Full Show 1/31/2026: Protecting Pipes & Keeping Warm

·1 hr 9 min·2 clips

Paul brought an air compressor to a vacant house and pushed the water out of the PEX lines with air.

1. The January 31, 2026 episode of The Home Improvement Show on the Big 870 covers freeze preparation ahead of a forecast 17-20 degree night, with a call and text line at 504-260-1870. 2. Paul hosts alone because "there is no Courtney today," and he takes calls from Joyce, Cynthia, Mary and Mike plus texts from listeners including Dean. 3. His central message is that a freeze at 18-20 degrees carries far greater risk than last week's 27-29 degrees, so setups that worked then are not guaranteed to hold. 4. Paul describes preparing a vacant 1,450-1,500 square foot slab house with PEX piping, where the gas had been shut off since the week before, by pushing water out of the lines with an air compressor and closing the toilet supply valves. 5. Joyce, an older caller on the North Shore with uninsulated pipes and a broken tub drain, is told to drip hot and cold water at every faucet, and Paul suggests that she run the tub faucet for about 20 seconds every hour overnight and flush the toilets until the temperature passes 32 degrees. 6. Cynthia, who has a slab house with a split floor plan, is told to run both outside hose bibs and a hot tap at the farthest sink or tub, and to open all cabinet doors under sinks. 7. In answering Dean, Paul says a 20-degree rise on heat strips is not terrible, that return duct leaks pull in cold attic air, and that a heat pump should be left on "heat" rather than "emergency heat"; he keeps his own at 66 degrees day and night. 8. Paul says insulation over one inch thick usually must be ordered from a commercial supply house, and that buyers should compare R-value per inch and match the inside diameter to the pipe. 9. He tells Mike that no special copper is immune to bursting, since "copper can bust in the freeze, no matter what it is," and advises a Lake Catherine camp owner to drip hot and cold water and point a radiant heat lamp at a well pump house. 10. Suited to homeowners facing a hard freeze who want practical, step-by-step pipe and heating guidance.

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