Saturday I went to get a rifle from the safe and noticed a black mold on the wall between the safe and the laundry room. The carpet felt a little wet too. I thought I had missed cleaning up some water in the laundry room from when I had cleaned out the filter and it had seeped into the wall and carpet from the adjoining floor. I cleaned the mold off with bleach and told Charlie about it. We figured we'd have to move the safe to clean off the wall further back where I couldn't reach.

Sunday I emptied out the safe and when we went to move it, it was stuck to the carpet -- by the rust. Behind the safe was black mold.

Charlie cut out the sheetrock at the bottom and there we observed the dripping. Then he cut out more sheetrock. In the laundry room on opposite side is the manifold panel for the house water system. We opened the entire area to find a pipe junction leaking.

I had to haul everything out of there. The carpet is ripped out and now the leak is diverted to a bucket until we get the plumber over here this morning. The living room, though, is cleaned up and everything is neatly put away again. I moved my dry goods to another location and put the safe somewhere else I can live with.

The silver lining is that the food pantry has been moved to another location for good, the safe is in a good location and since I dread taking out and replacing all the contents again, once we get the pipe situation straightened out, the closet re-sheetrocked and re-floored, I'm planning on using that room for reloading if I can keep Charlie from using it as a beer room first.

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Your homeowners insurance may cover some of the expense. Were any of the guns damaged?

Ouch. You definitely have my sympathy!

Make sure you clean up the mold REAL well, bleach the whole area a couple times. That stuff will wreak havoc on your lungs.

I've yet to be convinced about the flexible plumbing. I know it's less expensive and much easier to install than copper, but it seems like prime chewing stuff for rodents, and somehow pressure-fit joints don't impress me as much as good soldered copper... or maybe I'm just old and curmudgeonly at my young age.

Those PEX joints are easy to repair with the push-on fittings. Shouldn't even require a plumber, just a visit to the plumbing aisle at Lowe's.

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VIVERE MILITARE EST

Fortunately there didn't seem to be moisture damage in the safe. I wiped down everything with a silicone rag before putting it all away.

I was shocked to find the mold. I am in that closet at least once a day for either supplies or the safe. I just can't believe what was going on.

The problem in this area is acid water. We have to invest in a neutalizer and then a water softener because the acid has been disolving the minerals.

Make sure you cut ALL of the affected drywall, the use a 10% solution of bleach/water to treat the wall studs. Enfield is right about the push on fitting-even Home Depot has them now. You might want to replace studs and lower plate if it is not a load bearing wall.

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jj

I have to say I've never seen a water distribution system in a home like that. That's new to me. Sorry about the leak, at least it didn't blow off completely and flood the inner wall and floors. Good luck with the repairs.

That's a bummer! I had a similar situation, but no mold. It seems we had a leaky toilet, discovered by the exterminator on his yearly inspection - apparently it had been leaking for some time. We had to replace the entire bathroom floor.

Pete

Isn't it fun! I just had my whole house re piped. Our leak started in the overhead pipes and caved in our master BR closet ceiling.. We had pin hole leaks starting in the copper pipe. It's now all CVPC.

Some of the construction around here used the manifold system until they figured out they were using twice as much pipe. I kinda like it as you can isolated just one section like a circuit breaker.

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Still Running Against the Wind

+1

PEX makes everything SO easy. Fixed frozen/busted copper pipes in the basement in just a few minutes. Another thing about PEX is that it won't bust when water freezes... the stuff will expand.

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This thread is educating me (I think.) I've never seen such water supply devices like "manifolds" with lots of little bright colored plastic pipes. Looks like a centipede of sorts.

And push on fittings? I'd never guessed.

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C & L

Barb,
That distribution system should never have been enclosed in the wall IMHO. Charlie might want to build some access panel doors.
I have my safe elevated on pressure treated 4x4's just to avoid a situation like that. I know it's not the prettiest set-up but I've had no problems from direct floor contact.

