Winter Water Woes

I colleague of mine emailed some photos to me recently of homes that were not prepared for the winter weather.

Swamp coolers are a notorious water problem for homes, no matter which season of the year.  They can also be very ugly. When not coating your roof in ice, they can be found ruining the appearance of your shingles with unsightly hard water deposits.

  
Drippy spicket?  Or cool work of art?

I am not sure what is making the water form brown icy goo.  But, whatever it is, it isn't good.

The moral of the story is take care of your exterior plumbing features BEFORE winter comes.  It looks like the plumbers and handymen will be busy come spring.