about what we should be doing and what I plan to be doing to protect uh stickets and uh uh keep keeping the substantial frozen damage from happening in our house. Appreciate all your insights on that, and we'll we'll catch you in the next episode.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you, Tim, and you have a great rest of the day.

SPEAKER_01:

You too.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for tuning in to Restored with Premier Restoration of the Carolinas. If disaster strikes, don't Google, call the pros. You can reach Tim at 888-847-2241. Or visit us online at Premier Restoration of the Carolinas.com. We'll bring the tools, the team, and maybe even the shop back. Because when things go wrong, we make it right.