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Early freeze means time to winterize your home

Posted at 7:47 PM, Oct 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-09 01:16:10-04

SALT LAKE CITY — People could see some record-breaking freezing temperatures this week in Utah, which means it is time for people to winterize their homes.

While winter isn’t officially here, it will certainly feel like it this week.

“This much of a freeze this early on can really catch people off guard,” said Rich Woodruff with the American Red Cross.

The time to prepare is now, Woodruff said.

“Leave the faucet dripping just a little bit with some luke-warm water. You may open your cabinet doors — a lot of the pipes run behind the cabinets,” he said.

Not preparing your pipes could lead to them bursting and in turn causing massive flooding.

People also need to check and make sure their furnaces are ready, as well as space heaters. These could cause fires. The winter season can be dangerous, Woodruff said.

This is also the time to get the yard winterized as well, Paul Sannar with TerraWorks Landscaping said.

“Some of the basics would be just to remove the hoses off the hose bibs, draining them, turning your sprinkles stop and waste off,” he said.

People can hire companies like TerraWorks to winterize and then de-winterize their homes come spring.

Sannar said while you need to prepare your home for this week's freeze, when it comes to things in the ground like sprinkler systems you may have a little more time.

For up-to-date temperatures and weather forecasts, visit fox13now.com/weather.