Rental property without running water in the winter

[Courtney Downtain]

Hi BP team I purchased my first rental property a couple of months ago in the Houston area and I am in the process of doing a small rehab before I rent it out. I opted to not turn on the water since no one is living there and it’s expensive for that neighborhood to have water turned on. My question is, are the pipes at risk of bursting during the winter if there is no water running through them? How can I be proactive in protecting the pipes? It only gets to about 20 degrees at the lowest in Houston and usually not for long. Any advice would be great!

[Tommy F.]

@Courtney Downtain   It's Houston and subtropical weather.  Anyway, if the foundation is a crawlspace the "remote" chance of any freeze would likely occur there assuming the heat is on inside. However, if the foundation vents are closed, it should be fine. If it's a slab foundation and assuming the inside has the heat on then it's fine.