Ok, silly question for those of you that get cold weather like this most every year. How do you prep your house for negative temps? Is it the construction, or is it something y'all need to do yourselves?
It's the construction. Insulation, double or triple pane windows etc. If you build, use 2x6's for wall studs. Put a lot of blown in insulation in the attic, make sure the attic is vented to let out warm moist air so it doesn't condense and drip.
If your attic doesn't have a lot of insulation, blow more in being careful not to plug the vents.
Remove outside hoses, drain hose bibs and leave faucets open. I can shut them off from inside the house and drain them so they don't freeze. I prefer to do that than to get the frostproof hose bibs, those don't have a big enough opening in them for the water to flow (In my opinion).
If you can remove the screens from the windows and swap out to storm windows that would be best. I am going to see if I can get storm windows built for at least 6 windows on the west side of the house for next year, that side takes the brunt of the wind blown snow and cold weather. 1/2 mile of open field that way, and the house is on a bit of a rise so it gets ALL the wind.
If your bladder tank isn't inside the house, insulate the building that it is in, and I put a ceramic heater in there with a t-stat that turns on at 32°F and off at 36°F.
The pipes and footings for the foundation are supposed to be below the frost line, which building codes say for Indiana averages 36" but up here in the North it can get down to 60" deep. They want water/sewer lines at 40" below grade.
If new construction or re-siding the house, wrap it with Tyvek house wrap and seal any seams.
