Pittsburgh Winter Plumbing Prep: How to Keep Your Pipes From Freezing

Author bio: Guest post by the Man Made Services team — Man Made Services, Pittsburgh plumbing experts providing emergency plumbing, drain cleaning, water heater, and septic services.

Every Pittsburgh winter, it happens: a cold snap drops temperatures into the teens or single digits, and somewhere in the city a pipe freezes, bursts, and floods a basement. Pittsburgh's older housing stock — beautiful, but often with pipes running through unheated crawl spaces, exterior walls, and drafty basements — makes frozen pipes one of the most common and most expensive winter plumbing problems here.

The good news: a frozen pipe is almost entirely preventable. Here's what to do before the first hard freeze.

Why Pittsburgh homes are especially vulnerable

A lot of Pittsburgh houses were built decades ago, when insulation standards were different and "pipes in the exterior wall" was just how things were done. Add in our freeze-thaw cycles — mild one week, single digits the next — and pipes expand and contract repeatedly, which weakens joints over time. Finished basements and home additions are often the worst offenders, since new plumbing gets tied into old systems with little thought for insulation. The riskiest spots in any home:

  • Pipes in unheated crawl spaces, attics, and garages
  • Pipes running through exterior walls (especially kitchen and bathroom sinks on outside walls)
  • Outdoor faucets and hose bibs
  • Basements that stay cold, even if technically "indoors"

1. Disconnect garden hoses

This is the simplest and most skipped step. A hose left connected to an outdoor faucet traps water in the pipe. When that water freezes, it expands back into the house plumbing — and that's how interior pipes burst. Disconnect every hose, drain it, and store it for winter.

2. Shut off outdoor faucets from the inside

Most homes have an interior shutoff valve for each outdoor faucet (usually in the basement near where the pipe exits the house). Close the interior valve, then open the outdoor faucet to drain the remaining water. Leave the outdoor faucet open through winter so any residual water has room to expand.

3. Insulate exposed pipes

Any pipe you can see in an unheated space should be insulated. Foam pipe sleeves are cheap, sold at every hardware store, and slide right on — no tools needed. Focus on the basement, crawl space, garage, and attic. For the most vulnerable spots, heat tape (electric pipe heating cable) with a built-in thermostat is worth the investment.

4. Seal drafts and cracks

Cold air pouring through a gap in the foundation or around a dryer vent can freeze a nearby pipe even when the rest of the house is warm. Walk the basement and crawl space on a windy day and feel for drafts. Caulk, spray foam, and weatherstripping are all cheap fixes.

5. Keep the heat on — even when you're away

Never turn the heat completely off in winter, even if you're leaving for a week. Keep the thermostat at 55°F or higher. The heating bill for those few degrees is nothing compared to the cost of a burst pipe and a flooded house. If you're going away for an extended trip, have someone check the house — or shut off the main water and drain the pipes.

6. Open cabinet doors under sinks

For sinks on exterior walls, opening the cabinet doors during extreme cold lets warm house air reach the pipes. It's a small thing that genuinely helps on the coldest nights.

7. Let faucets drip during extreme cold

When temperatures drop into the single digits or below zero, letting a faucet drip slightly — both hot and cold lines — keeps water moving through the pipes. Moving water is much harder to freeze. Focus on faucets served by pipes in exterior walls or unheated areas — a slow drip, roughly one per second, is enough to keep water moving. Yes, it wastes a little water; it's far cheaper than a burst pipe.

8. Know where your main shutoff valve is

If a pipe does burst, the first thing you'll do is shut off the water to the whole house. Make sure every adult in the household knows where the main shutoff valve is and how to turn it (usually clockwise to close). If you don't know where yours is, find it now — not at 2 a.m. with water pouring through the ceiling.

What to do if a pipe freezes

If you turn on a faucet and only a trickle comes out — or nothing at all — you may have a frozen pipe:

  1. Keep the faucet open. As the pipe thaws, water needs somewhere to go. Running water also helps melt the ice.
  2. Apply heat gently. A hair dryer, heating pad, or towels soaked in hot water wrapped around the frozen section. Work from the faucet end back toward the blockage.
  3. Never use an open flame. No blowtorches, no propane heaters, no kerosene. This is how house fires start.
  4. Check for cracks. Once water flows again, inspect the pipe for leaks — freezing often causes hairline cracks that only show up after thawing.
  5. If you can't find the frozen section, or the pipe has burst, shut off the main water and call a plumber.

A burst pipe from freezing can release hundreds of gallons into your home in hours. The prep work above takes a weekend afternoon at most — and most of it costs less than $50 in materials. In a Pittsburgh winter, that's about the best return on investment a homeowner can get.

The Man Made Services team provides emergency plumbing, drain cleaning, water heater, and septic services across the Pittsburgh area. Learn more at Man Made Services.

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