Alright folks, grab your wrenches and let’s dive into some plumbing 101! This week, I’m dishing out all the juicy deets on tackling those pesky frozen pipes that have turned your home into a winter wonderland of leaks and chaos. Seriously, if you thought your life was a mess before, just wait until you experience the thrill of water spraying out of a pipe like it’s auditioning for a role in a disaster movie. I’ll also give you the lowdown on what supplies to snag, because let’s be real, Home Depot might as well be a ghost town right now. So, whether you’re a DIY hero or just trying to survive the plumber’s nightmare, stick around for tips that might just save your home from becoming an indoor swimming pool! Winter is knocking on the door, and with it comes the dreaded frozen pipes. Eric G is back for a midweek episode that’s part plumbing tutorial, part therapy session for those of us staring down the barrel of home repair chaos. He’s chatting about how to fix those pesky frozen pipes without feeling like you’re in a horror movie. Spoiler alert: CPVC is not the hero of this story. Eric’s here to convert you to the PEX way of life, breaking down the ins and outs of the different types of PEX like a seasoned plumber with a degree in sarcasm. The episode is packed with practical advice, but Eric doesn’t stop there. He shares his personal experiences battling icy conditions, recounting tales of power outages and downed trees that’ll have you laughing (and cringing) in sympathy. He’s got a solid plan for tackling repairs, emphasizing that local plumbing suppliers are the real MVPs when it comes to getting your hands on the right parts. Who wants to waste time rummaging through empty shelves at the big-box stores? Not you! Eric’s guiding you straight to the source to ensure you come out on top. And just when you think you’ve heard it all, Eric spills the beans on his upcoming project with Cam Anderson from Blacktail Studio, promising a YouTube series that’s already making waves. With shoulder surgery on the horizon, Eric's making sure he’s still in the game, planning for content while he recovers. So whether you’re knee-deep in icy water or just tuning in for the laughs, this episode is your go-to guide for surviving the winter plumbing apocalypse. Don’t miss it—grab your tools, put on your best work gloves, and let’s get through this together!

Takeaways:

1. When facing frozen pipes, local plumbing supply stores might just be your best bet for quick repair parts, unlike those big box stores that are perpetually out of stock.
2. If you're considering PEX for your plumbing repairs, remember that PEX A is the golden child for flexibility and freeze protection; it's basically the superhero of pipes.
3. Let's be real, CPVC is like that one friend who always brings drama—avoid replacing anything with it unless you want to invite chaos into your plumbing system.
4. Galvanized pipes are the worst; they clog up faster than a coffee straw at a milkshake convention; time to say goodbye, folks!
5. If you're stuck with a busted copper pipe, don't just slap on a push-to-connect fitting; cut it out and do it right with PEX or sweat in new copper.
6. Eric's shoulder surgery is around the corner, but don't worry, the show will keep rolling—just don't expect him to be lifting anything heavier than a coffee cup!

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. Home Depot
2. Lowe's
3. Milwaukee
4. Blacktail Studio
5. Blacktail Studio Ranch

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Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

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Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to see every part of the project for Blacktail Ranch

Exciting collaboration alert! This playlist documents our joint project renovating Cam Anderson's new farm property on Blacktail Ranch—the home base for his adventures beyond the workshop. Cam (the woodworking wizard behind Blacktail Studio, with millions of fans loving his epoxy tables, live-edge builds, and creative furniture tutorials) is stepping into brand-new territory: his first-ever full home renovation and remodel. From the charming (but dated) farmhouse with its "lead paint chic" vibes to tackling structural updates, layout changes, and modern upgrades, we're transforming this 17-acre property into a functional, beautiful living space. I'm Eric G from Around the House, bringing my remodeling, construction, and design expertise to guide the process—planning layouts, solving real-world renovation challenges, handling the practical home improvement side, and making sure the build is smart, efficient, and homeowner-friendly. Expect step-by-step progress, honest discussions on budgets/timelines/hiccups, tool tips, design decisions, and the fun dynamic of blending Cam's woodworking flair with pro remodeling know-how. Whether you're a Blacktail Studio fan curious about Cam's new chapter, a DIYer tackling your own home reno, or just love watching big transformations, this series is for you! https://www.youtube.com/@aroundthehouseEricG/playlists

Blacktail Ranch

Foreign.

Welcome to the around the House midweek special.

Join host Eric G. As he catches you up on the latest in design and home improvement.

From trending kitchen makeovers and sustainable building tips to hot new tools on the market.

We've got it all in under 30 minutes.

Let's get inspired.

Here's Eric.

Welcome to the around the House show, your trusted source for everything home improvement.

I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today, guys.

