Overview

In older outdoor faucets, water fills the pipe that goes through the foundation wall.  In winter, that water can freeze, expand, and split open the pipe.  By turning your outdoor faucet off, you prevent that pipe from bursting and possibly dumping water into your basement.

You can skip this job if you have frost-proof outdoor faucets — most newer homes do. These faucets are very long and have an equally long valve stem. When you turn the handle on the outside the house, you’re actually operating a valve on the inside of the house, so you won’t get frozen or burst pipes.

Steps

1. In the basement, find the pipe that feeds each outdoor faucet in the basement. The top has a shutoff valve.
2. Close each shutoff valve and open the drain cap on the side of the valve by turning it counterclockwise.
3. Locate all your exterior faucets — don’t forget the one in the attached garage, if you have one — and turn their handles counter clockwise to open them so they can drain.