North Texas houses are built to shed heat, not hold it. Supply lines run through attics and exterior walls, hose bibs come straight through the brick with no insulation, and the sprinkler backflow preventer stands in the front yard exposed. A few nights below freezing does more damage here than a whole winter does in a cold-climate house, and a rental is the most exposed house on the street because the person living in it did not design the plumbing and may not know where the shutoff is.
This is the freeze plan we run every year: the owner-side work before the season, the tenant instructions word for word, the sprinkler shutdown, what to do hour by hour during the freeze and during an outage, and how to handle a vacant house, which is the highest-risk case of all.
Why a Texas house fails in a freeze
The failures follow the construction. Water lines in the attic sit above the insulation, in air that tracks the outside temperature. Lines in exterior walls, especially behind a kitchen sink on an outside wall, freeze where the wall cavity meets the brick. Hose bibs freeze at the stem and split the pipe inside the wall, where the leak shows up only when someone turns the faucet on in spring. The backflow preventer for the sprinklers is brass, above ground, and freezes solid in one night.
The other half of the problem is heat. Many homes here have heat pumps, which lose capacity in deep cold, or gas furnaces that depend on electricity to run. When a winter storm brings a power outage, the house goes cold within hours, and a house with no heat and full water lines is a burst pipe waiting for the thaw. The pipe splits while frozen; the flood arrives when the ice melts.
Preparation is cheap and mostly a matter of knowing which few spots matter. Response, if preparation fails, follows the water leak playbook.
The owner-side prep before the first freeze
Do this once in the fall, and it holds for the season:
- Insulate every exposed supply line in the attic and garage with foam pipe sleeves, paying attention to the water heater lines and any line running near a soffit vent.
- Put insulated covers on every hose bib. They are inexpensive and they prevent the most common freeze break.
- Wrap the sprinkler backflow preventer with an insulated bag or pipe insulation and a weatherproof cover, and know where its shutoff valve is.
- Confirm the furnace or heat pump runs in heat mode and change the filter. Test the emergency heat strips on a heat pump.
- Check that the attic hatch closes fully and that weatherstripping on exterior doors is intact.
- Locate the main water shutoff, test that it turns, and tag it so a tenant can find it in the dark.
- Replace the water heater pan sensor battery if there is one, and confirm the drain pan empties where it should.
Add a gas log or space heater check if the house has one, and note any portable heater the tenant may use for safety guidance. These items belong on the fall section of the preventive maintenance calendar.
The tenant instructions, ready to send
Two days before a forecast hard freeze, every tenant gets the same message. It reads roughly like this, and it goes out by text and by email so it is seen and so it is on record:
A hard freeze is forecast starting on the named night. Please disconnect all garden hoses from outdoor faucets and leave the faucet covers on. Open the cabinet doors under the kitchen and bathroom sinks so warm air reaches the pipes. Let a thin stream of cold water drip from the faucet farthest from the water heater and from any faucet on an exterior wall, overnight and while temperatures stay below freezing. Keep the thermostat set no lower than the stated minimum, day and night, even if you are away. The main water shutoff is at the tagged location; if a pipe bursts, turn it off first and call us immediately at the after-hours number. Do not use the oven or a grill to heat the house, and keep any space heater three feet from anything that burns.
Short, specific, and repeated every freeze. Tenants follow instructions they can act on in five minutes, and this message is built so they can. The after-hours number and the shutoff location go in the move-in packet too, so the freeze message is a reminder rather than news.
Sprinklers: shut down and protect the backflow
The irrigation system has two freeze exposures. The first is a schedule that keeps running; a zone that sprays during a freeze coats the sidewalk and the street in ice and leaves the heads full of water. Turn the controller off at the first hard freeze forecast, or set it to a rain delay long enough to cover the cold stretch. If the controller is smart and tied to weather, confirm it has actually suspended rather than assuming.
The second exposure is the backflow preventer, which freezes and cracks even when the system is off because it holds water under pressure. Close the valve on the house side of the backflow device, open the test cocks to relieve pressure if you know how, and leave the insulated cover on. A cracked backflow preventer is a plumber visit and a part, and it leaks the moment the water comes back on.
Owners who prefer to be safe shut off the irrigation supply entirely for the winter and drain what they can. The sprinkler supply valve is often near the main shutoff; tag it the same way. Whatever the lease says about the yard, our approach is that the owner's side handles the freeze shutdown, because the cost of a cracked backflow is the owner's either way.
During the freeze: the check-in and the outage plan
On the first morning below freezing, send a one-line check-in: is the heat running and is water flowing at every faucet. A no to either is the first warning. No water at one faucet means a line is already frozen; turn the main off, open the faucet, and warm the line if you can reach it with a hair dryer or a space heater at a safe distance. Never use an open flame on a pipe.
If the power goes out, the plan changes. Within an hour the house starts losing heat. The tenant should increase the drip on every faucet, keep cabinet doors open, close off unused rooms, and dress warmly. If the outage looks likely to last through the night, the safest step is to shut the main off and drain the lines by opening the lowest faucet and the hose bibs, then open the highest faucet to let air in. A drained line cannot burst. Tell the tenant how to do this in advance, with the shutoff tagged, so it is a procedure rather than a panic.
Where the home has a gas water heater, hot water may still be available during an outage, which is worth knowing. Where the tenant has nowhere warm to go, that is a conversation to have early rather than at midnight.
When a pipe bursts anyway
The burst usually announces itself on the thaw. The tenant hears water running in a wall or sees it coming through a ceiling. The response is the leak response: main off immediately, plumber dispatched, mitigation crew the same day, photos before anything is moved. After a regional freeze, plumbers and drying crews are booked for days, which is why having them on your vendor list before the storm matters more than it does for any other repair.