Hope you're having a a great week, man.

I'm releasing this one on Tuesday because on Wednesday I've got my shoulder surgery.

We've been talking about, boy, trying to get ready for that.

There is never enough time to get things done.

It's pretty funny.

It's just like going on vacation if you're a business owner, small business owner, whichever you're doing out there, it's not that you ever did get to take time off.

You just kind of put your hands in the middle, create a space, pull to the side, and everything either loads up on the front end or the back end because that work just never stops.

And we got so much going on right now out there.

I'm just super excited on what's going on with the around the house show.

All you on the podcast, you can still catch us coast to coast across the country, which I'm excited about, and you'll be able to do a lot with us right there.

So a couple things here, guys, I wanted to talk about.

I feel bad for all of you out there in the middle of the ice storm, the snow, everything else.

I've got friends all over the country that are just trying to survive out there.

I've been through this kind of thing before.

I've had no power for five days with big, huge trees down.

Just a armageddon.

We had 2 inches of freezing rain one time just a couple years ago here and it was pretty rough.

And I feel bad for everyone, especially in areas that you're just not used to this weather.

So I did repost on Sunday.

Last year's I did a whole show, basically a midweek special on frozen pipes, how to deal with them, that kind of stuff and how to be safe about it.

And today I wanted to talk a little bit more about how do you get those repairs done.

And of course, we got a couple other subjects after this.

So all of you that don't need this, bear with me.

I just wanted to give some ideas out there for people.

Now it's probably gonna be hard to head down to your local home improvement store to get repair parts because guess what, they're probably gonna be sold out or missing the parts you need.

So take a look at the plumbing supply houses, those kind of things.

They probably have a little bit better distribution network because if Home Depot or Lowe's, they have regional distribution centers and all the stores will be pulling out of the same spot.

So make sure to hit your local plumbing supply store.

If you're looking for stuff, they probably can get stuff faster in because they don't have this big system to have to fulfill those orders from.

First off, if you're doing repairs and you've got maybe CPVC plastic pipe underneath the house, I tell you what, I don't like the product.

I'm not a fan.

I've had houses with it.

It was absolutely horrible.

So I would not replace that with cpvc.

I would take a look at PEX P E X if you're not familiar.

And this is for you guys out there that are maybe going to be hiring a plumber to come fix it or you're going to dive into this yourself.

Now, first off, I am not a fan of push to connect fittings like the shark bite, that kind of stuff.

It is a great temporary fitting.

If you have a busted water line and maybe it's a line going over the other side of the house and you're like, I just need to plug this off so I can get things going.

And now this is a push to connect so it just snaps on over the top of a copper or plastic bottom waterline.

Now they work good for that.

I just don't think they're reliable.

Why do I think they're not reliable?

I've had multiple instances with licensed plumbers that installed them correctly where they have slipped off.

And if you combine all those costs, yeah, six figures of damage, I don't think they're reliable, especially on cpvc, but I just have not been a fan of them.

So when you've got stuff like that that has O rings and things like that, that can fail, I just think you're asking for problems.

So what's the best way to fix it?

Well, for me, if you've got copper pipes and you've got one that's frozen and it's split it and you've got a water leak, cut that out and either sweat in copper pipe or you can go over to pex.

Now pecs there are differences between pecs A, B and C. So not all pexes are the same.

So PEX is the.

Just to really kind of explain how this stuff works.

PEX is a polyethylene plumbing pipe.

It's cross linked for durability.

So they have different types of it.

So pex A, they make it using a peroxide.

Pex B uses silane, it's the most common.

And pex C uses irradiate irridation.

With Pex A being the most flexible, that gives you shape memory for kink repair.

Being the most flexible also gives you the best freeze protection.

Pex B is stiffer but cheaper.

And pex C is less common.

Now pex A is the, like I said has shape memory.

So it's great.

If you kink it, it'll come back.

And that's the one that you have to use the expansion fitting connector.

So I have a Milwaukee one, you can rent them.

There's a lot of different ones.

And it expands it out.

You push.

You have a ring basically you put over the over it first.

And this ring is a compression ring that's made out of the same type of pex.

And I'm just going to overly simplify this for the non plumbers out there.

You shove your pex tool inside of it, it expands out the pipe and that expansion ring on the outside, you put your fitting in, wait 20 seconds, you're good to go and you can keep going.

I think it's the most reliable.

I think it's the best product out there.

Now the other one, PEX B, which is the other one that you see out there, it's stiffer, it's less flexible, kinks can't be repaired and it uses a crimp or a clamp fitting on the outside.

So basically the size of the, you know, you basically push hard, push that fitting in there, no expansion ring and then you're going to crimp this ring to keep it in place.

