A burst pipe is one of the most expensive and disruptive things that can happen to a home, and in southeast Michigan, winter is when it happens. The good news is that frozen pipes are largely preventable with a handful of simple habits and a little preparation before the cold sets in. This guide covers which pipes are most at risk in Northville homes, how to protect them, and what to do if one has already frozen.
Some Pipes Freeze Long Before Others
Not all pipes face the same risk. The ones that freeze are almost always the ones exposed to cold air, so it helps to know where yours run. The usual trouble spots are pipes in exterior walls, in unheated crawl spaces, in attached garages, and in unheated or poorly insulated basements. Pipes that serve an outside faucet or a sink on an outside wall are especially vulnerable.
Northville’s housing mix matters here. Older homes near the historic downtown often have pipes routed through walls and basements that were never well insulated, and they can have long runs in cold corners. Newer subdivisions are usually built tighter, but a pipe in a bonus room over a garage or along an exterior wall can still freeze when the temperature drops into the single digits. Walking your home before winter and noting where the pipes run in cold areas tells you exactly where to focus.
Insulation and Heat Are Your First Line of Defense
The most effective long-term protection is keeping the pipes warm in the first place. Foam pipe insulation sleeves slip over exposed pipes in basements, crawl spaces, and garages and are inexpensive and easy to install. For pipes in the most at-risk spots — a line in an unheated area that has frozen before — electric heat tape or heat cable, installed according to the manufacturer’s instructions, adds a controlled source of warmth on the coldest nights.
Sealing drafts matters just as much as wrapping pipes. Cold air finds its way in through gaps around rim joists, foundation cracks, dryer vents, and where pipes pass through exterior walls. Caulking and sealing those gaps keeps frigid air off the pipes and makes the whole house easier to heat. If a section of your home struggles to stay warm every winter, that is a clue the pipes inside those walls are working harder than they should to stay above freezing.
Simple Habits Carry You Through the Coldest Nights
When a hard freeze rolls in — those nights in the single digits or below — a few easy moves make a real difference:
- Let faucets drip. Open the faucets fed by vulnerable pipes to a slow trickle. Moving water is far less likely to freeze, and the open faucet relieves the pressure that actually bursts a pipe.
- Open cabinet doors. Under sinks on exterior walls, open the cabinet doors so household heat reaches the pipes. This is especially helpful for kitchen and bathroom sinks along outside walls.
- Keep the heat steady. Hold a consistent temperature day and night rather than dropping it far back overnight, and never let the house go below about 55 degrees if you travel.
- Disconnect garden hoses. Before the first hard freeze, disconnect and drain outdoor hoses and shut off and drain the lines to outdoor spigots. A hose left attached traps water that freezes and backs up into the pipe behind the wall.
None of these takes more than a few minutes, and together they cover the situations that cause the most winter pipe failures. For a clear reference homeowners can trust, the U.S. Department of Energy’s guide to keeping pipes from freezing.
Know What to Do If a Pipe Has Already Frozen
If you turn on a faucet on a cold morning and only a trickle or nothing comes out, a pipe has likely frozen. Act before it thaws on its own, because a frozen pipe can burst as the ice expands. First, open the affected faucet so water and steam have somewhere to go as the ice melts. Then locate the frozen section — often along an exterior wall or in an unheated space — and warm it gently with a hair dryer, a space heater kept at a safe distance, or towels soaked in hot water, working from the faucet end back toward the frozen spot.
Never use an open flame or a torch to thaw a pipe. It is a fire hazard and can damage the pipe. If you cannot find the frozen section, cannot reach it, or the pipe has already cracked, that is the moment to call a licensed plumber. Northville Plumber Pros handles frozen and burst pipes through the coldest part of the year, and getting professional pipe repair and repiping help promptly keeps a frozen pipe from turning into a flooded basement.
Spotting a Burst Pipe and Shutting Off the Main
Sometimes the first sign of trouble is not a dry faucet but the aftermath of a burst: a sudden drop in water pressure, water stains spreading across a ceiling or wall, the sound of running water inside a wall, or an unexplained spike in your water usage. If you suspect a pipe has burst, shut off your home’s main water valve right away to stop the flow. It is usually located where the water line enters the house — often in the basement near the front of the home or close to the water heater.
Make sure everyone in your household knows where that main shutoff is and how to turn it before winter arrives, because in a real burst, the seconds you save shutting off the water are the difference between a quick cleanup and major damage. Once the water is off, open a few faucets to relieve pressure and call a licensed plumber to repair the line.
A cold Northville winter is hard on plumbing, but frozen pipes are not inevitable. Insulate the vulnerable runs, seal the drafts, lean on the simple cold-night habits, and know how to shut off your water. A little preparation now is far cheaper and less stressful than a burst pipe in January.