Published by All Dry Services of the Bluegrass
Central Kentucky gets the full set: summer storms with damaging wind, spring systems that drop several inches in an afternoon, and winter events that combine ice, prolonged sub-freezing temperatures and power loss. The last of those does the quietest and most expensive damage.
Before the cold
Disconnect and drain outdoor hoses. A hose left connected holds water against the spigot and the line behind it, and that is a classic burst point. Shut off and drain the line if you have a separate valve.
Insulate pipes in unheated space. Crawlspaces, garages, attics, exterior walls. Foam sleeves cost very little and go on in an afternoon.
Know where the main shutoff is. Know where it is, and check the valve turns. Finding it for the first time while water is coming through a ceiling costs minutes you do not have.
Open cabinet doors under sinks. Plumbing on an exterior wall benefits from the room's warm air reaching it, and kitchen and bathroom cabinets block exactly that.
During a hard freeze
Let a cold tap run at a slow trickle from the fixture furthest from where the water enters. Moving water is much harder to freeze, and a trickle relieves the pressure that actually splits the pipe.
Keep the thermostat at one temperature day and night. The overnight setback that saves money in ordinary weather is what lets a wall cavity reach freezing. And if you are away, do not turn the heat off. Set it no lower than 55 degrees, or shut the water off and drain the system.
The empty-house problem
The worst losses we see from freezes are not in occupied homes. They are in houses that were empty: a rental between tenants, a property on the market, somewhere the family was away for a week. A pipe bursts on day one and runs until someone opens the door. That is the difference between a repair and a rebuild, and it is the argument for having someone check a vacant property during a cold snap.
When a pipe has burst
Water off at the main first, then power to the affected area if it is safe to reach the panel. Open taps to drain the remaining pressure in the system. Photograph everything before you move anything, then start getting contents up off the floor. Do not apply direct flame to a frozen pipe under any circumstances.
After a wind or rain storm
The priority is stopping more water entering. Emergency tarping over a compromised roof and board-ups over broken windows and openings buy the days you need before permanent repairs can be scheduled, and they stop a one-room loss becoming a whole-floor one when the next system arrives.
We tarp, board up, clear fallen material and handle the interior water work. Photograph the damage before anything is moved, and do not climb onto a storm-damaged roof to take the picture.
One thing to understand before you file: rising water from outside, a creek over its banks or surface flooding, is treated differently from water that entered through a storm-damaged roof, and rising water usually falls to separate flood insurance rather than a homeowner policy. Your carrier makes that distinction, and it is worth asking early.