I live outside Chicago and am purchasing a new home built by Toll Brothers. The house does not have a basement and is built on a slab. Surprisingly the plumber, with the builders sign off, installed an outside hose bid without an interior shut off value. They did install a "frost freeze" faucet however the supply line runs up from the slab horizontally approx. 2 feet before turning horizontal to the exterior. A frost free faucet will have no impact on the horizontal portion of the line.

There are numerous other homes with this same installation method. The plumber and builder insist the insulation is sufficient and there were no problems last winter in similar models. What questions should I ask about the insulation to quantify their position?

I would first ask him to look at the plumbing code. All sillcocks, hose bibbs are required to have an individual shut-off valve. Chicago Municipal Plumbing Code Section § 18-29-606.2 Location of shutoff valves.

when I was in Chicago, I never installed "interior shutoff valves" on freeze resistant faucets. And here, where it seldom freezes we NEVER install them on any outside faucet. In your case, however even if you had a shut off valve, is the piping arranged so you could drain that section inside the wall?

No, there is no access to the section inside the wall and it is feeding off of other lines below the slab.



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Your builder saved a lot of money. Your plumber and seller won't be around for long, once the contract has been signed. Ask the builder, if THEIR house has indoor shut offs. I believe you have get your 20 years out of those frost-free hydrants.... but what if you don't. That is the risk you accept when buying a new home. What else did they do in the house to save money while cutting costs.

Best Wishes

In that case, HOW would you drain the line if you shut it off? The idea for using freeze resistant hose valves is so you DO NOT have to shut them off in the winter time.

I was mistaken, I looked at how the line is installed in other homes and the line does not run vertically inside the outside wall. The line stubs up from below the slab into an interior wall that is perpendicular to the outside wall. The line turns horizontal to go through the exterior wall with the frost free faucet attaching to the line before the line exits the interior wall. If the frost free faucet works as designed and is installed correctly it should be fine. Thanks for the comments.



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Be sure to disconnect the hose and drain it before the weather drops below freezing.