How to winterize outdoor faucets before the freeze

Water left in an outdoor tap, or in the pipe behind it, freezes and expands. The pipe splits inside the wall, and you won’t know until spring, when you turn the tap on and water runs into the basement instead of the garden. Ten minutes in the fall prevents it.

Written by the developer of Gable · Published 13 September 2026

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When to do it

Before the first hard freeze, meaning a night several degrees below freezing rather than a light frost. In most of the northern US, Canada and the UK that means October or November. Check a local forecast, and if a cold snap is due, do it that weekend. Gable’s library schedules the job for October–November in climates where winters freeze.

Gable’s library: “Ten minutes vs a burst pipe inside a wall.”

Step by step

1. Disconnect and drain every hose. Unscrew it from the tap, drain it, and store it somewhere it won’t freeze and crack. Take splitters and timers off the tap too.
2. Find the indoor shut-off valve for each outdoor tap. It’s usually on the same wall, a few feet inside, often in the basement ceiling, a crawlspace, a utility room or under a sink. Follow the pipe from where it leaves the house.
3. Close that valve fully.
4. Open the outdoor tap and let the water in the line run out. Some water may keep dripping for a minute.
5. Open the bleeder cap, if there is one. Many indoor valves have a small brass cap on the side, sometimes called a stop-and-waste valve. With a bucket underneath, unscrew it to let trapped water out, then screw it back on.
6. Leave the outdoor tap open all winter, so any water left in the line has room to expand.
7. Fit an insulated faucet cover. These are cheap foam domes that strap over the tap and cut down cold at the wall.

Frost-free spigots: different, not immune

A frost-free (or frost-proof) sillcock has a long body that reaches back into the heated part of the house. The actual valve seat sits inside the wall, so the part outside drains itself when you close the tap. You can often tell one by a handle that sits at the end of a long stem, and a body that angles slightly downward toward the outside.

• They don’t need the indoor valve closed in most climates. Many owners close it anyway during extreme cold.
• They still burst if a hose is left attached. The hose holds water in the body of the spigot, so it can’t drain, and it freezes inside the wall. This is the most common way frost-free spigots fail.
• They only drain if installed with a slight downward slope toward the outside.

While you’re at it: other pipes that freeze

• Exposed pipes in garages, crawlspaces, unheated basements and along exterior walls freeze first. Foam pipe sleeves are inexpensive and slide on in minutes.
• Gaps where cold air reaches pipes, around the rim joist or where the hose bib pipe passes through the wall, are worth sealing with caulk or spray foam.
• Sprinkler and irrigation systems need their own shutdown, usually blowing the lines out with compressed air. That’s a separate job, and many people hire it out — see when to winterize a sprinkler system for the timing and the pressure limits.
• On the coldest nights, letting an indoor tap on an outside wall drip, and opening the cabinet doors under sinks, keeps water moving and lets warm air reach the pipes.

In spring: the check that catches a split pipe

A pipe that split in January doesn’t leak until water flows through it again. When the risk of frost has passed:

1. Close the outdoor tap.
2. Open the indoor shut-off valve.
3. Open the outdoor tap and let it run for a minute while someone watches the inside wall, basement ceiling or crawlspace near the pipe.
4. Any drip or wet patch inside means a split. Turn the indoor valve off and call a plumber before using that tap again.

Get the reminder before the freeze, not after

Tell Gable your winters freeze and it adds outdoor taps and pipe insulation to your fall plan, with a reminder in October–November, before the cold arrives. Houses where it never freezes don’t get the task at all. No account needed.