It finally happened... what a week it has been(Marty Don't Read, Too Long, You're Welcome)

Hoody

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Steven Hoodlebrink
We had temps in the negatives and low teens for a week or better. When my son is not here I just trickled the water line so the line didn't freeze up. Well, his toilet needed rebuilt because it would run constantly and I shut it off after he left Thursday and kept the sink trickling instead. Sunday I decide to head to home depot and get a rebuild kit.

Get home get the toilet fixed, flush it and see if it keeps running - woohoo I did something right for once! Well, nature called so figured I might as well test it out and adjuster the water level. On the third flush, water hit my feet so I grab the plunger and water starts shooting out of the sink.

I grab my little trusty infrared thermometer and head under the house. Part of the pipe is showing 40-50 degrees until I get to an 8" section that is reading in the teens and 20's. It was at the moment I knew it finally happened to me.

So I begin wondering if I really want to run extension cords out and sit there with a hair dryer or heat gun. Not feeling it, so let's just fill the tub with hot water. Wouldn't you know it, water starts coming out the bottom of the toilet into the bathroom....:hopeless:

Luckily the rest of the house drained fine as his bathroom is the highest part in the main sewer line. In the meantime water kept coming in from under the toilet as I'm standing there ripping off every profanity known.

So there I was, armed with a Bissell spot machine and the legs of a cheetah(haha just kidding I'm short) to dump the little tank down our master bath toilet across the house. Did that from 10:30 to about 4 AM filling the tub once more the ice finally cleared and everything drained again. Turns out, the pitch in the line flattened out and while we were in the negative degree temps I was trickling his faucet and just causing a big ice block to form. That part was the easy fix. But how water was coming down from the bottom of the toilet I wasn't sure if I split a pipe or not. So I said screw it I'll deal with it in the morning.

Catch 3 hours of sleep, wake up, fill the tub up, pull the drain and run outside check for leaks, we're good to go.

Called a WDR company we use to clean contents for, reach their answering service, owner recognized my name and personally called me back and asked what I had going on. He sends a guy out and his is where it gets fun....for me. I'm tired as I've only gotten 9 hours of sleep in the last 72 and my son has asthma and breathing issues and I just want this taken care of.

It's a small bathroom and I was able to keep the damage to a minimum but my vanity cabinet is wet, exterior dry wall is wet about 1.5" up, and a penetrating meter tells me under my vinyl is wet but luckily it didn't cross over into my son's room, and water did run down into my duct vent that has insulated duct work. This guy gets here, looks at the damage underneath(insulation I pulled to check out the pipes) comes inside uses a non-penetrating meter checks the walls, not the cabinet nor the floor. Tells me they're going to replace a section of duct work, replace insulation and plastic barrier, and spray antimicrobial up on the pipe and subfloor from underneath. That's it.

This was my face at that moment:

disappointed dog.jpg
 
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Hoody

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Steven Hoodlebrink
But wait there's more!

So I tell him okay cool, send me your estimate. I didn't want him in my house anymore, frankly I wanted to knock his teeth out but I'm not as much of a hot head as I use to be. He leaves, I call another local friend ask to borrow a HEPA 500 and some lay flat. Go back under the house, cut the affected duct work off and seal it off. Use plastic and create a containment barrier with the doorway and run the layflat out the vent hole and outside, create my door, and call it a day. It isn't perfect but it'll work for now. The next day the adjuster shows up and I show him around, we bond over bowling and pool. Really nice guy and he was impressed with setting up the containment. He asks what I do, told him I use to do restoration we share some WDR war stories. I show him the estimate I was given from the contractor and asks if I've agreed to that and said no, I haven't signed any work auth papers yet. He says good I wouldn't either. So I tell him what I want to see done which is remove and replace cabinet, vinyl floor, affected subfloor, drywall, insulation and duct work. Not trying to get a full remodel out of a little water but want it safe and clean for my son. I'm happy with the outcome of what the insurance is going to pay.

Now I get to have a conversation with the owner of the contracting company because I'm not impressed with this guy that was sent out at all. At one time I did have a good business relationship with him when he was just an estimator before he bought the company. I want him to know either his guy is a jerk or he's leaving the company's neck out.
 

Desk Jockey

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Rico Suave
If water would have gotten beneath the cabinet we would have drilled the toe kick. :shifty:
Pumped some hot dry air in there with a Phoenix Compact 20 and pulled the base and drilled the wall. Probably just run the HVAC to let the air flow keep any microbial activity in check until you get an HVAC guy out there.

Small easy job! :winky:
 

Nomad74

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It would have been so must easier to just go through the trouble of wrapping that drain pipe with heater tape or blowing it with a hair dryer. You definitely took the hard route. Sounds like a fun night.
 

Hoody

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Bowling Green, Ohio
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Steven Hoodlebrink
It would have been so must easier to just go through the trouble of wrapping that drain pipe with heater tape or blowing it with a hair dryer. You definitely took the hard route. Sounds like a fun night.

There is heater tape on there now. A little over a week ago I spent 4 hours thawing out fresh water lines that luckily didn't burst and wasn't having it with this. Sometimes my own stubborn self gets the best of me.

If water would have gotten beneath the cabinet we would have drilled the toe kick. :shifty:
Pumped some hot dry air in there with a Phoenix Compact 20 and pulled the base and drilled the wall. Probably just run the HVAC to let the air flow keep any microbial activity in check until you get an HVAC guy out there.

Small easy job! :winky:

Yeah nothing complicated I just wasn't impressed with the guy in how he wanted to neglect the water trapped between the subfloor and laminate considering it would be considered Cat 3.

You knew I’d read that whole diatribe when you mentioned my name!

You buttwad!

You're right, I did. You're becoming predictable, kind of like Bawb. :icon_razz:
 
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