Five Things That Always Break in January

Updated September 2026

December asks more of your building than any other month. Heating runs for longer. Kitchens work flat out through Christmas bookings. Extra lighting goes up, doors open and close all day, and everything keeps going until the last party has gone home.

Then January arrives, colder and wetter, and the strain starts to show. Systems that coped through December give up in the new year. The good news is that the same things fail every winter, which means you can plan for them.

These are the five we see most often in January, and what to do about each one before it happens. While we focus on January below, these same failures continue through February - often with even worse weather conditions.

1. Heating Systems

Your heating works harder in December and January than at any other point in the year. Longer opening hours, colder nights and busy venues all keep it running, and every extra hour puts more wear on pumps, controls and valves.

By January, a part that was already tired often gives up completely. Heating cuts out, thermostats stop responding, or pressure drops overnight, and you are left with a cold building on the coldest morning of the week.

A heating and HVAC service before Christmas picks up worn components, checks pressure and controls, and replaces parts before they fail at the worst moment.

2. Electrics

Christmas adds load to your electrics at the same time as the weather turns against them. Festive lighting, portable heaters and kitchens at full capacity all draw extra power, and circuits that were fine in October can start tripping in December.

January brings the damp. Rain finds its way into outdoor sockets, fittings and junction boxes with worn seals, and moisture causes nuisance tripping, or worse, a dangerous fault.

Our NICEIC approved electricians check circuits aren't overloaded, inspect outdoor fittings, and carry out fixed wire testing if it's due. If your electrics do fail out of hours, our guide on what to do when your electrics fail at 2am walks you through the first steps.

3. Emergency lighting and fire alarms

Winter storms bring power cuts, and that's when your emergency lighting has to work. Batteries lose capacity with age, and a unit that lit up in a quick test can still fail to last the full duration.

Fire alarms need attention too. Decorations go up near detectors, portable heaters come out, and the building is busier than usual.

Our fire safety team tests your fire alarm system and emergency lighting, replaces failing batteries and fittings, and keeps your test records up to date.

4. Roofs, gutters and brickwork

Winter's cold, persistent rain finds every weakness in your building. Gutters that coped with November's leaves overflow. Loose tiles let water in. Mortar that's been crumbling for months finally lets moisture through the wall.

These problems build slowly, and January makes them worse. Water damages stock, equipment and ceilings, and a small leak left alone turns into a much bigger repair.

We cleared a cinema's gutters that had blocked completely, with water backing up into the building. On another job, we repaired deteriorating brickwork at a venue in Muswell Hill, where crumbling mortar and loose bricks were letting moisture in. Both were caught before they became structural problems.

Our building maintenance team clears gutters and downpipes, checks roofs for loose tiles and damaged flashing, and repairs brickwork before the worst of the weather arrives.

5. Frozen pipes

January (and February these days) is consistently colder than December, and that's when pipes freeze. Water expands as it freezes and splits the pipe, and you often won't know until it thaws and water starts to leak.

Buildings left unheated over Christmas face the highest risk, along with pipes running through roof spaces, cellars and external walls. Insulating exposed pipework, keeping the heating on low in empty areas and knowing where your stopcock is will prevent most of the damage.

Our guide to getting your building ready for winter covers pipe protection and the rest of your autumn checks in more detail.

Why it happens every year

These failures share the same causes. December pushes your systems harder than any other month. Small faults get left because everything still seems to be working. Then the cold arrives and turns a worn part into a breakdown.

The timing is predictable, which makes the problems preventable.

What to do now

Book your checks before Christmas, while you can choose the date and work can fit around your trading hours. Get your heating serviced, electrics and emergency lighting tested, and roofs and gutters checked.

If you're on a planned maintenance programme with us, we can build these checks into your schedule every autumn, so you don't have to remember.

If something fails anyway, our 24-hour emergency call-out team is available 365 days a year. Our engineers arrive in fully stocked vans and aim to fix the problem on the first visit.

Call us on 0333 344 5949 or get in touch for a free quote.