Why aren't Texas homes built for Arctic weather

[CajunMama]

If you turn on a faucet to a trickle, your pipes won't freeze.

Actually it depends on how deep the freeze. If it's a light freeze, just open the doors to the cabinet underneath the faucet and don't drip your faucet.It's been recommended here on local news to not drip your faucets because if everyone dripped their faucets it will lower the city's water pressure and the city worries about the pressure in the fire hydrants.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Two things were against us....

1. the cupboard door behind the tub had been accidentally closed (we have blown in insulation, house has balloon framing) but for some reason or other when we have a north or northeast wind a loverly breeze comes in. We did have a heater blowing towards it.

2. this is an old house and the taps seem to drip all on their own (my husband is constantly changing the o-rings and seats......however that tap was the only one that isn't dripping (and we didn't notice that).

Ed may find opening the cupboard door works....we babysat a house, over Christmas, that often has a freezing problem (they left that tap dripping and the cupboard door open). They also offered their beds should our house have become unlivable. Extra bonus the husband is originally from Wisconsin and they brought us back some wonderful cheeses!

[Dionne]

Wow, someone that actually recognizes balloon framing! Open all the cabinet doors you want....it may help some....if you have a cabinet door behind your tub fixture. With balloon framing your walls are pulling air from your crawl space/basement.....there isn't any blocking at your floor levels. Studs in a balloon framed wall go from the foundation to the roof line.....the floor is suspended on a ledger nailed to the inside of the wall. The single largest problem with allowing a tap to trickle is ice damming in your sewer lines. When that happens......you just wait till spring.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Dionne you seem to know balloon framing well is there any way we can block that cold air flow? It's mainly in the one area below our bathroom (where naturally all our pipes are). That area is right above where I am currently typing this (I get loverly cool breezes down my back . We also removed the plaster ceiling when one of the pipes froze (and broke). We had steam heat then, but it was -50. We now have the removable ceiling tiles in the small area below the bathroom, and one narrow one grated tile that allows air flow in that area (and one tile has now been removed to allow heat up that way too). I'll also be asking the home energy advisor, what suggestions he has as well (when he finally comes). I also believe some works been done up there that I'm not aware of to protect the pipes but that only seemed to help when we had a better heat source.

After reading what you had to say about the possibility of ice damming our sewer lines I'm thinking now that is why my husband has another heater in the basement near the sewer hole. When we were really cold he would also take the industrial electric heater (it plugs into our dryer outlet) downstairs and would run it overnight until it warmed up our cement floors (come daytime he'd bring it back upstairs).

[Dionne]

The best thing to do is make sure the entire perimeter of your home below your first floor is air tight in the winter months. The other option is to frame short pony walls underneath the area of concern and insulate them with rigid foam insulation panels. It sounds like the mechanical chase for your plumbing is being infiltrated with cold air and seeping into your home. You could build small/short panels outside and drag them underneath for the installation. It could possibly be a box no larger than 24" X 24"......incoming supply lines and sewage discharge lines are not that big. There are numerous factors. It's hard to give you an informed decision without actually seeing the problem area.

The really quick fix.....take some of that snow and pile it up around your foundation/walls. Snow makes a great insulator.

[Miss Mary]

The best thing to do is make sure the entire perimeter of your home below your first floor is air tight in the winter months. The other option is to frame short pony walls underneath the area of concern and insulate them with rigid foam insulation panels. It sounds like the mechanical chase for your plumbing is being infiltrated with cold air and seeping into your home. You could build small/short panels outside and drag them underneath for the installation. It could possibly be a box no larger than 24" X 24"......incoming supply lines and sewage discharge lines are not that big. There are numerous factors. It's hard to give you an informed decision without actually seeing the problem area.

The really quick fix.....take some of that snow and pile it up around your foundation/walls. Snow makes a great insulator.

Your post reminds of a children's lit book - the Long Winter (a Little House on the Prairie book by Laura Ingalls Wilder). Blizzard after blizzard pounded her family's N Dakota home growing up, but after a deep snow, their home in town was very warm, due to snow drifts that kept the bottom 1/3 or more of the home covered with snow. Sometimes I wonder if these blizzards were factual or exaggerated but the book is a good read. My daughters and I read them when they were little and they always seemed fascinated by a consistently cold, snowy winter (which almost never happens here in the Ohio Valley anymore). We still have snow but not the deep snow storms I remember growing up in the 60s and 70s. Nothing like that anymore!

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Thank you Dionne we will have to look at that side of the house carefully and see if any of your suggestions will work. The outer part of the house is brick with about 3 feet of cement (part of the basement) below it. An insulating wall was put around the cement (on the outside of the house) years ago. Where the air is coming in is truly a mystery.

For 80 years this house didn't have insulation and the pipes didn't freeze (I'm guessing the radiator pipes were close enough) but now (well prior to the one pipe freezing and bursting) something changed so we've got to figure out what. The mortar on the house still looks very good......I'm guessing it was brick layers from England that did it (we sure don't see that kind of mortar mix now, or craftsmanship for that matter).

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Miss Mary those blizzards were common years ago (we'd have to have neighbours come dig us out or us them). There were also storms where trains were buried (and that wasn't even from drifting).

Now we have some years where the ground is barely covered with snow.

[Dionne]

Thank you Dionne we will have to look at that side of the house carefully and see if any of your suggestions will work. The outer part of the house is brick with about 3 feet of cement (part of the basement) below it. An insulating wall was put around the cement (on the outside of the house) years ago. Where the air is coming in is truly a mystery.

For 80 years this house didn't have insulation and the pipes didn't freeze (I'm guessing the radiator pipes were close enough) but now (well prior to the one pipe freezing and bursting) something changed so we've got to figure out what. The mortar on the house still looks very good......I'm guessing it was brick layers from England that did it (we sure don't see that kind of mortar mix now, or craftsmanship for that matter).

Here's something not yet considered. The pipes. Pipes age. All metal pipes age......from galvanized to copper. It takes decades, but they do wear out. New pipe can take a freeze. New pipe takes a really hard long duration freeze to burst. Older pipes freeze much easier.....especially old galvanized pipe. When ever I encounter a frozen/broken galvanized water supply line we usually replace it all the way to the source.

Keep in mind that some drafts at -20F and below cannot be resolved. It's just part of the deal. In Alaska at our bush cabin in the Talkeetna area....down around -30F we would notice frost on the heads of the finish nails on the paneling inside the home!

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Dionne I think you've just nailed it! We replaced all the plumbing up to the bathroom sink, the drain pipes under the tub, but I don't think the cold and hot water pipes to the tub have been done yet. If we had replaced all the plumbing and put a ceiling back up there the new pipes probably wouldn't freeze and I wouldn't be getting that loverly draft/breeze down my back.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

I must admit we felt like we had a black cloud over our heads. My location beat its one hundred year record for cold (on that particular day) a couple of days ago and this is the winter that our steam boiler decided to give up the ghost. We've had about 15 warm winters prior to this.

[wall_cloud]

because Texas homes are in Texas. Arctic air is relatively uncommon this far south. It happens but not enough that it would impact building codes.