London faces its fair share of frosty weather in the winter months. A lot of homeowners tend to face problems in their houses over winter due to neglected maintenance work.
At DNL Build we suggest having a thorough review of potential problems ahead of the cold weather to ensure the January blues aren’t increased by the pressures of broken heating or a leaky roof!
A houses’s plumbing can face be tortured by cold weather. Frozen pipes is often a problem, with people being unaware of how to help prevent them.
How to avoid frozen pipes:
- Insulate water tanks and lag pipes. Use lagging material (available from most DIY stores) to ensure there are no gaps at bends, valves or fittings.
- Keep an eye on pipes and tanks that are in unheated areas such as lofts and garages.
- Fix dripping taps to avoid a small trickle resulting in a frozen or cracked pipe.
- Ensure you know where your home’s stopcock or valve is.
- Have your boiler serviced.
How to deal with frozen pipes:
- Switch the water supply off at the stopcock.
- Review if the pipe has burst.
- Slowly thaw the pipe. A common suggested method is to use a cloth soaked in hot water working your way from starting at the end nearest the tap.
How to react to a burst pipe?
- Switch the water supply off at the stopcock.
- Open all taps. (then turn off taps once pipework is repaired to avoid further flooding)
- Use thick towels to Soak up/block off escaping water.
- Call a qualified plumbing company.
We find that a lot of homeowners tend to face problems in their houses over winter due to neglected maintenance work and we are on hand to help.
