Frozen pipe water damage is a Utah County winter problem. Spanish Fork sits at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, and cold air pours down the canyon on clear winter nights. A pipe in an exterior wall, an unheated garage or a crawl space can freeze in one night of single digit temperatures.
The places we see it most: hose bibs on north-facing walls where a hose was left attached, kitchen sinks on outside walls, bathroom lines over a garage, and supply lines in crawl spaces with gaps in the skirting. Swamp cooler lines on the roof are another one if they weren't drained in the fall.
Frozen pipe water damage often hides. A frost-proof hose bib that splits inside the wall only leaks when someone turns the hose on in spring, so the water runs into the basement wall every time the sprinklers or hose run. We find it with a moisture meter and thermal camera, open the wall, and dry the cavity.
Our crew handles the whole cleanup: water extraction, removing wet drywall and insulation, drying the framing and checking for mold if the leak ran for a while. We document the freeze point and the damage path for your claim, since most homeowner policies treat a sudden pipe burst as a covered loss.
To lower your risk, disconnect hoses before the first hard freeze. Open sink cabinet doors on outside walls during cold snaps. Keep the heat at 55 or higher if you travel over the holidays.
