A common repair that I run into in the Cleveland area is replacing an exterior spigot, also known as a sillcock. This is the spigot that is most commonly used to hook up your garden hose. The Cleveland area, and northeast Ohio in general, experiences frigid winters. And if your exterior spigots aren’t maintained properly, you will end up with a frozen pipe.

Unusual Exterior Spigot

I will say that this particular exterior spigot was quite unusual. It came out of the house and wrapped around one corner. The home owner stated that this was the second time that this pipe had frozen and burst and it’s obvious why. Having that much water line exposed to the elements increases the chance of it freezing and bursting exponentially with proper annual maintenance. Turning the water off from the inside of the house and opening the spigot on the outside of the house must be done before every winter. Not only that, notice the angle of the pipe leading back towards the house. That’s a no no.

As I mentioned, the homeowner stated that this was the second time that the pipe had burst. My recommendation was to eliminate all of the exposed pipe and have only the spigot exposed to the elements. This is the proper way to do it. This would require opening up the finished ceiling in their basement, but, I was confident that once the repair was made, the pipe would never freeze again. Especially if proper care is taken to shut the water off from the inside, and open the spigot on the outside.

This is exactly what the homeowner decided to have me do. Also, we decided to add a frost free anti-siphon spigot as another layer of protection.

The first step was to open up the ceiling. With the proper measurements and precise cutting, we were able to minimize the opening in the basement ceiling. I then cut out all of the pipe on the exterior of the home. Finally, with more precise measurements, I cut the supply line on the inside of the house making sure to cut only the amount of length that was necessary.

Finally, I added some hydraulic cement and some masonry screws to ensure that the spigot was secured to the house. I installed the screws while the cement was still wet to make the connection that much more solid.

If you need your external spigot repaired or any other small repair on your honey-do list, give me a call.

(216) 245-1236