12 Products To Keep Your House Safe From Subzero Temperatures

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Subzero temperatures can make any homeowner shiver, not just from the cold, but also because of the risk of damage to their home. Extreme cold can cause pipes to freeze, heating systems to fail, and ice and snow build-up, any of which can lead to structural damage. Whether you live in a region that experiences freezing temperatures regularly or your area is forecasted for a serious cold snap, there are effective ways to prepare your home for cold weather. We've rounded up some products that can help keep your home protected when the temperature dips below 0 degrees.

None of these products are a magic bullet. First, there are winterizing steps you need to take to prepare your house for a winter storm. These products are designed to be used in conjunction with important cold weather preparations, like keeping the internal heat on at a high enough temperature, securing the home against drafts and moisture, and draining outdoor pipe lines. Once your home is prepared to face the cold, these products help to brave winter's worst.

In subzero temperatures, one of the most important things to protect your house from is frozen pipes. Pipes can freeze if the temperature around them reaches 20 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. If they burst, they can cause significant water damage and flooding. Along with maintaining a warm enough temperature in the house, insulating exposed pipes lowers the chance of them freezing. Foam pipe covers are an affordable option. They are just foam pieces that provide that extra little bit of coverage from the cold. They may not feel necessary when your house is toasty and well-heated, but they offer extra shielding and peace of mind if the heating system fails or the power goes out. Just remember: they don't actually apply any heat. For that, we've also included a pipe heating product lower down the list, which actually warms pipes for extra security against freezing.

Any home that experiences frigid weather can benefit from the Duck Brand Foam Pipe Covers to cover exposed pipes, like in unfinished garages and crawl spaces, and especially for any exposed pipes along external walls, which are more prone to freezing. This pack includes six one-foot-long covers, suitable for pipes with a ½-inch to ¾-inch diameter. The covers are pre-slit and have adhesive along the opening to secure the cover in place. They're very easy to install, and there's no need to take them off when the weather warms, since they also help prevent the pipes from sweating in the summer. They can provide pipe insulation for years of snowstorms and cold snaps to come. Just keep in mind, foam pipe covers aren't a failsafe solution, so it's still important to know the signs of pipe damage after freezing weather, in case something goes wrong.

Sometimes, foam pipe covers just won't cut it. In that case, you might want to consider a pipe heating cable. These cables wrap around the pipe and provide direct heat, preventing the water inside from freezing, even if the temperature around them is very, very cold. They actually apply warmth, instead of just insulating like the foam pipe covers. They are useful in unheated rooms that can possibly get below that 20 degrees Fahrenheit mark, such as in basements, crawl spaces, or particularly drafty areas. Pipe heating cables are more expensive and need to be plugged into an outlet for power, so they are a higher-maintenance solution.

The HEATIT 30ft Self-Regulating Pipe Heating Cable is compatible with plastic and metal pipes to ensure all common types of piping don't freeze. This product is ETL certified and keeps water flowing in temperatures as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit. Several lengths are available from this brand: this one measures 30 feet long, but they have options ranging from 3 to 160 feet. This pipe heating cable has a self-regulating feature, which automatically adjusts the amount of heat in response to the ambient temperature, ensuring that it won't overheat or cause burns. A thermostat activates the heating at 38 degrees Fahrenheit and deactivates it if it reaches 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which ensures it prevents freezing but also helps to conserve energy.

Weather stripping is an important step in preparing your home for subzero temperatures. They might look small, but the little gaps around doors or windows can really contribute to heat loss. When the temperature is below 0 degrees, heat loss can become hazardous, especially if your central heating or power cuts out. Adding draft stoppers beneath doors is a minor and affordable extra step to make your home feel more comfortable, and again, help it maintain a warm enough temperature to lower the risk of pipes freezing.

The Vellure Door Draft Stopper is a very highly rated product on Amazon, praised for its effectiveness and simple installation. It's an adhesive door sweep that's very easy to stick onto the bottom of your door and trim to size. Available in white, black, or brown, it won't look too invasive on most doors. It's made of silicone, which creates an effective, flexible seal against cold air and heat transfer.

