Plumbing question about frozen "pipes"

Leander TX

Description

Can anyone answer a question for me about frozen "pipes"-- My family and I live just outside of Austin, Texas, in a relatively new home with a slab foundation that has cross-linked polyethylene water lines. As you may have heard, our area has recently experienced a brutal cold snap that has resulted in intermittent water, gas, and electrical outages. Fortunately, we have only experienced power outages at our house, and only for several hours. Even more fortunately, we have a portable backup generator that we can fire up in a few minutes after the electricity goes out that allows us to run most of our electrical appliances, including our furnace. Unfortunately, some of the cold water faucets in the house have stopped working-- 1) Both of the cold water faucets on the dual vanity in one of the master bathrooms. The hot water to those same faucets do work. Those water lines are on an exterior wall. Notably, the hot and cold water faucets to the shower and tub, which are on the opposite interior wall, do work. 2) One of the cold water faucets on the dual vanity in the other master bathroom. The hot water to those same faucets do work. Those water lines are on an interior wall. Notably, the hot and cold water faucets to the shower and tub, which are on the opposite exterior wall, do work. As an aside, I was able to get the other cold water faucet working by running a space heater under that sink. I was also running a heater under the other sink that still isn't working, but had to stop due to a power failure and switching to generator power. Question: Some have suggested I should turn the water off to the entire house to prevent future damage. Is this true? Why or why not? What about my neighbors who are in similar straights, but have no back-up generator? As an aside, the house is never unoccupied because we care for a 94 and 98 year old couple. Would it matter if the house was frequently unoccupied?