Experts: Simple Fixes Can Save Your Home From Burst Pipes, Flooding In Frigid Temperatures

CLOSTER, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- The record cold may be over for now, but it left behind some major damage from frozen pipes and flooded homes.

Kathy Fume experienced just such damage, and found a mess after a weekend getaway with her family.

"I come home to water pouring out of my ceiling, insulation pouring out of my ceiling, ceiling pouring out of my ceiling," she told CBS2's Brian Conybeare.

Her ranch style house in Closter was flooded when the temperature dripped below zero on Saturday night, and a pipe burst.

"Our pipes are in the attic because we don't have a basement," she said.

The water did thousands of dollars in damage, and workers are gutting three bedrooms and a hallway.

"We had to remove walls, ceilings," she explained.

While the cleanup continues, there are things that all homeowners can do to protect their pipes the next time it gets dangerously cold.

Experts suggest insulating attics and basements where water lines are located, installing foam pipe sleeves on copper pipes, using electrified heat tape in trouble spots, keeping the thermostat above 55 degrees, and not lowering the thermostat at night even if you think it will help save money.

"An hour and a half to two hours, you have solid frozen pipes," plumber Rick Barretta said.

Barretta found a copper pipe with a small crack in it in the Fume's attic and said in extreme cases some people have to move their pipes.

"The cure all would be now to rerun those lines to a new area," he said, "It's gotta happen or they're gonna have this issue again."

Fume had some advice of her own.

"Heat, heat, heat, heat," she said.

A lesson she learned the hard way.