Alongside doors, windows are one of the major places that lose heat and let in drafts. Replacing old windows isn't always realistic (or necessary for rare cold snaps), so an affordable solution is to use a window insulating kit. This user-friendly option is a shrink kit, which involves sticking a layer of plastic to the interior side of the window and then using a hair dryer to shrink and smooth the plastic. This is another type of product that provides that extra bit of insulation that keeps your home (and indoor plumbing) more comfortable and safe in extreme cold weather

The Frost King V76H Shrink Window Kit includes double-sided tape and plastic sheets that are simple to install on windows. You stick it to the window area using the tape, and then employ a hair dryer to shrink the plastic into place and make it look less noticeable. This kit includes an 84-inch-wide by 110-inch-tall plastic panel that suits patio doors or picture windows. According to Frost King, it will prevent up to 35% of heat loss. It's not the prettiest solution, but that's not bad for an affordable sheet of plastic that you can take down when the weather warms up.

When the temperature gets extremely cold, it's the thought of a frozen, burst pipe that strikes fear in many homeowners' hearts. A water leak detector and freeze alarm offers peace of mind, warning you at the start of a potential problem—or even before. These alarms alert when the ambient temperature drops close to freezing or if any water touches the device. Some have an audible alarm to alert you if you're at home, while others are also smart devices, which send you a notification to your phone.

The Kidde WiFi Water Leak Detector & Freeze Alarm is the latter: it's a smart leak and freeze alarm to offer peace of mind, wherever you are. To help when a cold front rolls in, it alerts if it detects a sudden dip in temperature or if the temperature reaches 37 degrees Fahrenheit. This feature warns you of frosty conditions in a room before pipes can freeze, saving you a lot of headache if any emergencies arise. These alarms are most useful in rooms prone to cold and areas that you don't enter frequently, like a crawl space, garage, or utility room. If the heating fails or a window is broken and the temperature plummets, you might not notice in time, but this alarm will. It also has a water sensor, so should there be any plumbing issues, you'll know right away: either because of the audible alarm or a notification sent to your phone.

Unlike interior pipes, outdoor hose bibs are exposed directly to the frigid outdoor weather. When you consider how well metal conducts the cold, it's easy to see why this would be a vulnerable spot in your plumbing. Winterizing outdoor spigots is an important fall yard task to do before the cold sets in, and it involves turning off the water and draining the hose bib. One of the last steps is to install an insulated faucet cover, which further prevents freezing and helps to minimize the amount of cold air that the plumbing is exposed to.

Again, this isn't a magic solution, so you'll still want to drain the hose bib. However, installing a cover is a way of adding extra insulation to an area of the house that's vulnerable in extreme cold. The Frost King FC2 Plastic Faucet Cover is an affordable, well-rated product that provides this extra protection. It has a protective plastic cover with insulating foam inside. It's very easy to install, with built-in adhesive along the opening to stick right to the wall.

Extremely cold and stormy conditions can cause power outages. If that's a frequent occurrence in your area, or if you just want ultimate peace of mind, a portable power station can help keep appliances and heating devices running, even if the grid is down. They tend to be pricey upfront, but can be worth it for the safety of your family and can even make up for their cost down the line. If the power goes out for an extended period of time, the cost of replacing everything in a fridge or freezer, or even worse, the cost of repairs if a pipe bursts from the cold, can be much more substantial than the upfront cost of a portable power station. Plus, if you like activities like camping and tailgating, you can use one of these stations for more than just an emergency backup.

The EF Ecoflow Delta Pro 3 Portable Power Station is a powerful and convenient portable power station. It's battery-powered, which eliminates the mess and noise that comes from using gas-powered generators. However, it has an impressive 4000W output that's enough to provide two to four days of power for a whole home. While this portable power station can provide some short-term help, it's also important to know the steps to protect your pipes in the winter when the power goes out.

