# Austin freeze prep checklist for pipes, before the first hard freeze

> An Austin freeze prep checklist for pipes: find and test the customer shutoff, insulate exposed and attic lines, and check attic reroutes before a hard freeze.

URL: https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/blog/austin-freeze-prep-for-pipes/

Before Austin’s first hard freeze, do four things: find the shutoff valve at your meter box and make sure it turns, cover pipe that runs outside or through unheated space, look at any water lines in the attic, and decide what you will do with the water if you leave town. [Grackle Repiping Austin](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/) offers and manages repipes, reroutes and [burst pipe repair](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/burst-pipe-repair/), and this checklist is the part a homeowner can do in an afternoon while the weather is still mild.

Key takeaways

- Find the customer shutoff valve at the meter box and test it before it is needed
- Austin averages about 12 freezing days a year at Camp Mabry and 33 at Austin-Bergstrom
- Austin's code requires R-4 insulation on water lines outside the thermal envelope
- Attic lines from a reroute or repipe need a look before winter, not after
- Leaving town in a freeze: Austin Water says shut the water off at the meter

## Why Austin freezes catch houses unprepared

The National Weather Service’s Austin climate summary puts the average first freeze around December 1 and the last around February 15, based on 1991 to 2020 records. Sub-freezing temperatures arrive on about 12 days a year at Camp Mabry and about 33 at Austin-Bergstrom, which sits in the lower Onion Creek basin where cold air settles. So a house in the southeast of the city can see nearly three times as many freezing nights as one near Camp Mabry.

Most of those nights are a few degrees below freezing and do no harm. The damage comes from the rare long ones. During the February 2021 storm, Camp Mabry stayed at or below freezing for days and dropped to 7 F; Bergstrom reached 6 F. In the following three months the City issued 123 plumbing permits whose descriptions mention a freeze, a burst or the storm, against a handful in the same months of other years. Shorter cold snaps since then, such as December 2022 and January 2024, also brought lows in the teens. The [guide to why Texas pipes freeze](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/frozen-pipes-texas/) explains the mechanism: water expands as it turns to ice, and the pipe splits where pressure builds behind the ice, often away from the frozen spot.

## Find and test the customer shutoff valve

When a pipe splits, the first job is stopping the water, and the valve has to be found before the freeze, not with a flashlight in the yard at 2 a.m.

Austin Water’s cold-weather guidance says the property owner’s shutoff is typically on your side of the water meter, at the meter box. Austin Water owns the line up to the meter; the owner is responsible for the service line and the cut-off valve on the private side. If you cannot find your valve or it is damaged, Austin Water says to use the City valve inside the meter box, which may need a water meter key from a hardware store. Smart meter lids open with a standard lid key; do not pry on the lid wires.

A checklist for the valve:

- Find the meter box near the sidewalk and the customer valve beside it, and note whether there is a second valve where the line enters the house.
- Turn the customer valve off and on once. If it will not move, or it leaks at the stem when turned, it needs replacing before winter, not during it.
- Keep a meter key and the lid key where everyone in the house can find them.
- Show everyone who stays in the house where the valve is.

A valve that has not been turned in years is often the one that fails when it is finally needed. Replacing a seized customer valve is plumbing work; under Austin’s amendment 606.2.1, a new full-way valve on the meter discharge cannot be installed inside the City’s meter box without Austin Water’s written consent, so it goes outside the box. The [water line replacement page](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/water-line-replacement/) covers the run from the meter to the house.

## Cover the pipe that sits outside the warm part of the house

Pipe freezes where it loses heat fastest. Walk the outside of the house and look for:

- the riser where the water line comes out of the ground and enters the wall
- hose bibs, especially on north walls and in breezeways
- any line in a garage, a crawlspace or an exterior closet
- pipe that runs along an exterior wall in an unheated space

Foam pipe insulation and faucet covers help on short cold nights. Disconnect garden hoses, because water trapped in a hose can freeze back into the bib. A hose bib that already drips or a riser with cracked insulation is a small [repair](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/burst-pipe-repair/) now and a bigger one after a freeze. A pier-and-beam house has its supply lines under the floor, open to cold air, so crawlspace vents and the insulation on those lines matter more there than on a slab house.

## Check the attic lines, especially after a reroute

On an Austin slab house, a [slab leak reroute](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/slab-leak-reroute/) or a whole-house repipe usually moves water lines out of the concrete and into the attic. That solves the slab problem and puts the pipe in the coldest part of the house on a winter night. The same is true of a [whole-house repipe](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/whole-house-repiping/) on a slab, which the [illustrative slab-home repipe walkthrough](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/blog/what-a-slab-home-repipe-looks-like/) follows stage by stage.

Austin’s code addresses this directly. Amendment 312.6.1 to the 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code requires water lines outside the building’s thermal envelope to have insulation at least five-eighths of an inch thick with a minimum R-4 value. A vented attic is outside the envelope. Homeowners report attic lines freezing in Austin cold snaps, and the routing matters as much as the wrap.

