Insulate Plastic Pipes Against Freezing

LESLIE: John in New Jersey needs some help with pipes to keep them from freezing. Tell us about what’s going on.

JOHN: I just purchased a prefab home down the Jersey shore …

LESLIE: OK.

JOHN: … and all the water pipes are made out of that plastic; there’s no copper.

TOM: OK.

JOHN: And there is a crawlspace that’s about 3.5 to 4 feet high and the pipes, when the builder put them in, they’re not insulated; they’re just like packed to the rafters on the bottom of the house.

TOM: Alright.

JOHN: But I was wondering – I want to insulate these pipes because right now I have the water off because it’s a summer home but I plan on moving there full time. So in the winter it does get quite cold down there and I’m a little nervous about the pipes freezing.

TOM: Well, there’s no reason you can’t insulate the pipes and pipe insulation is fairly easy to use. It’s a foam insulation. It’s got a slit down it. You simply snap it around the pipes. So that’s kind of an easy project. It sounds like you have a high-enough crawlspace; it’ll be good for you to work down there.

While you’re down there, John, I’d look into a couple of other things. I’d make sure that you have a plastic sheeting all across the soil so that you slow down the amount of vapor that’s going to wick up there and I’d take a look at that floor insulation and make sure that entire bay is filled with insulation so that you keep that floor as warm as possible.

JOHN: OK, very good.

TOM: Alright, John. Good luck with that project. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.