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Midlands House Walk
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Water where it shouldn't bePipes that might be oldA freeze is coming (AI picture)After a floodA smell you can't placeWho to call and what they needWhose water, town by townEvery picture on the walk

Stop 2 of 5 on the walk

Side of the house: taps, heater, vents

The side of the house is where you check the outdoor tap, the foundation vents and the pipe from the water heater. All of it can be done by looking. Keep clear of that pipe, because water at 150°F can burn in 2 seconds.1

Updated , Midlands House Walk

Older two-story frame house at an angle, its long side wall with windows running down the right above shrubs
An older house on Senate Street in Columbia, with the long side wall running down the right. Walk your own wall the same way, slowly.

Go slowly and look low. The outdoor tap comes first, because a leak at the hose joint can be as small a job as a washer and pipe tape.2 Below it, the vents have a job that changes with the season.3

Step in for the water heater, wherever it lives, and then follow the pipe down its side. You won’t need tools for any of it. From here the walk goes under the house, as far as the hatch and no farther.

What to look at here

AI pictureOutdoor tap dripping or leaking at the wallWater heater closet or garage: what to look at AI pictureThe pipe coming down from your water heater AI pictureFoundation vents: open in summer, closed in a freeze?

Where this comes from

  1. CPSC, Tap Water Scalds
  2. EPA WaterSense, Fix a Leak Week
  3. Clemson News, How to prevent frozen pipes
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