Frozen Pipes in Commercial Buildings in Massachusetts

Speed matters with frozen pipes in Massachusetts commercial buildings because the water does not come out until the thaw, often when nobody is there. On February 4, 2023, Boston fell to 10 degrees below zero with a wind chill of about 39 below, reported as a record, and Worcester hit 13 below, its lowest on record for the date. Nights like that freeze lines behind loading dock doors, in stairwells, in vestibules and above ceilings along exterior walls. A building closed for a holiday, or a seasonal business closed for the winter, can have water running for hours or days before anyone walks in.

Within the first hour of a thaw, a split line can put a lot of water onto a floor and down through the ceilings below. By 24 hours, carpet tiles, drywall and stored stock have soaked it up and water has reached lower floors, stair landings and elevator pits. At 48 hours, mold can start in wet wall cavities and insulation. After a week, a building that was closed comes back to swollen casework, fallen ceilings, warped doors and inventory that can no longer be sold.

Water from a split domestic supply line is usually clean, which lets much of the building be dried in place. Concrete floors in docks, stairwells and warehouses dry once standing water is gone and dehumidifiers run. Drywall on metal studs often stays if the bottom is opened for airflow. Carpet tiles can be lifted, dried and relaid, and steel racking, shelving and metal doors are dried and wiped down. Drying a cold building is slower, so crews bring in heat along with dehumidifiers to raise the temperature and pull moisture out of the air and the materials.

Some materials do not come back. Ceiling tiles that soaked through are replaced, and so is fiberglass insulation in wet ceiling spaces and exterior walls. Water that sat in sprinkler or heating pipes is often dark and dirty, so carpet and porous materials it soaked are usually removed rather than dried. Cardboard stock, particleboard furniture and wet paper records rarely recover. Drywall that wicked water high up the wall or sat wet for days in a closed building is cut out above the wet line.

Frozen commercial lines happen across Massachusetts, but the cold is not even. Worcester has a January average low of 17 F and Amherst 14 F, against 23 F in Boston, so warehouses along I-290, I-395 and I-90 in Central Massachusetts and colleges and offices in the Pioneer Valley face harder freezes than downtown Boston. Worcester also averages 72.9 inches of snow a year, and drafts at dock doors, stairwells and open basement doors are where pipes tend to freeze first.

Along I-495, warehouses and light industrial buildings in MetroWest have long loading docks, and a sprinkler branch line can break in an unheated loading area. On Cape Cod, seasonal restaurants, inns and shops close for the winter, and a supply line can split in January and run for weeks before anyone checks. Converted mill buildings in Lowell, Fitchburg and Holyoke hold apartments, offices and labs inside old brick walls. A call connects the manager with a local crew in that part of the state.