We had a house in Texas. A mass builder, and oh, let’s say we learned how not to do it. Did you know that a house could have brick, then foamboard, then drywall? No plywood. Yes. And most of the McMansions in Texas, the newly built resource dragging unsustainable “boom” so often talked about, are what we call crackerboxes. If we ever build a house again, it will not be through a developer. It will be custom. One of the big problems with these houses, hundreds of thousands of them, is the plumbing. The pipes run through exterior walls. Why? Cheaper, and it doesn’t get cold there often. But if it does get cold, here is what HGTV says to do:
If the water pipes are freezing inside the exterior wall, cut an opening in the wall to expose the pipes to the home's warm air. Place fiberglass insulation behind the pipes, between the pipes and the home's exterior wall. The hole in the wall can be covered later with a hinged door or a panel that can be removed during cold spells.
Fantastic. So just keep my house at 70 or so, and it should be no problem, because the walls will stay warm. Good to know.
EDIT
Is that hyperbole? I hope so. I hope it is wildly inaccurate speculation, but if half the state has no power, and north Texas is below freezing until Friday, hotels are overbooked, and roads are shut down, uh..you do the math. Shortages will persist. And as the state thaws, tens of thousands of homes are likely going to be flooded from burst pipes, which by the way, might not be an insured peril. Why? Because insurance companies require homes to be kept at a minimum temperature to cover burst pipes.
Clearly these homes have not been heated to a minimum temperature. Also clearly, this is not at all the fault of homeowners. But let me ask you this, in a nightmarish scenario, where insurers realize they cannot cover 2 million claims, they ask you a simple question:
Does your policy say “Your home must be kept to a minimum temperature or your home must be kept to a minimum temperature except when circumstances beyond your control prevent it? It says the former, or most likely, “all reasonable efforts to maintain temp.” Define reasonable efforts. And before you scoff, I just want to say, I have seen insurers, both good and bad, and I have to think if this ends up in anybody’s lap, it will be ERCOT’s, but nevertheless, get your claims in early, because sooner or later, when reality hits, loopholes will be searched out.
EDIT
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/17/2016615/-Tens-of-Thousands-of-Texas-Homes-May-Be-Worthless-Soon
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So much suffering.
