My husband and I are building a shower, we would like to have a shower head on either side of the shower, but one of the walls is an outside wall. We live in the Chicagoland area and are worried about the pipes freezing. Is this a reasonable scare?

Thanks.

Yes, modern building techniques in our beautiful climate avoid plumbing on outside walls unless you are using 2x6 construct with more than minimum insulation. Years ago mom and dad had to leave the sink cabinet doors open in the winter so they would not freeze. Things are better now but go with the inside wall if it can fit your design. Hey, is it going to be 60 today so no more worries, right?

You are correct to be concerned. Dig back to February here in the plumbing forum and you will find numerous threads of water being off. It is quite common to run water lines in outside walls. If the outside sheathing is tight enough to keep out the outside air, and the insulation properly to the outside of the pipes, it should be fine. I suspect most of the problems comes from sloppy work when the house was built. Me, before closing the wall back up after installing the pipe, I would add one of those foam insulating tubes over the pipe. I think the better, closed cell stuff is $3 for 8'. With a little care, it should be fine.