Hose bibs, and why they burst where you cannot see
The most common outdoor failure here, and the mechanism is worth understanding because it explains the damage.
A frost-free hose bib is not a valve at the wall — the actual valve seat sits at the far end of a long stem, well inside the heated envelope of the house. Water shuts off there and the exposed section drains out through the spout, so there is nothing outside to freeze.
That only works if the hose is disconnected. Leave one attached and water cannot drain out. It sits in the stem, freezes, expands, and splits the pipe — at the inside end, inside the wall.
So the failure is invisible until spring, when someone turns the tap on and water pours into the wall cavity rather than out of the spout. People discover it as a ceiling stain in a room nowhere near the bib.
Disconnect every hose before winter. It is the highest-value five minutes in outdoor plumbing, and it is why insulated bib covers alone are not enough.
Worth knowing
If you turn a hose bib on in spring and get weak flow, or hear water without seeing much of it, shut it off immediately and check inside. That is the signature of a stem split inside the wall, and every second it runs is going into the structure.
The backflow assembly
Any property with irrigation has one, and Texas requires it to be tested annually by a certified tester. It is a legal requirement, not an optional service.
It exists to stop irrigation water — sitting in pipes among fertiliser, herbicide and whatever is on the ground — being drawn back into the drinking supply if pressure drops.
It sits above ground, full of water, entirely exposed, which makes freeze damage the leading cause of failure here. An insulated cover fitted before winter prevents most of it.
Test in spring rather than mid-season. That way winter damage is found before you need the system, instead of during the first hot week when every tester is booked.
Irrigation leaks, and why they hide
Irrigation is often the largest single water use in a Hill Country home, and its faults are the least visible.
The system runs before dawn on a timer. Nobody watches it. A broken head, a cracked lateral or a valve that does not fully close can waste an enormous volume for months, and the only symptom is a bill that everyone attributes to summer.
A valve that weeps is the sneakiest of these — it drips continuously between cycles, so a zone is quietly watering twenty-four hours a day.
Walk the system while it runs, once a season. Look for heads that are broken, sunken below the grass, misaligned so they water the driveway, or blocked. It takes twenty minutes and it is the highest-value irrigation maintenance there is.
Between cycles, look for a zone that is wet when it should not be. That is a leaking valve or a cracked lateral.
Finding a buried leak
The service line between meter and house, and irrigation mains, are both buried — and a leak in either can run indefinitely.
Start with the meter test. Turn off everything that uses water, including irrigation at its own shutoff, and check whether the meter's flow indicator is moving. Then isolate: close the shutoff where supply enters the house. If the meter still moves, the leak is outside — the buried service line, or irrigation.
Visual signs: a patch of ground greener or softer than its surroundings, water surfacing after rain in one spot, or an area that has visibly settled. In a drought these disappear entirely, which is when the meter test earns its keep.
Do not dig on a guess. Acoustic detection places a buried leak within a small area, and on ground with shallow limestone the difference between one small excavation and exploratory digging is substantial.
More method in finding a hidden leak.
The rest of it
Exterior shutoffs. Know where the main is, know where the irrigation shutoff is, and turn both once a year. A seized valve is a small job today and a catastrophe during a burst.
Pool fill lines are a cross connection and need backflow protection. An auto-fill that sticks open is also a quiet, continuous waste that a pool disguises perfectly.
Outdoor kitchens need their supply drained or protected before winter — they are frequently the one thing nobody thinks about, because they are not used in cold weather.
Drainage matters to plumbing. Gutters discharging at the foundation soak clay on one side of the house while the other stays dry, and that differential movement is what stresses buried pipe and foundations. Getting water away from the house is plumbing maintenance, not just landscaping.