Our 5 Most Common Wintertime Claims and Easy Ways to Avoid Them
1. Frozen pipes, or rather pipes that WERE frozen but have since thawed.
Why it happens:
When a pipe freezes the water that’s inside it expands which can compromise the structural integrity of that pipe. Once the pipe has been compromised and the ice finally melts that pipe can leak water slowly or fully burst. Either way it’s not something you want going on inside your home. Frozen pipes most commonly occur in parts of your home where you may not go very often, for example a guest bathroom, in any pipes that are in an exterior wall, or when the heat is left too low in the home for an extended period of time.
How to avoid it:
If you have a bathroom in your home that isn’t used much then leaving the door to the bathroom as well as the cabinet doors under the sink open to let the warm air from the rest of the house get to the pipes that are under the sink. Maintain a constant level of heat in your home, especially if you’re out of town or out of the home for an extended period of time, we recommend setting your thermostat to at least 50 degrees in order to maintain a level warm enough to keep all of your pipes warm enough. As a backup to keeping the heat at a warm enough temperature if you’re out of town, have someone check in on your home every few days just to make sure that everything it still as it should be. No one wants to come home from a vacation to a flooded house.
2. Ice dam backups and/or roof damage from the weight of snow.
Why it happens:
An ice dam backup is what it’s called when ice accumulates on your roof and gets under the shingles. The biggest problem when that happens is when that ice starts to melt and leak into your home, and as many homes have attics, you may not even notice the water damage is occurring until it’s caused significant problems. Another problem caused by ice and snow is roof damage, either from the ice dams when they’re forming or from the weight of the ice and snow sitting on your roof, sometimes for months on end in the winter. While it’s rare to see, roof damage caused by the weight of ice and snow can lead to partial or even total roof collapse in extreme cases.
How to avoid it:
To avoid ice dams and roof damage from the weight of ice and snow the solution is simple, it’s referred to as “Roof Raking” and it just means you clear some of the snow off your roof while it’s still fresh (before it has a chance to freeze into ice) with a tool called a roof rake. They range in price but a basic one can cost as little as $30 and can be used for several years.
3. Chimney Fires.
Why it happens:
It’s no secret that more people have fires in their fireplaces in the winter than any other time of the year, which means that in the winter is when we tend to see the most chimney fires. A chimney fire happens when the chimney hasn’t been properly cleaned and maintained and a layer of creosote builds up on the walls and until it eventually catches on fire in the chimney.
*Creosote is a carbon based chemical that’s a byproduct of burning wood and fossil fuels.
How to avoid it:
The best way to avoid a chimney fire is to make sure your chimney is cleaned annually, either by you with a chimney brush if you know how or by a professional chimney cleaning service.
4. Slip and falls.
Why it happens:
People can slip and fall on any number of things but this time of year it tends to happen on ice. Ice can form when it’s warm enough for rain and then it becomes cold enough to freeze it, it can happen if the sun melts some snow during the day then that water re-freezes overnight, however the one people may not thing about but can be just as dangerous, is when a driveway or sidewalk has been shoveled/plowed but not salted/sanded afterwards. It may be next to impossible to get all of the snow, slush and ice when you’re shoveling or plowing and when that happens, what’s been missed can then freeze over making for dangerous driving and walking conditions.
How to avoid it:
The best way to avoid an icy driveway or sidewalk is to apply ice melt like salt or sand to it after each time you shovel throughout the day. It’s also important to remember to use pet friendly ice melt to make sure it doesn’t hurt your four-legged family members.
5. Sliding off the road/car accidents.
Why it happens:
When the roads are snowy and icy or there’s a snowstorm obstructing your visibility it can be very easy to lose control of the vehicle and end up sliding off the road and getting stuck or potentially getting into a car accident.
How to avoid it:
Unfortunately many of the factors that can cause cars to slide off the road and get stuck or cause accidents are out of our control but when that’s the case it’s important to be diligent about the things that are within our control. Most importantly we have to make sure that this time of year we’re driving cautiously. It’s also very important to check the treads on your tires to make sure that they aren’t bald, driving on snowy roads is not when you want to find that out. If your car needs snow tires it’s important to have them put on as soon as possible. And if in the event that you do end up sliding off the road or in an accident, some things that are a good idea to put in your car ahead of time are a hat, gloves, a blanket, a flare, a first aid kit, and maybe even some water and granola bars if you live in a rural area where it may take people some time to get to you. One other good idea is to make sure you don’t ever let your gas tank get too low, in the event that you are stuck on the side of the road, and it’s safe to do so, leaving your car running with the heat on will help to keep you warm and safe.