How to protect your house from the 'Beast from the East' this winter

Elsa appears to be at it again as we battle against the ‘Beast from the East’ this week with temperatures as low as -10°C. While you can protect yourself from the cold weather by wrapping up warm in your knitted scarves and bobble hats, you may also want to think about protecting your home. Here are our top tips:

Keep your house warm

Some of the most expensive winter damage can come from frozen pipes bursting. Make sure the inside of your house is kept warm by setting your thermostat to a minimum temperature of around 12°C at regular intervals. This will keep the water flowing and prevent any potential issues with external pipes.

Keep your pipes warm

Even if your house is cosy and warm, your water pipes are still able to freeze. To ensure your pipes keep warm this winter, wrap them up with insulation material and open your kitchen and bathroom cabinets to allow warm air to circulate around the pipes.

Shut off water to your outside plumbing fixtures

To prevent your outdoor plumbing fixtures from freezing, disconnect and drain your taps, water features and sprinkler systems which are connected to external water outlets.

Protect the outside of your house

Full gutters can increase your chance of ice forming on your roof which can cause ice dam damage. If possible, clean your gutters as soon as possible so water doesn’t build up and freeze.

Know where your stop tap is

Stop taps are usually found under the kitchen sink or around the downstairs toilet. Make sure you also understand how to turn this on and off incase of potential flooding from a burst pipe.

Going on holiday?

If you’re going away, you may want to think about shutting off the water to your house and draining your plumbing so you won’t have to worry about any plumbing failures or freezing pipes.

Once your house is protected, you can relax and enjoy the snow, go outside and build a snowman!