Before the Pipes Burst: Winter Prep for Venues

A single hard freeze can do more damage to a venue in one night than a whole summer of storms. Most of it comes from water: a pipe that splits in an unheated wall, a sprinkler line that bursts in the attic, a restroom that floods while nobody’s on the property.

Venues in the North expect this and build for it. Venues in the South often don’t. A barn in Georgia or a garden venue in Texas may see only a few nights below 20°F all year, and those few nights are when the trouble starts. Buildings there are rarely insulated for deep cold, plumbing often runs through crawl spaces and exterior walls, and owners don’t have a winter routine because they rarely need one.

This post covers what freezing weather does to your property, what to do before the first hard freeze, how cold snaps affect your events, and how to handle them going forward.

What a freeze does to your building

Frozen pipes cause the most damage, and the ice isn’t what breaks them. Water expands as it freezes and builds pressure between the ice and a closed faucet. The pipe splits at its weakest point, often somewhere you can’t see. Nothing happens while it’s frozen. The flooding starts when it thaws, sometimes a day later, and keeps going until someone shuts off the water.

The pipes most at risk are the ones near the outside of the building:

• Lines in exterior walls, crawl spaces, attics and unheated storage rooms
• Outdoor spigots, hose bibs and irrigation lines
• Restroom plumbing in detached buildings or bathroom trailers
• Bar sinks, ice machines and catering kitchens in rooms you only heat on event days

Fire sprinkler systems are a bigger risk than most owners realize. A wet-pipe system holds water at all times. If a branch line runs through a cold attic or an open-air porch, it can freeze and burst, and a sprinkler leak puts out far more water than a sink line. Some venues have dry-pipe systems in unheated areas. Those still need their low points drained of condensation before winter.

Water isn’t the only problem. Snow and ice add weight to roofs, which matters for older barns and wide-span structures. Ice dams along gutters push water back under shingles. Tents and pergolas can collapse under wet snow. Gravel lots, stone paths and wooden decks turn slick, and hillside driveways may become impassable. Heat pumps lose output in deep cold, and space heaters brought in to make up the gap become a fire risk of their own.

Prep your venue before the first hard freeze

Do this work in November, before the first forecast below 25°F. Once a cold front is two days out, plumbers and HVAC techs are booked solid.

Before winter

• Find the main water shutoff for every building, label it, and make sure every staff member knows where it is
• Disconnect hoses, drain outdoor spigots and install insulated faucet covers
• Blow out irrigation lines and shut off the backflow preventer
• Insulate exposed pipes in crawl spaces, attics and exterior walls with foam sleeves or heat tape rated for the job
• Seal gaps where pipes enter the building and close crawl space vents
• Have your sprinkler contractor check any lines in unheated spaces and drain low points on dry systems
• Service the furnace or heat pumps and replace filters
• Clean gutters and check the roof for loose shingles or weak spots
• Stock ice melt (pet and plant safe for garden venues), shovels and sand
• Test your generator if you have one, and fuel it

When a hard freeze is in the forecast

• Keep every building heated to at least 55°F, including ones with no events that week
• Open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so warm air reaches the pipes
• Let faucets on exterior walls drip slowly overnight
• Shut off and drain water to any building you can’t keep heated
• Put someone on the property, or check it at least once a day, until temperatures are back above freezing

Add some eyes you don’t have to pay

Smart water leak sensors and automatic shutoff valves cost a few hundred dollars and can stop a leak within minutes. Wireless temperature sensors will text you when a building drops below a set point. For venues that sit empty between weekends, these are the cheapest protection you can buy.

How freezing weather affects your events

Guest slips and falls are the biggest liability on a cold event day. Guests in dress shoes and heels walk from a dark parking lot to a reception and back again after a few drinks. Black ice on a stone path or a wooden ramp is hard to see. One fall can turn into a claim against your venue.

Cold weather also hits the event itself:

• Roads close or turn dangerous, and guests, vendors or the couple can’t get there
• Power goes out under ice-laden lines, taking heat, lighting and the caterer’s equipment with it
• A burst pipe the night before leaves you with no restrooms or a flooded reception room
• Outdoor ceremony sites become unusable, and tents may not be safe under snow load
• Vendors cancel because their own travel isn’t safe

The couple has spent a year planning this day, and they’ll be looking at you to decide what happens next. That’s a lot of pressure to make a call at 6 a.m. with a forecast that keeps changing.

How to handle freeze season going forward

The venues that handle winter weather well decide ahead of time. They don’t make it up on the morning of the event.

Write your weather plan now

Put a short winter weather plan in writing and share it with your staff. It should answer a few questions:

1. Who makes the call to postpone or move an event, and by what time?
2. What conditions trigger that call (a winter storm warning, road closures, loss of power or water)?
3. Who tells the couple, and who tells the vendors?
4. Where does the ceremony go if the outdoor site is out?
5. Who salts and checks paths, steps and the parking lot, and how often during the event?

Set expectations with couples early

Tell winter couples about your weather plan when they book, not the week of. Your rental agreement should say what happens if severe weather forces a postponement or cancellation. Before you change any contract language, have an attorney licensed in your state review it.

This is also where event insurance earns its place. A couple’s event insurance policy can help with lost deposits when severe weather makes the event impossible, and its liability coverage protects your venue when a guest gets hurt. What’s covered depends on the policy, so couples should read theirs. Requiring event insurance is the simplest way to make sure a bad forecast doesn’t turn into a fight over money.

On event day

• Salt and sand every walkway before guests arrive and again before they leave
• Light the path from the parking area to the door
• Put mats inside every entrance to catch melting snow
• Keep a staff member assigned to walkways for the whole event
• Write down what you did and when, in case someone files a claim later

If a pipe bursts

Shut off the water at the main, cut power to any wet area if it’s safe to do so, and take photos and video before you start cleanup. Call a water mitigation company right away, then call us. Don’t throw out damaged materials until the adjuster has seen them or told you it’s fine to do so. Also review your property policy before winter. Some policies have conditions about keeping a building heated or the water shut off when it sits empty, and a claim can hinge on them.

Get ahead of it

Most freeze damage comes down to an afternoon of prep that didn’t happen. Walk your property this month with the checklist above. If you want a second set of eyes on your plan or your coverage before winter, email us at hello@nuptialrisk.com.

We do worst days ever, so you can do best days ever.