As specialists in health, comfort and efficiency improvements they service both new construction and existing buildings. Every winter, just after the first cold snap, I always get a wave of calls from panicking homeowners with frozen pipes. Surprisingly, many of these frustrated homeowners do not live in drafty antique buildings, but in newly constructed homes. When the air temperature inside the heated space is cold enough to freeze plumbing, clearly there's a problem. Inspections of these homes confirm that, while frozen pipes may be the most obvious symptom, they are just the tip of the iceberg.
Most pipes freeze up as a result of cold air getting inside the building.
Once this cold air penetrates a building cavity it will disperse in a widespread fashion, moving without restriction inside the heated space. Many homes actually have similar problems with freezing air entering the structure, but for a variety of reasons the cold air has not yet reached the plumbing. While a frozen or burst pipe presents an immediate problem, the real issues are the efficiency and comfort problems created by poorly installed or inadequate insulation and building shell details that don't work. As specialists in diagnosing and treating comfort and efficiency problems in buildings, our company has seen more than its share of cold homes and frozen pipes. We know that these problems are much more common than expected.