I am glad the you have no rusty firearms. We had a similar situation last year. Our leak was the pex pipe at the connection with the ice maker tube behind the refrigerator. The thing must have leaked for a year or more. Our hardwood flooring in the dining room and breakfast room started warping and buckling. Our insurance is with "Farm Bureau". They sent an adjuster out, he looked for about fifteen minutes and said that they would handle it. I did not cost me anything other than being a pain in the neck. They pulled up the hardwood flooring in both rooms, put in dehumidifiers and then put down new flooring and then refinished all hardwood in the house so it would all match. Get your home owners insurance to take a look at it.

There should be the panel on the other side of the wall, like a circuit box. All that's there is a bunch of shut of valves. They probably had to open the wall to get behind it to fix a fitting.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Yes, there is an access panel, but the leak was above the panel shut-off valves where it went made the elbow to transport the hot water up to the master bath. You can see in the photo that the leak was not in the easily accessible area of the panel.

Barb,

You might want to check that electrical outlet under the leak and make sure no water got in there and corroded anything.

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with wings as eagles

Way back...knew a guy who left for his two week Natl Guard duty after replacing his washer. Came home and apparently the connection at the washer came off and he had water running for 10 or more days. His SINGLE drain in the basement got covered by a magazine floating by...he ended up with water 4' up the basement walls.

We had a connection come off after the pot heads who delivered and installed our new refigerator with ice maker...failed to tighten the hook up properly. HHad to replace the entire kitchen floor, carpet , etc. Luckily the appliance store paid, but still...a major PITA.

I can feel your pain.

FN in MT

What Rimfired said.

I work in the water supply industry and have also never seen the manifold enclosed completely. One of the porposes of the manifold is that each individual line is valved, so that particular fixture/line can be serviced without shutting down the entire system.

I would also agree that a door be installed in front of the manifold. And this can be neatly done, trimmed and painted so as to not be very noticable.

Oops! Should bave read the entire thread before responding! Nevermind, Barb!

Orlando is not immune..we also had the pipes redone after 13 years.. $3200.00.. later..

Barb.. looks like you got it under control.. good luck.. with the plumber..

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

I had stored my gun safe in a friends basement during a move, his water softener leaked salty water all over the basement floor. The salty water found its way into my safe through bolt holes I had drilled to bolt the safe to the floor. An old S&W Heavy Duty was the only casualty, a gunsmith friend cleaned it up and reblued it for me at no charge. Cleaning up the safe and the guns was the real PITA.

To those asking, that looks like distribution for hot water heating? correct? Our minor leak was a drain pipe drilled into while putting in closet shelving. Done by the contractor, not me. When I saw the damp wall I investigated & plugged it up.

Wow............sorry to hear of this Barb. Just be sure the guns didn't get moist on the inside, they may be nice on the outside and rust solid on the inside. If there's any question, take them apart or take the wood/stocks off and use WD40 to spray into them, it should displace moisture. Of course then you have a slippery mess to clean up.
Good luck, it seems you have the situation under control.

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Lynnie, Professional Pest

YES! to the push-on fittings!
I put my safe on a home built dolly with big wheels...easy to move when you have to.
Mold? Make your solution with bleach and water, use a garden sprayer on a fine mist setting. Wiping with a rag isn't enough.
Glad your toys are OK!

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Term limits!

I used to think bleach was the answer.....it will actually cause the black mold to out-gas according to a friend of mine who is in the mold remediation business. Hydrogen Peroxide is a much better killer of the spores.

moldlink

Time to build that walk-in safe!

I guess I'm going to spray with hydrogen peroxide.

My husband wanted to install a hanging fluorescent lamp and I balked at that hideous thing but the mold remediation site said fluorescent lighting will kill airborne mold spores.

If there is any chance of water getting to your safe, it should be up off the floor. At minimum a piece of 2" rigid foam insulation and some like sized spacers should be between it and the floor, and a couple more inches wouldn't hurt.

Interesting info about the hydrogen peroxide. I would not have guessed that. Glad there was no damage to your firearms - but the inconvenience is bad enough.

I was always a bleach user.....trust me....we see black mold here in FL a lot!! I have always used bleach. I just learned the peroxide method two weeks ago.

I have heard of more than one case of entire safes that were not bolted down being stolen. I understand the need for it to be raised off of the floor but would recommmend finding a way to securely bolt it down.

Bolt down/secure the 4X4s, then bolt down the safe to the 4X4s.

Pete