Common freeze break locations, for the plumber's benefit: the hose bib stem inside the wall, the kitchen sink line on an exterior wall, the attic line near a soffit vent, the water heater supply in the garage, and the sprinkler backflow. Knowing where to look saves an hour of searching with the water off.
Keep the tenant informed in writing, document the timeline, and treat the event as the insurance matter it may become. Sudden freeze damage is commonly treated as a covered event under landlord policies in general terms, while damage from a house left unheated may not be; your policy wording controls, and the landlord insurance guide covers the basics. This is general information, not insurance advice.
Vacant homes: the highest-risk case
A vacant house in a freeze has no one dripping faucets, no one noticing the heat is off, and no one hearing the pipe burst. A rental between tenants in January is the most likely freeze loss in any portfolio. Treat it accordingly.
For a short vacancy, keep the heat on at a modest setting, leave cabinet doors open, drip the faucets yourself or have someone do it, and have the house checked daily during the cold stretch. For a longer vacancy, or any vacancy during a severe forecast, winterize fully: shut the main off, drain the lines from the lowest point, open all faucets, flush toilets to empty the tanks, and consider a plumber's winterization of the water heater. Put a note on the main valve and the water heater so nobody turns the water on without refilling properly.
Vacant homes are also where a leak sensor with a cellular or Wi-Fi alert earns its keep, since there is no tenant to call. The rental technology guide covers which sensors work without a tenant's network.
Who pays for freeze damage
Broken plumbing is the owner's to fix, and the owner's insurer is the usual source of recovery for a sudden burst. The tenant's exposure arises when the damage traces to ignoring instructions: the thermostat turned off while they were away for a week, hoses left connected so the hose bib split, a known frozen faucet not reported. Leases commonly allow the owner to recover damage caused by a tenant's negligence, and the freeze message you sent is the evidence that the instructions existed.
In practice, bill back only where the cause is plain and documented by the plumber. A tenant who dripped the faucets and still had an attic line burst did nothing wrong, and the attic line was the owner's to insulate. Tenant belongings damaged by the water are the tenant's renters insurance, which is why it is required in the lease. Confirm your own lease and policy; this is general information, not legal advice.
What a manager does before, during and after a freeze
Our freeze process runs on a calendar, not on the forecast. In the fall, the maintenance walk covers the prep list above on every home, and the vendor list is confirmed for plumbers and mitigation crews who answer during a regional event. When a hard freeze is forecast, every tenant receives the instructions message, and vacant homes get a specific plan and a daily check.
During the freeze, tenants get the morning check-in, after-hours calls go to a line that is answered, and the first dispatch does not wait for an owner signature because the approval limit was agreed in advance. After the thaw, we walk the exterior of each home for hose bib and backflow leaks, since those are the ones nobody inside notices, and the owner gets a short note either way.
Our maintenance service and inspection reports are where this lives, and every freeze message and work order is visible in the owner portal. If you self-manage and want to see what the prep list looks like applied to your house, ask us; it is a short conversation and a cheap afternoon of work.
The takeaway: Insulate the few exposed spots, tag the shutoff, send tenants a five-minute instruction list before every hard freeze and drain any vacant house, and the Texas freeze becomes a few cold days instead of a flooded spring.
Questions owners ask
How cold does it have to get for pipes to freeze in Texas?
Exposed lines in attics, garages and exterior walls can freeze after several hours below freezing, and the risk rises sharply when temperatures stay in the low twenties or below overnight. Wind makes it worse. Treat any forecast of a hard freeze lasting more than a night as a reason to run the full prep.
Should tenants drip faucets during a freeze?
Yes. A thin cold-water stream from the faucet farthest from the water heater and from any faucet on an exterior wall keeps water moving and relieves pressure. Combined with open cabinet doors, disconnected hoses and the heat left on, it prevents most interior freeze breaks.
Who is responsible for frozen pipes in a rental in Texas?
The owner repairs the plumbing and typically claims a sudden burst on the landlord policy. The tenant can be responsible when the damage traces to ignoring written instructions, such as turning the heat off or leaving hoses connected. The lease and the plumber's finding decide it; confirm with your lease or an attorney.
Should I winterize a vacant rental in Texas?
For any vacancy during a severe forecast, yes: shut off the main, drain the lines, open the faucets and empty the toilet tanks. For a short vacancy in mild cold, keeping the heat on with faucets dripping and a daily check is usually enough. A vacant house is the most likely freeze loss, so err toward draining.
What should a tenant do if the power goes out during a freeze?
Increase the faucet drip, keep cabinet doors open, close off unused rooms and dress warmly. If the outage looks likely to last overnight, shut the main off and drain the lines by opening the lowest faucet and hose bibs, then a high faucet. A drained line cannot burst. Never heat a house with an oven or grill.
Will a property manager help protect my rental during a Texas freeze?
Yes, and the useful part happens before the forecast. In the fall the maintenance walk covers insulating exposed attic and garage lines, covering hose bibs, wrapping the sprinkler backflow preventer, testing the heat and tagging the main shutoff. When a hard freeze is forecast, every tenant receives the same written instructions on hoses, cabinet doors, dripping faucets, the thermostat minimum and what to do if a pipe bursts, while vacant homes get daily checks or full winterization. During the freeze there is a morning check-in, an answered after-hours line, and a first dispatch that does not wait for a signature. Perpetual confirms plumbers and mitigation crews before the season.
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