How to Prevent Frozen Pipes in the PNW (Lessons from the January 2024 Ice Storm)

January 2024: What Happened Here

In January 2024, a hard freeze settled over the Pacific Northwest and stayed. Temperatures dropped below 20 degrees Fahrenheit across the Portland and Vancouver metro, and KGW reported more than 1,250 burst-pipe calls in roughly three days. Plumbers ran out of same-day availability within hours. Restoration crews worked around the clock. The damage totals ran into the millions.

The event was unusual in its intensity, but it was not a once-in-a-lifetime storm. The region has seen similar freezes before, and it will again. The homeowners who got through it without a flooded living room were not lucky. They had prepared. The ones who ended up pulling up hardwood floors or gutting drywall generally had not.

This guide covers what made the January 2024 freeze so damaging for PNW homes specifically, the steps that actually prevent frozen pipes, what to do if you catch a freeze before it bursts, and what to do immediately if it already has.

Why PNW Homes Are More Vulnerable Than Colder Climates

This sounds counterintuitive, but it is true: homes in Portland and Vancouver are often less protected against hard freezes than homes in Minnesota or Michigan.

The reason is that building codes and construction practices reflect the climate. In places where temperatures routinely drop below freezing every winter, pipes are run through interior walls, crawl spaces are insulated to building envelope standards, and plumbers and contractors design around the assumption that it will get very cold. In the PNW, a hard freeze is the exception, not the rule. That means a significant share of local homes have pipes running through uninsulated crawl spaces, along exterior garage walls, in attics, or in wall cavities that never see adequate insulation because no one expected them to need it.

When a prolonged freeze event like January 2024 arrives, those pipes are exposed in a way that pipes in colder climates simply are not. The freeze hits harder relative to the protection in place.

Prevention Checklist: What to Do Before the Forecast Changes

The single most important thing about this list is timing. None of these steps are useful when the freeze is already happening. Do them now, when you have time to do them right.

Insulate pipes in crawl spaces, attics, and unheated garage walls

Foam pipe insulation is inexpensive and widely available at home improvement stores. It wraps around supply lines and is held in place with tape or adhesive. For more complex runs with fittings and turns, self-sealing foam wrap conforms more easily. Focus first on pipes in the coldest zones of your home: the crawl space, any attic runs, and pipes on exterior-facing walls in an unheated garage. If you are not sure where your supply lines run, a plumber can walk through and point them out.

Find your main water shut-off and test it before a freeze

Most homeowners cannot locate their main shut-off under normal conditions. In an emergency, when water is actively running down a wall, is not the time to find out. The shut-off is typically near where the water line enters the house, often in a crawl space, basement, utility room, or in a panel near the water meter at the street. Locate it now, confirm it turns freely, and make sure every adult in the household knows where it is and how to use it.

Let faucets drip during a hard freeze warning

Moving water is much harder to freeze than standing water. When temperatures are forecast to drop below freezing for an extended period, open faucets fed by pipes on exterior walls to a slow, steady drip. Cold-water lines are the priority, since they are the lines most exposed to outside air. The drip does two things: it keeps water moving through the line, and it relieves pressure in the pipe if ice does begin to form. Pressure buildup is what causes a frozen pipe to burst rather than simply block flow.

Leave cabinet doors open under sinks on exterior walls

Kitchen and bathroom cabinets on exterior walls create a pocket of cold air that is isolated from the heated interior of the home. Opening those cabinet doors during a freeze allows warm air from the room to circulate around the pipes. It is a simple step that takes thirty seconds and can make a meaningful difference for pipes near those exterior walls.

Do not set your thermostat below 55 degrees if you leave the house

Vacation, holiday travel, and winter trips away from home are among the most common contexts for burst-pipe disasters. A house that drops to 45 or 50 degrees overnight may be fine in a mild winter. During an extended hard freeze, that same temperature is enough for pipes in poorly insulated zones to reach freezing. Set a floor of 55 degrees before you leave, regardless of how long you plan to be gone. The added heating cost is insignificant compared to the cost of a water damage claim.

Disconnect and drain exterior hoses before the first freeze

This is the step homeowners most commonly overlook. A garden hose left connected to an exterior spigot holds water all the way back to the valve inside the wall. When that water freezes, it can crack the valve or the pipe behind it, creating an interior leak that may not be visible until you turn the water on in spring. Disconnect hoses in late fall, drain any remaining water from them, and store them indoors. If your home has frost-free sill cocks (the most common exterior faucet type), confirm the handle is fully closed and the hose is disconnected so the interior drain point can function as designed.

What to Do If a Pipe Freezes But Has Not Burst Yet

If you turn on a faucet and get little or no water flow during a freeze event, a pipe has likely frozen. The goal at this point is to thaw it slowly and without creating a pressure surge that causes a rupture.

• Do not use an open flame, propane torch, or heat gun. These can cause the water to vaporize and rupture the pipe, and they create a fire risk against wood framing.
• Use a hair dryer on low heat, or wrap the section with warm wet towels. Apply heat gently and incrementally.
• Start heating from the faucet end of the pipe and work back toward the frozen section. This allows water and steam to escape rather than building pressure in an enclosed column.
• Stop immediately if you hear a pop, cracking sound, or if the pipe appears to be splitting. Turn off the main water supply at once.
• Keep the faucet open while you work. The flow of water through the pipe as it thaws helps clear ice and reduces pressure.

If you cannot locate or access the frozen section, or if thawing attempts are not working, call a plumber. A frozen pipe that is not addressed will either thaw on its own eventually or rupture when conditions change.

What to Do Immediately If a Pipe Bursts

A burst pipe can release hundreds of gallons of water in a short time. The first sixty seconds matter more than almost anything that comes after. Here is what to do, in order:

• Shut off the main water supply immediately. This is the single most important action. Every second the water runs adds more water into your floors, walls, and ceiling cavities.
• Call a plumber and a water damage restoration company at the same time. Not sequentially. Both at once. Water migration into structural materials begins within minutes, and the sooner extraction and drying equipment is deployed, the lower the total damage.
• Water from a burst supply line is IICRC Category 1 water, meaning it is clean water from a pressurized supply. This is the least hazardous category. Do not confuse it with sewage backup or floodwater, which carry different risks.
• Do not wait for the plumber to finish the repair before calling restoration. The repair and the mitigation are separate processes that can happen in parallel.
• Document everything with photos and video before you move anything. Your insurance adjuster will need it.

For more on what the water damage restoration process looks like once the crew arrives, including the equipment used and the timeline for drying, we cover it in detail on our services page. If you have never been through a burst-pipe event, that page gives you a clear picture of what to expect. You may also want to read about emergency water extraction, which is typically the first step once a crew is on-site. And if you’re wondering what the bill will look like, see our guide on what water damage restoration costs in Portland.

Prepare Before the Forecast, Not After

The PNW gets complacent about hard freezes because they are not the norm. But the January 2024 event was a clear reminder that they happen, they can last several days, and the homes here are not always built to handle them. The checklist above takes a few hours spread across a fall weekend. The alternative is a water damage claim that displaces your family, disrupts months of your life, and costs anywhere from several thousand dollars to well into five figures depending on how much of the structure gets wet.

Do the prep before the forecast changes. Once a hard freeze warning is posted, hardware store shelves empty out and plumbers book weeks out. The window to act is now, not then.

If you are dealing with freeze-related water damage right now, or you want to get ahead of a potential event with an assessment of your home’s most vulnerable areas, call us at (360) 300-4111. We serve the full Portland and Vancouver metro, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.