Freeze Prep Checklist for Fort Worth Homes (2026)

When does the first freeze reach Fort Worth?

The National Weather Service office in Fort Worth puts the average first freeze at DFW around November 22, and the earliest on record came on October 22, 1898. Treat Halloween as your latest deadline, not Thanksgiving. Long cold spells matter too: in January 2026 the city warned of more than 60 consecutive hours below freezing.

What Winter Storm Uri taught Fort Worth homeowners

In February 2021, DFW stayed at or below freezing for 139 hours straight and bottomed out at -2°F on February 16, according to the NWS. Pipes split all over the Fort Worth area. Four lessons still hold:

• The city's side can struggle too. The freeze cut power to the Eagle Mountain and Westside treatment plants, so keep a few days of drinking water stored.
• Leaks wait for the thaw. Ice plugs a split pipe; many owners found the damage only when water came through a ceiling.
• Stuck valves cost time. A main shut-off nobody has touched in years is often too stiff to close.
• Prep limits the damage. When pipes break in thousands of homes at once, the houses with sleeved pipes and a shut-off that turns come through with the least water damage.

Checklist: outside the house

• Hose bibs: Unscrew every hose; one left attached traps water that freezes and cracks the valve inside the wall. Check that the washers are snug, then fit an insulated cover.
• Sprinklers: Fort Worth Water's winter steps are to turn off the controller and the backflow device, then run the zone nearest the backflow to bleed pressure from the main line.
• Exposed pipe: Wrap the riser where the main comes out of the ground beside the foundation.
• Meter box: Keep the lid on; the city notes an open box lets the meter freeze.

Checklist: attic and garage lines

Slab homes around Fort Worth often carry supply pipes through the attic, where freeze-night air is barely warmer than outside.

• Slide foam sleeves over bare pipe, especially near the eaves and soffit vents.
• Make sure attic insulation lies over the pipes, not under them, so they borrow warmth from the rooms below.
• In the garage, sleeve the water heater lines and any pipe on an outside wall.
• Seal gaps where pipes pass through exterior walls; a draft can freeze a pipe in a warm wall.
• Keep the garage door down on freeze nights. Garage water heater already weak? See water heater repair.

Checklist: crawlspace vents and pier-and-beam homes

Riverside, Oakhurst and Six Points, Fairmount and Arlington Heights have many 1920s to 1960s pier-and-beam houses. Their pipes hang in open air under the floor, and many are original galvanized steel that rusts from the inside.

• Close or block foundation vents before the first freeze, then reopen them in spring so the crawlspace can dry out.
• Patch gaps in the skirting and replace a missing access door; wind moving through is what freezes crawlspace pipe.
• Sleeve the supply lines under the house, especially near the vents.
• Galvanized pipe already rusting at the joints? Look into repiping before a hard freeze finds the weak spot.

Find your shut-off and make sure it turns

The city asks every household to locate its private shut-off valve, test it now and make sure everyone at home knows where it is. Look by the front hose bib, in the garage, under a pier-and-beam floor, or in the meter box on the resident's side of the meter.

Turn it fully closed and back open. If it sticks, drips at the stem or doesn't stop the water, replace it now: a small job in October, a big problem at 2 AM. If the house valve fails and a Fort Worth Water crew can't get there quickly, the city lets residents close the water at the meter; lift the lid gently to spare the radio transmitter wires.

On a freeze night

• Keep the heat running, even while you're away.
• Open sink cabinets on outside walls, moving cleaners out first if kids or pets are around.
• Drip the risky faucets. Fort Worth Water's frozen-pipe tips don't include a dripping rule, so we suggest a thin trickle, hot and cold, from faucets on exterior walls or fed by attic lines. If the city asks residents to limit water use during a long freeze, follow that request.
• Leaving town? Close the main, drain the lines through the faucets and set the water heater to vacation or off.

If a pipe bursts anyway

1. Close the main shut-off, or the meter-box valve if the house valve fails.
2. Open a low faucet to drain the lines.
3. Switch off the water heater so it isn't heating a tank that can't refill.
4. Call (817) 755-5621. For a burst pipe, call at any hour and we send our on-call plumber right away through our 24/7 emergency service.

Our burst pipe guide covers the first hour; the frozen pipes page explains thawing and repair.

Freeze prep FAQ

Get a freeze check before the cold arrives

Rather not crawl the attic? Call (817) 755-5621 and we'll book a visit at a time that suits you to test or replace a stuck shut-off, swap a cracked hose bib and sleeve exposed pipe as part of maintenance and repairs. Non-urgent questions can go through our contact page.

First-time customers get $50 off, seniors, military members and first responders get 10% off, and the dispatch fee is $0 with a repair (terms on our coupons page). Freeze repairs in Fort Worth and the rest of our service areas are handled under Texas plumbing license # M-27587.

Office hours 8 AM–11 PM daily · 24/7 emergency service