I have a little house with a north-facing wall, made of common drywall and exterior stucco. It is next to the water heater house, and the wall holds water pipes feeding the bathroom, and then on to the kitchen.
How do we stop this exterior north wall from another hard freeze next winter? The water pipes froze solid twice in this record cold year.
Without building another wall next to it?
Has anyone tried planting ivy on a north wall for insulation? Juniper trees? Semper virens? (if that’s the right name). Painting the wall a darker color so it would collect more heat in the daytime?
I have no idea if they insulated the wall or the pipes, apparently not though. Any tips, anyone?
recirculating pump is a great idea since the frozen pipe feeds the bath/kitchen. it installs under the farthest cabinet and circulates warm water into the cold water side. Not much (think aquarium pump) but enough to prevent freezing. Only uses electricity, no water. Adds a little to the energy for the water heater. Can turn it off when not in use.
some folks use these to keep the warm water warm so they don’t have to wait for hot water.
I reluctantly installed hot and cold water pipes in an outside wall in my own property when I remodeled the kitchen 8 years ago. There was simply no other place to put the pipes. I was careful to run the pipes right against the inside edge of the sheetrock and heavily insulate between the pipes and the outside wall. I also heavily insulated against the second floor joist header since the pipes ran up to the 2nd floor floor joists and then perpendicular through the joists. Since that time we’ve had winters with weather in the single digits for several days in a row and I haven’t experienced any problems. (I keep the house 70 degrees when occupied and 65 degrees at night and when not occupied). I wouldn’t recommend it, but it can be done if you are not in a subzero weather zone.
Open the doors of the cabinets under the sinks when it is freezing outside so the warm air can get in there. Or do like I do and have ventilation slots in the cabinets because I don’t trust the tenants to open the doors.
IMO nothing works better keeping in heat or keeping out cold and is easier to install than screwing in a thick layer of styrofoam on the exterior wall and vinyl siding. You’ll literally cut your heating in half. Have you ever filled up a sytrofoam thermos with hot coffee in the morning and opened it in the afternoon and it’s still hot? It’s an amazing product.
Stay away from Ivy. It will find a way to get inside the stucco and pull it apart. I wouldn’t put any trees near a building either as I’ve seen roots cause basement foundation walls to buckle inside many times, which is costly to fix.
Great tips from you all. The little house is adobe, with stucco veneer like they use here. the north wall however is just the added on bathroom, so simple drywall and stucco.
Dave Windsor, I CAN’T put vinyl siding on an adobe casita wall! Even if it would work great. It would make me throw up. I do love vinyl siding on little cottages where it looks good.
The plan:
Okay, no ivy or trees.
Wait and see if the pipes freeze next year – house was occupied and heated, and water was left dripping, but the cold was record-breaking here. Now the first green is on the trees, so it’s soon SPRING!
Next time the pipes freeze, punch a hole and put in blown-in insulation.
If it freezes after that, add 1/2 celotex (don’t know what that is yet) or the styrofoam. That I have used before and it is great. Then the stucco-look siding, or real stucco. Problem will be fixed.
Mr. Rehab, and you others, thanks for the great advice. I can always count on REIClub.