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2020-21 Winter weather; bring it on


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Here's an example of sloppy building practices in our CenTex houses.  This is the pipe coming from the spigot on the north facing wall of my garage.  Run between the brick and insulation/plywood.  There's a nice cold breeze coming though the shitty mortar job too. I had wrapped it pretty good outside on Thursday but it was already frozen.  I thawed with a hair dryer and re-wrapped.

 gonna try to insulate that as best I can, but will probably leave this hole in the sheetrock open to it so the warmer garage air can get to it.  might need to look into heating up the garage in some way though.

 

Screenshot_20210213-121515.thumb.jpg.75c534717343e4090ad087b2a4dc72f2.jpg

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6 minutes ago, KuЯdt said:

Here's an example of sloppy building practices in our CenTex houses.  This is the pipe coming from the spigot on the north facing wall of my garage.  Run between the brick and insulation/plywood.  There's a nice cold breeze coming though the shitty mortar job too. I had wrapped it pretty good outside on Thursday but it was already frozen.  I thawed with a hair dryer and re-wrapped.

 gonna try to insulate that as best I can, but will probably leave this hole in the sheetrock open to it so the warmer garage air can get to it.  might need to look into heating up the garage in some way though.

 

Screenshot_20210213-121515.thumb.jpg.75c534717343e4090ad087b2a4dc72f2.jpg

Neighbor?

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31 minutes ago, washparkhorn said:

Would you like to play a game?

Would you like to play a game? | Page 3 | PNW Riders - The Motorcycle Community for the Pacific ...

But seriously, I am surprised how many Austin homes are failing.

______________________

Anyone happy with their builder and the work done to prepare these homes for cold temperatures? 

Don't you know it never gets cold in Texas?

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57 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

I bet covid cases drop like a rock nation wide from this shit due to everyone hunkering down.

Never let up on the panic...unlike the frosty temps, it’s never going away. 

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42 minutes ago, washparkhorn said:

Would you like to play a game?

Would you like to play a game? | Page 3 | PNW Riders - The Motorcycle Community for the Pacific ...

But seriously, I am surprised how many Austin homes are failing.

______________________

Anyone happy with their builder and the work done to prepare these homes for cold temperatures? 

Compare the price of a frost free hose bib to a normal one. It’s stupid we all have to worry about thousands of dollars of damage, but here we are

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5 minutes ago, drt said:

Compare the price of a frost free hose bib to a normal one. It’s stupid we all have to worry about thousands of dollars of damage, but here we are

Agree. $25 for a frost-free bib.

Here is what I had to do to prepare my frost-free outdoor faucets when I lived in Denver:

  • Remove the hoses
  • Forget about them. 
Edited by washparkhorn
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This is probably a series of stupid questions, but should I be doing anything with the beverage fridge on my outdoor kitchen? Should I unplug it once the temperature drops into the 20's/teens? If it's well below freezing for 24+ hours, will the drinks inside freeze?

Drinks aren’t already frozen? Otherwise, you should be drinking them now so they don’t go to waste when they inevitably freeze and explode.
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2 minutes ago, drt said:

Compare the price of a frost free hose bib to a normal one. It’s stupid we all have to worry about thousands of dollars of damage, but here we are

My house (Centex Homes early 2000s build) could have been much better and more usable with a very small increase in total cost, but tract builders are just the worst. Even if we live in the South some things should just be required by code. For one thing, I hate that my water cutoff valve is fucking buried in the yard and there's no way to cut off water from inside the house.

 

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3 minutes ago, Paper_jam said:

My house (Centex Homes early 2000s build) could have been much better and more usable with a very small increase in total cost, but tract builders are just the worst. Even if we live in the South some things should just be required by code. For one thing, I hate that my water cutoff valve is fucking buried in the yard and there's no way to cut off water from inside the house.

 

The code must have been changed recently. My cutoff is in the garage. I doubt my builder went above and beyond. 
 

I also apparently have those fancy spigots shown a few pages back. Which is good because I don’t have a 1500w hairdryer. 

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Sigh. I really think we’re rescheduling our San Antonio dinner with friends for NEXT weekend.

Roads are ok in Austin (I just drove from NW hills to downtown, only a bit of ice on the 15th st bridge over Lamar)....but it looks like it’s been icing in new braunfels, and there’s another slug of icing predicted for this evening, right before we’d be driving back.

Kinda posses me off. Gonna wrap all the sliced bbq REAL tight, then freeze it. It won’t be as perfect after freezing, but will still be plenty good.

Gonna eat all the beans and potato salad ourselves, though. Those don’t freeze as well.

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17 minutes ago, Paper_jam said:

My house (Centex Homes early 2000s build) could have been much better and more usable with a very small increase in total cost, but tract builders are just the worst. Even if we live in the South some things should just be required by code. For one thing, I hate that my water cutoff valve is fucking buried in the yard and there's no way to cut off water from inside the house.

 

Motherfucking this.  It pisses me off that the valve for our house is in the fucking flower garden and I have to dig through several inches of dirt if I need to turn it off.

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19 minutes ago, Paper_jam said:

My house (Centex Homes early 2000s build) could have been much better and more usable with a very small increase in total cost, but tract builders are just the worst. Even if we live in the South some things should just be required by code. For one thing, I hate that my water cutoff valve is fucking buried in the yard and there's no way to cut off water from inside the house.

 

Ya Austin’s code is fairly stringent for our region and it still has some glaringly obvious holes. With our water and energy needs changing rapidly, the codes just aren’t keeping up. But that’s probably a topic for a whole different thread. 

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Thought you guys might appreciate this - frostbite time chart. 

wind-chill-chart.jpg

However, it can be shorter for people not used to cold for a few reasons.

