A hose bib sits on the wall at about knee height, where a mower, a hail-blown branch or a thrown lawn chair can reach it. Hail falls on the same wall as the siding, but the bib is a small body with a handle, a packing nut and a cover plate, and each of those can take a dent or a crack that looks minor from the driveway. Many St. Louis houses also have a frost-free hydrant or a second spigot on the side yard, so the list is longer than one faucet.
The reason to check it now is the calendar. A cracked bib that still holds water will split on the first hard freeze, and in the St. Louis area that is often a January or February night. A split body does not show until the thaw, when water runs inside the wall. By then the crack is hidden behind siding, and the repair has moved from a fitting to a wall.
Storm and hail
Start with the photographs, before anyone touches the fixture. Take one wide shot of the wall that shows the bib in its place. Take a second at arm's length that shows the handle, the cover and the pipe where it enters the wall. Take a third close shot of any dent, crack or chipped finish, with a coin or a tape measure in the frame for scale. Date the files on your phone and keep the originals, not screenshots.
Look at the cover plate and the screws that hold it. Hail often bends a thin cover plate or cracks the plastic lid on a frost-free hydrant before it reaches the pipe. A bent plate can still work, but a plate with a crack that runs through a screw hole will let water and insects in. Check whether the handle turns freely and whether the packing nut is loose. A handle that turns with a grinding feel can mean the stem has been struck.
Then check the wall behind the fixture. Hail that dents a bib usually dents the siding, the trim or the gutter downspout nearby. Stand back and look for small round dents or chipped paint on the wall around the bib, at the corner trim and on any light fixture or outlet cover within a few feet. Photograph those too, so the file shows the wall as well as the fixture.
Turn the water on briefly at the inside shutoff, if the house has one, and watch the bib with the handle open. Drip at the packing nut, a spray from the stem or water running down the wall behind the pipe all point to damage that needs a repair before winter. Turn the water off again and open the bib to drain it, as you would before a freeze.
If you find damage, keep the bib and the cover plate until the repair is done. A roofer or a contractor may want to see the part, and an old fitting is evidence if the file is ever questioned. Do not paint over a dent or a crack before the photographs are taken and the damage is written down.
What it costs
A hose bib cover or a replacement bib is a small part. The cost that moves a bid is the trip. A crew or a technician who comes out for one fixture still needs to drive, set up, shut the water off, cut or remove the bib, and check the wall behind it. A bid that lists only the bib, with no line for the wall, the shutoff or the cleanup, is a bid that will grow when the wall is opened.
Ask whether the wall behind the bib is included if the damage goes into the siding or the sheathing. A small dent in a vinyl panel can often be replaced panel by panel, but a split board behind the bib needs its own line. If the bib sits next to a downspout, a gutter run or a window trim, ask whether those are inspected at the same visit, because one trip covers all of them.
If a frost-free hydrant is involved, the price depends on how deep the pipe runs and where the valve sits. That is a fact to confirm on the wall, not on the phone. A bid that says hydrant replacement without a depth or a route is a bid to question.
What to ask
Ask the contractor to write down what is being replaced and what is only being checked. A line that says spigot repair with no part named leaves the next conversation open. A line that names the bib, the cover plate, the packing nut and the shutoff valve is one you can compare with another bid.
Ask who shuts off the water and who turns it back on, and whether the house will be without water for the repair. If the bib feeds an irrigation line or a sprinkler zone, ask whether the zone will be tested before the work is closed. Ask whether the crew will check the bib after the first freeze, or whether that is the homeowner's job.
Ask for the photo file before the work starts and again when it ends. The before photos should show the fixture and the wall around it. The after photos should show the new part in place, with the wall patched and the finish matched where it can be. Keys documents the damage, puts a written scope with photos and measurements in your hands, and attends as the contractor while you deal with your own insurer. A contractor cannot represent or negotiate your insurance claim, and Missouri law under RSMo 407.725 forbids a roofing contractor from doing that, so keep the claim conversation with your insurer and bring the file to the insurer yourself.
Ask what happens if the bib leaks after the repair. Ask who comes back, how soon, and whether the return visit is on the same written scope. A short written answer now prevents an argument in January.
If you want to talk through a hose bib or a spigot cover before the first freeze, call the Keys office at (314) 220-2333. Have the photographs ready and tell the office which wall the fixture sits on and which way the water is shut off.