What to look for with a flashlight from the attic hatch:

| Check | Why it matters |
| --- | --- |
| Insulation on every water line, with no gaps at fittings and tees | Bare fittings and gaps are where heat leaves first |
| Lines low, near or under the ceiling insulation, not strung high under the roof deck | The ceiling side stays closer to the house’s temperature |
| No lines near gable vents, soffit vents or ridge openings | Moving cold air freezes pipe faster than still air |
| Supports in place, no sagging runs | Sags collect water and stress fittings |
| Lines away from sunlight through vents | UV degrades plastic pipe in summer |

If the insulation is missing, crushed or only partly there, that is worth fixing before the cold arrives. The [PEX in a Texas attic guide](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/pex-in-attic-texas/) goes into routing and support, and the [PEX repiping page](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/pex-repiping/) explains how a new attic layout is planned. New pipe material alone does not remove freeze exposure; its location and protection do.

## On the night of a hard freeze

Austin Water’s guidance and plain mechanics agree on a few steps:

- Open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so room heat reaches the pipe.
- Keep the thermostat steady overnight rather than setting it far back.
- If you leave town, Austin Water says to turn the water off at the meter and set the thermostat to 65 F or higher.
- If a line has frozen, Austin Water says to turn off the water at the shutoff first, open a faucet, and apply gentle heat such as a hair dryer, heating pad or warm towels. Never use an open flame.
- After it thaws, check for cracks and leaks, and call a licensed plumber if thawing does not restore flow or the pipe has split.

The full set of Austin Water steps is on its [cold-weather tips page](https://www.austintexas.gov/water/austin-water-cold-weather-tips).

## After a freeze: when a burst becomes a repipe question

A single split line in otherwise sound pipe is a repair. Several splits in old galvanized steel, polybutylene or brittle CPVC raise a different question, because corroded or brittle pipe has less margin left when ice builds pressure inside it. If the repair estimate lists more than one failure in aging pipe, compare it with a [partial repipe](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/partial-repiping/) or a full one before patching each spot. For pipe-work only, a burst pipe repair typically runs about $400 to $1,500 in the Austin area; ceiling, slab or multi-break repairs and restoration cost more.

Insurance is a separate question from the plumbing. The Texas Department of Insurance explains how freeze damage is usually handled, and the [slab leak insurance guide](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/slab-leak-insurance-texas/) covers the split between paying for damage and paying for the pipe. Take photos of the failed pipe and the damage before anything is thrown away.

## Questions about this post

### Where is the water shutoff valve for an Austin house?

Austin Water says the property owner's shutoff valve is typically on your side of the water meter, at the meter box near the sidewalk. Some houses also have a valve where the line enters the building. If the owner's valve is missing or damaged, Austin Water's guidance is to use the City valve in the meter box with a meter key.

### Do attic water lines need insulation in Austin?

Yes. Austin's amendment 312.6.1 to the plumbing code requires insulation at least five-eighths of an inch thick with a minimum R-4 value on water lines outside the building's thermal envelope, and a vented attic is outside it. Insulation slows heat loss but does not stop a line from freezing in a long hard freeze.

### What should I do with the water if I leave Austin during a freeze?

Austin Water's cold-weather guidance is to turn the water off at the meter and keep the thermostat at 65 F or higher while you are away. Shutting the water off means a pipe that does freeze and split cannot keep flooding the house until you return.

## Keep reading

- Learn [Why do Texas pipes freeze?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/frozen-pipes-texas/)Central Texas houses put water pipe where northern builders would not: in vented attics, outside walls and risers at the slab edge. This guide explains when Austin freezes hard enough to matter, which pipes go first, and what helps before, during and after.
- Learn [Can PEX run through an attic in Texas?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/pex-in-attic-texas/)Why slab-home water lines end up in the attic, what Austin's code requires for them, and how routing, insulation, support and sun protection decide whether attic PEX does well through a Texas summer and a hard freeze.
- Decision Guide [Is a slab leak covered by homeowners insurance in Texas?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/slab-leak-insurance-texas/)Coverage depends on your policy. This guide explains how a slab leak claim splits into the pipe, the tear-out and the damage, what the Texas Department of Insurance says, and what to have ready before you call your insurer.
- Learn [What kind of pipes does my house have?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/what-kind-of-pipes-do-i-have/)You can identify most water pipe yourself in a few minutes by looking where it shows: the water heater, the main shutoff, under sinks and in the attic or crawlspace. This guide shows what each material looks like, what its age suggests and what each one tends to need.
- Learn [Do I need a pressure reducing valve in Austin?](https://gracklerepipingaustin.com/guide/pressure-reducing-valve-austin/)Austin's plumbing code sets the line at 65 psi: above it, a house needs a pressure reducing valve with a strainer and an expansion tank after it. Here is how the rule works, how a valve fails, and how it fits into a repipe.