Moral of the story:  once the bad stuff gets here Sunday night, if you have to go out, 1) bundle up really, really good; 2) don't stay out > 15 mins. max, less if the wind's up.

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10 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Kinda posses me off. Gonna wrap all the sliced bbq REAL tight, then freeze it. It won’t be as perfect after freezing, but will still be plenty good.

I know it hurts, but I have a solution:  

Send it to me so you don't have to look at it every time you open that freezer door.  

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Costco in CP was a breeze at 9:30 this morning. I imagine it looks like the Road Warrior about now.

So what is the consensus on outdoor spigots: wrap 'em tight, bib covers & forget 'em, or run some water through them 1-2X a day then re-wrap and cover? I'm worried that the bib cover's rubber attachment/plastic keeper might break if I try to manipulate it too many times.

While I was typing this, my neighbor across the street just had her ash tree split right down the middle. She got lucky as it gently just laid down in half of her driveway. My next-door neighbor & I already moved some big limbs that had fallen into the street from that same tree on Friday morning. She's a pain in the ass nutcase who's pissed off every one of her neighbors so unless things get really dire she's pretty much on her own.

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1 hour ago, washparkhorn said:

Would you like to play a game?

Would you like to play a game? | Page 3 | PNW Riders - The Motorcycle Community for the Pacific ...

But seriously, I am surprised how many Austin homes are failing.

______________________

Anyone happy with their builder and the work done to prepare these homes for cold temperatures? 

I’m happy with my builder. 🙂

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1 hour ago, Storm the Field said:

This is probably a series of stupid questions, but should I be doing anything with the beverage fridge on my outdoor kitchen? Should I unplug it once the temperature drops into the 20's/teens? If it's well below freezing for 24+ hours, will the drinks inside freeze?

Don't hafta unplug it.  The fridge just won't run for awhile.  And the temps you mention there are probably fine.  Insulation works both ways and I don't think anything's gonna freeze in there.

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So our heat went out last night.

We're not in the midst of the worst cold, that's supposed to be a few miles west of here.

We called up the heating dudes, where we have some sweet deal warranty that they pop by for free. BUTCEPT ON WEEKENDS, it's $199 for the Emergency Visit Fee.

I'm talking 1 dollar less than 200 dollars. But if we wait until Monday morning, no such charge.

We're getting paid $199 to break out sweaters and plaid shirts. We look and feel like Scottish hippies.

 

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25 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:
On 2/3/2021 at 9:44 PM, Lobo said:
Isn't 58th & 1st over a mile from Central Park?  Thanks a lot climate change! 

6 long blocks and 1 short block actually. But usually the CP weather station reflects pretty accurately what my neighborhood got.

okay, so 0.9 miles then, I was close.  I think you really live close to my cousin.  Y'all must know each other, that's how it works up there right? 

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Driving Update:

Been driving around NW Austin from NW Hills to the CP today and no issues.  Took back roads/Spicewood Springs, since 183 frontage roads are a complete cluster with 183 being shut down.  

But I am starting to feel some light mist outside in the CP now, so I'd expect conditions will start to deteriorate.  If you need to get out, now's the time to do it. 

 

 

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I also hit the Randall's on Cypress Creek for some supplies.  The bad news is, Randall's sucks.  The good news is, it's never crowded because it sucks.  So it's a good place to go when all the nearby HEBs are a disaster.  You might pay double but by golly, you'll be in and out in a hurry.

 

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9 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Driving Update:

Been driving around NW Austin from NW Hills to the CP today and no issues.  Took back roads/Spicewood Springs, since 183 frontage roads are a complete cluster with 183 being shut down.  

But I am starting to feel some light mist outside in the CP now, so I'd expect conditions will start to deteriorate.  If you need to get out, now's the time to do it. 

Had to take my boy in for some stitches today, because of fucking course. Roads were fine. Wife was afraid we were going to be dealing with icepocalypse now cause she read all the doomy reports on the facetrons of people driving on overpasses when it was precipitating. I told her to get her shit together. Not a bit of ice on the road right now as long as you use some common sense. 

Edited by Anastasis
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Yeah the trees along Anderson Mill are a bit of a disaster.  I wish I'd taken some pictures so I could post them to ima's Icepocalypse thread.

And my wife tried to early-vote at that Randall's even after I told her that we're in the tiny bit of CP that's actually TravCo.  When she came back after being turned away, I didn't say a word, but STILL got busted for "tone." :)

 

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2 hours ago, washparkhorn said:

Take it easy AB. 

[csb] - back in Denver several years ago, I had a great older neighbor across the street. Feisty old son of a bitch, but just a good guy to shoot the shit with.

When the heavy snow would set in, he would clear his and his neighbors' walks on his side of our street and I would do the same on my side of the street. It was a bit of a tradition, until one day . . . 

Son of a bitch fell while clearing sidewalks. I found him 20 minutes after the fall, let his wife know, got him a blanket and waited with him. While waiting for the ambulance, he said that was it for him clearing sidewalks - that he didn't want to die freezing to death in the cold. He hired a snow service and my "Snow Storms with Morrie" (his name was Chuck) came to an end. /csb

TLDR: Some things are not worth it. Be safe.

AB survived the Younger Dryas with nothing but giant sloth moccasins and mammoth pelts.  

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15 hours ago, JerrysJheriCurl said:

Anyone have any advice on sprinkler backflow preventer/lines/valves for this upcoming freeze? 

Bump.

Was wondering the same thing myself. My backflow preventer is in the ground (appears to be a double check assembly) and this is different from 99% of any youtube sprinkler winterization advice/instructions.

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