Central Texas plumbers staying busy after winter storm

AUSTIN, Texas - The ice may be melting after a freezing past few days, but that just means plumbing companies in the Austin area are in full swing responding to calls resulting from the wintry weather.

"Our call volume increases greatly," said Jake Schmidt, Service Manager for Radiant Plumbing.

Radiant Plumbing is one of those companies responding to a multitude of calls following this week’s freezing weather.

"We're always busy. We never lack for calls, but when we have temperatures that dip below 25, especially getting to the 20s, that's when we start seeing issues with the cold weather resulting in leaks, frozen pipes and water damage to the homes," said Schmidt.

In just the last two days, Schmidt says they’ve responded to just under 750 calls.

"We're dealing with hose faucets, hose breaks, anything exterior to the home, then we're dealing a lot with exterior tankless water heaters that are mounted on the outside of the home," he said.

This year’s wintry weather plumbing issues are high, but nothing compared to last year’s storm where Radiant responded to close to 2500 calls.

"I think Austin, as a whole, has done a great job. We learned a lot from last year, so the lessons that we learned from last year are: if we are going to see temperatures getting into the 20s and lower, we need to protect and prepare by simply insulating pipes. Anything on the outside of the home, you're going to want to put a cover on the outside, wrap it with blankets, anything to keep the wind and the temperatures from accessing those and causing damage," said Schmidt.

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