NEW ORLEANS — Your pipes are not out of the woods yet. Temperatures are expected to drop below freezing again Tuesday evening.
If you haven't already insulated your pipes, it's not too late.
Freret Hardware and Paint Owner, Rick Torres, said although he was slammed ahead of the freeze, he still has some items in stock.
“The media has done a good job with warning people, but you know how we are in south Louisiana. We like to wait until the last minute and supplies dwindle," Torres said, “Never too late to do something that could prevent a much more catastrophic event.”
Torres said if you don't want to brave the cold, or you can't find insulation materials, household items are better than nothing.
“You could use newspaper to wrap valves and pipes and things, but then you need to wrap some type of plastic on top of that. Because if newspaper gets wet, it doesn’t function properly. Rags, sheets, towels, anything like that, duct tape to hold that on," Torres said.
Danny Griffin, owner of Pipes R Us plumbing, shared his recommendations if your pipes do freeze.
“You’re going to have to wait for it to defrost. The biggest thing we tell everybody is the water service in front of your house, you can take a hair dryer to it to try and get that going. That’s mainly on slab houses. If you have a raised house, a lot of your pipes are going to be frozen and a hair dryer is not going to fix anything," Griffin said.
If your pipes break, you'll hear water once the pipes thaw, Griffin said.
You should shut the water off immediately using a meter key tool or wrench.
“Shut the water off at the stop valve with the water service going in. Turn your water heaters off," Griffin said, "You can put your gas on control, and you can find the breaker for your electric.”
Griffin also recommended calling a trusted plumber.
To prevent your pipes from freezing, Griffin said to run a pencil-thin stream of water from the faucet that's the furthest away from your water service.
“They have to keep it running until the temperature rises," Griffin said.