Gutters are another part of the home that are prone to freezing. Water inside can freeze and cause ice buildup that can result in roof or gutter damage and eventual leaks. A roof cable kit has a heated cable that you install onto the roof and gutters to reduce ice buildup. It's important to install these kits before the snow and ice roll in: It's most effective as a preventative measure to prevent ice dams rather than to try to defrost frozen sections.

The Frost King Electric Roof Cable Kit is one of these handy kits, designed to keep the water in gutters and downspouts flowing, even in subzero temperatures. It's relatively easy to install: The kit comes with clips to attach the cord to the roof shingles, so you just need a ladder. This cord measures 160 feet, but other shorter and longer lengths are available, measuring from 30 to 200 feet to suit homes of different sizes. Just remember, when the weather warms up, make sure to take action to keep melting snow from wreaking havoc around your home.

If your sewer vent freezes shut, it can cause slow draining, gurgling noises, and unpleasant sewer odors in the house. It's possible to deal with this problem by regularly removing snow and ice from the vent. However, this is not an easy task, especially when conditions are extremely cold and icy. Another option is to try a vent defroster like the Sewer Skewer.

The Sewer Skewer Vent Defroster is a T-shaped device made of copper. It conducts heat from its surroundings, like from the sun and sewer gas, to harness that little bit of warmth to melt ice and snow. It's skinny, so it fits any size of pipe. This version is rated for conditions up to -15 degrees Fahrenheit, though longer models and extenders are available for colder weather. This product does have mixed reviews; however, it's one of the only ones of its kind on the market. The majority of Amazon reviewers do rate it positively, so it's worth a try if your sewer vent is prone to freezing over.

In very cold climates, it just makes sense to have an extra heater on hand, whether it's for a boost of extra comfort or as an important backup heat source during an emergency. A portable heater can add additional heat wherever it's needed inside. It's a savior if your central heating can't keep up with very cold snaps, and can help keep pipes from freezing in colder rooms of the house, like sunrooms or basements. Oil-filled radiators don't have an exposed heating element and are considered the safest option for running for longer periods of time, which might be necessary in extreme cold to maintain a safe temperature.

That's why our pick for subzero conditions is the Dreo Oil Filled Radiator. It's suitable for heating large areas, with M-shaped fins that dissipate the heat effectively. It's also ETL listed and comes with a bevy of safety features. These include triple overheat protection, tilt protection, flame-retardant materials, a child-lock, a 24-hour timer, and a burn-proof plug, all of which improve safety; welcome news for frigid areas where you might need to use it often.

Garages are usually poorly insulated, if at all. Combine this with a lack of heating and possibly unfinished walls, and it's a high-risk area for frozen pipes. Often made of metal, the garage door is a big expanse that can contribute to heat loss. Alongside making sure drafty gaps and cracks are sealed, a garage door insulation kit adds insulating panels to cover the door and better retain heat inside the room.

The Reach Barrier 3009 Garage Door Insulation Kit is a DIY-friendly kit that comes with pre-cut panels to cover a standard 8-foot by 8-foot metal garage door. Adhesive pads are also included in the kit, so the panels are ready to install right out of the box. The panels are composed of a bubble barrier laminated between reflective polyethylene. The design can block up to 95% of radiant heat loss and makes the panels lightweight, too, so they don't interfere with operating the garage door. In an area where you want to retain as much heat as possible, this is an affordable solution. 

If you're in the market for new indoor shades and want to select one that has better insulating properties, cellular shades are a good option. It's the honeycomb-shaped cells in these shades that help to create an insulating barrier of air between the cold glass window and the rest of the room. A cellular shade is a more permanent alternative to one of those plastic window insulating kits, but it essentially does the same job, blocking drafts and reducing heat loss.

The BlindsAvenue Cellular Shade is available in a variety of colors and sizes, so you can find the just-right fit for your windows. It's made of 100% polyester, and you can choose from light filtering or blackout options—they are blinds after all, so you'll want ones that work for your needs year-round. The shades look handsome, and many reviewers found them easy to install. This is one of many products intended to help protect your home itself, but to keep your household safe too. Make sure you have these must-have essentials for a winter storm.