Winter Guide | Minnesota Water Damage Resource Center

The Minnesota Winter Home Protection Checklist

Almost every January water emergency our crews respond to was preventable in October. The frozen pipe, the ice dam leak, the sump that quit during the first thaw: each one traces back to a check that takes minutes while the weather is still kind. This is the checklist, organized the way you would actually walk the house, from the attic down and from the outside in.

Print it, tape it inside a utility room cabinet, and run it every fall before the first hard freeze. One October afternoon covers the whole list. Timing matters more than perfection here: the metro's first hard freeze typically arrives between mid October and early November, and every item below is easier, safer, and cheaper to handle before that date than after it, when the ladder is icy and the irrigation lines are already frozen.

Zone 1: The Attic and Roofline

Everything up here is ice dam prevention. The mechanism these checks interrupt is explained in what causes ice dams.

The attic

Air seal the bypasses: recessed lights, the attic hatch, bath fan housings, and plumbing and chimney chases.
Check insulation depth and coverage, especially at the eaves and over exterior walls, and top up thin spots.
Confirm soffit vents are open, not buried in insulation, and that ridge or roof vents are unobstructed.

The roofline

Clean the gutters and downspouts after leaf drop, so meltwater has somewhere to go all winter.
Inspect the valleys and eaves from the ground for lifted shingles or debris that will trap ice.
Stage the roof rake somewhere reachable, because it is a January tool bought in October.

Zone 2: The Perimeter and the Mechanicals

The perimeter checks target the places pipes freeze first, covered in depth in the frozen pipe prevention guide. The mechanicals are the two machines winter leans on hardest.

Rim joists and garage walls

Insulate exposed supply lines in the rim joist band and along garage-adjacent walls with foam sleeves.
Seal rim joist cavities with rigid foam or spray foam where lines run through them.
Make keeping the garage door closed a household winter rule, since one open night can freeze the wall behind it.

Hose bibs and irrigation

Disconnect and drain every garden hose, and store them inside.
Shut the interior valve feeding each exterior bib, open the bib to drain it, and leave it open for the season.
Schedule the irrigation blowout before the first hard freeze, since buried lines hold water the frost line will find.

The water heater

Check the age on the manufacturer label. Tanks past ten to twelve years are in failure territory, and a tank lets go with its full volume plus a live supply line behind it.
Look for rust at the fittings, moisture in the drip pan, or weeping at the relief valve, and plan replacement on schedule rather than on failure.

The sump pump

Run the five-minute bucket test from the sump pump failure guide: inspect, pour, watch, listen, and check the discharge.
Confirm the discharge line exits well away from the foundation and cannot freeze shut where it daylights.

Zone 3: The Drills

The last two items are not repairs. They are rehearsals, and they are the cheapest items on the list.

The shutoff drill. Find the main water shutoff, usually on the basement wall facing the street near the meter, confirm it turns freely, and walk everyone in the house to it. A burst pipe runs until someone closes that valve, and the person home when it happens is not always the person who knows where it is.
The travel protocol. Before any winter trip: thermostat no lower than 55 degrees, interior doors and sink cabinets on exterior walls left open, someone checking the house every few days, and a wifi temperature or leak sensor reporting to your phone. For absences longer than a week, shut the main and drain the lines, which removes the freeze risk entirely.

Once the Season Starts

The October list is one-time work. These four habits carry the house through to April.

Rake the first three to four feet of the lower roof after every significant snowfall, from the ground.
During arctic stretches below zero, open the sink cabinets on exterior walls and let the farthest faucet on each vulnerable run drip, hot and cold sides.
Watch the eaves. Thick icicles, ice climbing the roof slope, or icicles at a soffit are the ice dam warning sequence in order.
Glance at the sump basket monthly and after any thaw, and keep the discharge outlet clear of snow.

Run the list every October, keep the habits through the winter, and the January phone call usually never happens. Keep this page bookmarked, since we refresh it each fall for the season ahead.

Winter Got There First?

If a pipe, an ice dam, or a failed sump has already put water in the house, 911 Restoration of Minneapolis responds across the Twin Cities metro 24 hours a day.

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