GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC 26) -- — Frozen pipes aren't just a trailer problem: experts say that pipes can freeze in any home, especially with the negative wind chill we are expecting in Northeast Wisconsin next week.
"It can happen in any home. The closer the pipes are to the wall, the more likely they are to freeze," Katy Martin, owner of Martin's Hardware said.
For trailers, the main concern is insulating the external pipes while also sealing off any airways to the trailer floor itself. Martin said there's various types of foam wrapping you can use to cover the pipe in an extra layer of insulation.
"It doesn't have to be a hundred degrees, it just has to be above freezing," Martin said.
If your pipes are indoors, then you want to be mindful of air temperature. Martin says that sometimes when people try to save money but turning off overnight heat to basements or first floors, they wake up to burst pipes that had frozen overnight.
"Put a small space heater in there, or you can run what's called heat tape, which is directly wrapped on to the line, and it runs a small electrical wire that provides a little heat to the pipe," Martin said.
A new problem Martin has seen is that home builders have laid pipes directly against a wall to try and make them stick out less, but this actually makes the pipes more prone to freezing.
"Hopefully they're not directly onto a concrete wall," Martin said. "If they are, you can slide them off just a half inch, [that] will create space to allow heat to travel and not get that cold directly from the brick wall."
Once your pipes are frozen, Martin says finding the blockage can be tricky.
When it comes to the hairdryer hack, Martin advises caution when using a hairdryer to warm up frozen pipes because too much heat can lead to loosened joints.