Kind of like an old fashioned hose clamp on a radiator hose.

And that works pretty well.

Nothing wrong with it.

I just think for a homeowner, yeah, PEX B is a good repair.

I would do that way over doing an ex, you know, one of the push to connect fittings.

And of course pex A is the best way to do it.

So the problem though is is you're going to have a hard time finding those tools in the rental tool department if you're in an area with frozen pipes.

So that will be an issue, but take your time.

Now, this stuff just like cpvc, none of these things should be exterior grade in that they're out in the sunlight.

Just don't want to have any of this stuff ever exposed out there for that, you know, use copper, Use other stuff.

If you've got galvanized pipes, and I'm sorry, if you do, again, I would treat that like cpvc and I would take out as much as you can while you're down there.

Because the problem with galvanized is that once you get past, well, depending on the water quality, if you've got really, you know, acidic or alkaline water, it can actually just chew that up.

So when it fails, it gets smaller on the inside.

So if you think about a milkshake, if you go get a milkshake and go grab a coffee, stir straw and try to drink, it, ain't gonna happen.

When that stuff goes to fail, it gets smaller and smaller and smaller.

Kind of like arteries clogging up.

It just doesn't work well.

That's why you jump in the shower and you're like, there's no water coming out.

Yeah, there's no volume because while the insides, you know, you're trying to take a shower with what's going through a McDonald's straw, and it just doesn't work well.

So take that out while you can.

It's a good time to make those repairs.

Especially if you're down in a crawl space, basement, or if you're in a wall, Just do what you can to get rid of that stuff and come back.

Now, there's a lot of different ways to.

To convert.

Like if you're in galvanized, for instance, and you're like, all right, I'm gonna take it back to this fitting.

Then you can thread in a pex fitting basically into it, and that's where it could be really cool.

You're just gonna take that brass pex fitting and you're gonna win there.

Pex A would be the way I would do it.

And you can go in there and really just start from there and keep going.

And then that stuff is so forgiving.

It's really smart.

So it's a good way to go.

And it's going to be durable.

It's going to really last for you long term.

So take your time on that, guys.

Take a look.

And then, you know, that's going to help get you going.

Feel free to jump back an episode and take a look at what we talk about.

How to get things unfrozen in your house.

There's so many people out there that I know that are dealing with that, and that is in the previous episode.

Well, the other thing I wanted to talk about today, guys, Hey, I know I've had a lot of people asking that.

I am working on a project with Cam Anderson from Blacktail Studio and Blacktail Studio Ranch.

I love how that's going.

We just put out the first episode.

If you head over to our YouTube page at around the House Eric G. You can find it over there.

And man, that thing's cruising up on 500,000 views.

It's really good.

Or you can go over to the Blacktail Studio page as well.

Actually, Blacktail Ranch page.

It's not on the studio page.

But I tell you what, we are having a great time.

We are going to be remodeling that house together.

I'm going to be the designer.

He is the homeowner.

I'm going to be doing some stuff with him.

Really looking forward to that.

And we're going to have a great time with that.

And I'm looking forward to it.

So that's going to be a great project.

Well, tomorrow.

Today is Tuesday the 27th.

The 28th is my shoulder surgery, so I'm trying to get this one out to you guys a little bit early.

But don't worry, I'm not doing best of shows this weekend or anything crazy like that.

We're going to be cramming on the show, so we're not going to miss a beat here.

I've been planning for this.

Sheesh.

I've been planning for the shoulder surgery for a while and I will be around.

My best guess.

I'm just going to take a.

A couple days off in the middle of the week so that way it doesn't impact the show going out and appreciate all you guys tuning in.

Yeah, it's going to be a pain.

I'm going to be in a sling for six weeks.

I'm happy I'm not doing TV right now because I can work around my travel schedule with things like design and construction week in Orlando.

That's going to be pushing it for me.

So we got a lot going on there.

All right, everybody have a great rest of the week.

Stay warm, stay safe, help your neighbor when you can.

And I know all of you that are in these storm affected areas.

We've been really great here in the Pacific Northwest.

It's been cold, it's been windy.

But we're going to have another problem by dodging this weather right now here in the Pacific Northwest.

I have a feeling if this continues, we are going to have one of the worst fire seasons on the west coast in recorded history, which I'm not looking forward to this summer.

And that'll be a whole other discussion for another day.

I'm Eric G. Thanks for tuning into around the House.

I appreciate you.

I'll see you on the flip side of surgery.

We'll see you then.

Make sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our YouTube page.

All the links are on the website@aroundthehouse online.com make sure you subscribe to this podcast so you can be notified of the next one.

We will see you next time.