CLEVELAND — The freezing cold took a toll on much of the United States over the Christmas weekend, and the second wave of damage will soon be evident once the warmer weather thaws the snow and ice.
Mike Hess owns Hessco Plumbing in Brunswick. He tells 3News about the trouble many homeowners will deal with as the warmer weather approaches later this week.
"As the pipe expands it splits the pipe and you don't know it split until it thaws. We have not been getting any normal calls like kitchen drains or clogged toilets' it all been frozen pipes. We were probably doing 30 to 40 calls a days since Friday."
On a normal day, he averages five. And Hess is not alone. Fire departments all over Northeast Ohio have been getting the same calls.
What this was a rare type of storm. And this storm has been a nightmare for homeowners.
Hess continued, "It's not so much the cold weather but you will get some frozen pipes in this weather and as soon as the wind picks up you are going to fall into the negatives and those pipes are going to freeze up."
Here is the first sign of a problem:
"We have no water in our bathroom we tell them to shut the water off right away because of if it's on and it melts you are going to have a disaster right away."
To prevent it:
- Make sure all the outside faucet are off on the inside
- Outdoor hoses should be off the spicket
- If you are gone all weekend in the winter, shut the water off
- Let your faucets drip
- If you have holes, insolate them
- Know where your main shut off is
Hess says he has been living out of his truck since Friday. He expects things will get worse as the temperature rise.