How to Winterize Outdoor Pipes and Faucets Before a Freeze

Why This Matters

Most Texas homes aren’t built for hard freezes the way homes further north are — pipes and hose bibs often run closer to the surface or sit fully exposed outside, since deep freezes used to be rare. When temperatures drop below freezing for more than a few hours, water left in exposed pipes and outdoor faucets can freeze, expand, and crack the pipe, which you usually don’t discover until it thaws and starts leaking or bursting. A few minutes of prep before a freeze hits is a lot cheaper than the water damage and repair bill that follows a burst pipe.

How to Winterize Outdoor Faucets: Quick Overview

Knowing how to winterize outdoor faucets before the first hard freeze is the cheapest insurance a Texas homeowner can buy — insulated covers and a few minutes of prep cost under $10 and can prevent a burst pipe that costs thousands. If a pipe does crack despite prep, our leaky faucet guide covers the fix for a dripping fixture, and widespread freeze damage across old galvanized or polybutylene lines is exactly when it’s worth pricing out a plumbing repipe.

Tools & Supplies You’ll Need

Insulated foam faucet covers (one per outdoor spigot), pipe insulation sleeves or foam wrap for any exposed pipe running along an exterior wall, and a pair of garden gloves if you’re disconnecting hoses in cold weather. If you have a sprinkler/irrigation system, you’ll also want access to an air compressor to blow out the lines, or a professional who can do it — this isn’t a job to skip if you have one.

Step-by-Step

Disconnect every garden hose from its outdoor spigot and drain any water left inside — a hose left attached traps water against the faucet and is one of the most common reasons outdoor faucets crack. Slip an insulated foam cover over each hose bib and make sure it seals snugly against the wall. Walk the outside of your house and look for any pipe that runs along an exterior wall, through a garage, or under a crawl space with minimal insulation, and wrap it with foam pipe sleeves or wrap, securing the seams with tape. Seal any gaps where pipes pass through an exterior wall with caulk or expanding foam — cold air sneaking in through those gaps is just as much a risk as the pipe itself being exposed. If you have a sprinkler system, shut off its water supply and have the lines blown out with an air compressor before the first hard freeze. For the night of a genuinely hard freeze (upper 20s or colder), let faucets connected to exposed pipes drip a slow, steady trickle — moving water is much less likely to freeze solid than standing water — and open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so warm household air can reach the pipes underneath.

When to Call a Plumber

If you turn on a faucet after a freeze and get little to no water pressure, that’s a sign of a frozen (not yet burst) pipe — turn off the main water shutoff and call a plumber before trying to thaw it yourself with an open flame or anything that could damage the pipe further. If you see water stains, hear running water inside a wall, or find standing water where there shouldn’t be any after a freeze, shut off the main water supply immediately and call a plumber — a cracked pipe you don’t know about yet can do a lot of damage in the time it takes to notice it on your own.