ATLANTA — As temperatures drop, some remember water pipe problems from two years ago.
Pastor Tolivar Wills remembers Christmas Day two years ago when water started streaming out of the basement of his 108-year-old church.
“That started a whole domino effect,” Wills said.
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Wills has been the pastor at the Ponce Presbyterian Church for more than a decade. Two years ago, his church was one of many properties in the metro to see their pipes burst.
“It put a pause on a lot of things we wanted to do but just couldn’t,” Wills said.
The culprit behind the pipe bursts was an extended stretch of cold temperatures coupled with strong winds.
“When it only gets up to 35-40 during the day, they don’t really get a chance to rewarm, so things start popping,” Brad Luckey, with RS Andrews, said “Whenever you have temperatures below freezing with winds, that’s going to get in every place that isn’t insulated well.”
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Luckey says to protect yourself, you should unhook hose bibs connected to the outside. He recommends keeping faucets dripping during cold spells and considering space heaters near vulnerable pipes.
Luckey also says southern homes see more pipe bursts than their midwestern counterparts because of where the pipes are buried.
Luckey says homes up in colder climates often bury their water pipes 4-6 feet underground, while here in Georgia, the pipes are buried less than two feet from the surface.
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