North Texas doesn't freeze often, and that's exactly why it catches so many homes off guard. In places that see hard freezes every winter, homes and plumbing are built for it. Here, a single multi-day freeze event can catch pipes, fixtures, and homeowners equally unprepared.
What's Actually Happening Inside the Pipe
Water is one of the few substances that expands when it freezes rather than contracts. When water sitting inside a pipe drops below freezing, it expands as it turns to ice — and if that pipe is a closed system with nowhere for the pressure to go, something has to give. Usually that's the pipe wall itself, splitting from the inside, often in a spot you won't discover until the ice thaws and water starts flowing through the crack.
This is why the damage from a freeze often doesn't show up during the cold snap — it shows up a day or two later, once temperatures rise and the ice inside the broken pipe melts and starts leaking.
Which Pipes Are Most at Risk
- Exterior hose bibs and spigots — directly exposed, first to freeze
- Pipes in unheated spaces — garages, attics, crawl spaces
- Pipes running along exterior walls — less insulation between the pipe and outside temperature
- Any line that's seen freeze damage before — a previously repaired section is often a weak point again
What Genuinely Helps (and What's Just Folklore)
Helps: disconnecting and draining garden hoses before a freeze, letting faucets fed by exposed or exterior-wall pipes drip slowly during a hard freeze (moving water is much less likely to freeze solid), and opening cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so warm household air can reach the pipes.
Doesn't do much: cranking the thermostat unusually high — it's the pipe's own exposure that matters most, not the general room temperature a few feet away. Insulating exposed pipe (foam sleeves, heat tape on chronically vulnerable runs) does far more than turning up the heat.
If a Pipe Has Already Burst
Shut off the main water supply immediately — this matters more than anything else in the moment. Then call for service. The faster the water's shut off at the main, the less damage accumulates while you're waiting for a plumber to arrive.
Freeze damage is one of the few plumbing problems that's genuinely preventable with a few minutes of prep before a cold snap. If you're not sure which parts of your home are actually exposed, that's worth a quick walkthrough before the next hard freeze rolls in, not after.