I never use them where they are covered up but it's handy to have a few Sharkbites to fit your plumbing size. A Shatkbite dead end cap can save the day. Capping of leaking run while allowing rest of house to have water. You should have a interior shut off installed. Most municipalities around here require them as well as back flow valve. People around here are use to harsh winters and go to pains to drain the exterior water faucets.
Frozen/burst pipe nightmare...
- Thread starter Capt Steve
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Ruger Nut
US Veteran
I would have soldered a pipe into the female connector, then put it on the valve. SMH!
Does anyone else notice that things go wrong right after friday at 5:30 pm
when work week ends and time and a half starts...
God help you if on a Holiday or a Sunday for double time rates !!
I had a Oil furnace go out in prime time and the 2.5 hours cost me ..... $741.
Everyone have a happy & better new year.
when work week ends and time and a half starts...
God help you if on a Holiday or a Sunday for double time rates !!
I had a Oil furnace go out in prime time and the 2.5 hours cost me ..... $741.
Everyone have a happy & better new year.
DWalt
Member
Two comments about the video. First, valve replacement works if you have access to the exposed piping inside the house, e.g., in a basement. You can't access the interior piping on most houses as it is inside the wall unless you tear off the wallboard. Second is the advice given at the end about the washing machine hoses is very good. Almost 15 years ago, I had a rubber washing machine hose split. I happened to be home at the time, and while there was some damage, I shut the water off quickly. Had I not been home, it would have been an absolute catastrophe. I replaced the rubber hoses with hoses that have exterior stainless steel braiding reinforcement. That will prevent a hose rupture. I believe it is a good idea to replace washing machine hoses with new ones maybe every 5 years or so. Another observation - I don't remember ever seeing screws that can be driven into concrete before. Concrete nails, yes, but not screws.
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bigwheelzip
Absent Comrade
Those guys on This Old House may not always be on the bleeding edge, but they do bring out interesting stuff.
Rich Trethewey, and now his son, are good ambassadors for their trade.
Sent from my motorola one 5G using Tapatalk
Yes there are screws for concrete. I use them all the time. They come in sizes and drives. You must drill appropriate size hole for them. The type I use are TapCon. If right size hole is not used you are wasting your time.
Houses built on slabs are the worst for plumbing problems, unless they have dedicated mud type room for utilities and HWT and HVAC. The only thing worse are house trailers. Plumbing and electrical are usually cut and dried problems. What has to be torn out and replaced is the PIA.
Be wary of Clean Up Companies who also do restorations. I have been involved in several cases of bursted water lines and electrical fires. The estimates given for restorations were as much as 500% of the cost of having local tradesmen do the work. They depend on home owner being lazy because insurance is paying the bill. and the company pads bill for owners deductible. In most cases the locals will come do necessary emergency repairs ASAP. The cosmetics may have to be scheduled.
I get 2 Christmas Cards every year. One from Lowes and one from Roto-Rooter. Rentals will drive you to drink.
I have those screws in every size. Best thing in the world if you have a concrete block home.
I've hit rocks while using my hammer drill, and it kinda messed up the hole. I just cut a piece of weed trimmer line and put in the hole. Screw will tighten up perfectly.
DWalt
Member
I seldom have a need for a concrete screw, but I'll keep in mind that they exist. I don't have one of those hammer drills. If I needed to screw something into concrete, I would probably just use a carbide drill (I have a set of those) to make a hole and use a plastic screw anchor. Next time I am at Lowe's or HD, I'll see if they have any concrete screws. Using weed trimmer line seems like a good idea,
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Justin T
Member
I had 6 busted pipes in the freeze last year. Me and a plumber friend chased them down for three days-two in the attic and four in north-facing walls. Painful, painful process. Fortunately, since we were watching closely we didnt have a lot of water damage-just made a lot of holes in the drywall. I kept all the cut-out pieces I could get to and am going to mount them on a board.
Sharkbite fittings are life savers.
Anyway, sorry to hear about your situation. But you seem to have the right perspective on it…
Sharkbite fittings are life savers.
Anyway, sorry to hear about your situation. But you seem to have the right perspective on it…
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I hope I'm not jinxing myself but I've lived in 3 different mobile homes, 2 100 year old houses and have never had frozen water pipes. Fingers crossed!
But..... Had a frozen sewer line several years ago, I'd been on vacation for 3 weeks After a few of flushings "things" started come up the basement drain. No real inside damage but a expensive thaw job.
But..... Had a frozen sewer line several years ago, I'd been on vacation for 3 weeks After a few of flushings "things" started come up the basement drain. No real inside damage but a expensive thaw job.
No experience with frozen pipes, but many years ago when I lived in a rowhouse my wife and I came home from a night out to find the carpet wet downstairs. Exploring I found that it was only wet on the East side of the house. I went out front to the neighbor's house on that side to find a waterfall coming from under his front door. He was, of course, on vacation visiting his Mom. I went into the alley, found his meter, and shut off the water to his house. But the damage had been done. My only damage was to the carpeting. His downstairs had to basically be gutted.
The cause was a burst washing machine hose. That's when I switched to the braided stainless steel hoses on mine. That, and shutting off the water to it when we leave town for more than a day.
The cause was a burst washing machine hose. That's when I switched to the braided stainless steel hoses on mine. That, and shutting off the water to it when we leave town for more than a day.
Frank46
US Veteran
Tapcons are a lifesaver especially since with most packages you get the carbide drill bit included. Different drives such as Phillips, or screwdrives. But the best ones are the ones that you can fit a socket too. And yes I keep a corded hammer drill handy. I keep a supply on hand in various sizes, came in handy even for general home use. Gave up on using nails as fasteners a long time ago. I use up to 3" in length depending on what I'm doing. I hate starting a job around the house and not having the proper tools and fasteners. Frank
PEX pipe beats copper and solder all day and WINTER long. Even for repairs you can cut out a chunk of galvanized, copper or pvc and with a couple shark bites and a piece of PEX and your back in business.
Frost free spigot need to be free of water when it freezes. An attached hose will not let the frost free portion drain and it will freeze and burst the pipe.
I used very little metal plumbing in my house. PEX pipe and the band clamp connector. Freeze PEX solid and once thawed it is fine. It will not corrode or slowly fill with build up. Easy modifications and cut ins. Except for drain piping, shut of and service valves, and frost fee spigots it is all PEX
I was a pipe fitter and have run miles and miles of threaded pipe, welded steel pipe, fused poly pipe up to 24",, copper, compression flared and soldered even welded it, PVC. I wouldn't use anything but PEX in a house
Frost free spigot need to be free of water when it freezes. An attached hose will not let the frost free portion drain and it will freeze and burst the pipe.
I used very little metal plumbing in my house. PEX pipe and the band clamp connector. Freeze PEX solid and once thawed it is fine. It will not corrode or slowly fill with build up. Easy modifications and cut ins. Except for drain piping, shut of and service valves, and frost fee spigots it is all PEX
I was a pipe fitter and have run miles and miles of threaded pipe, welded steel pipe, fused poly pipe up to 24",, copper, compression flared and soldered even welded it, PVC. I wouldn't use anything but PEX in a house
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Sorry for your plumbing disaster.
In my home I installed inside the house shut-off valves and every Fall I drain all the outside Spigots. If you know how to cut and sweat copper - it's a very easy job. If you don''t you might want to learn - it's not that hard. Worst case scenario, get them professionally installed and be done with frozen Spigots!
Hopefully your clean up will go well - watch out for mold!
In my home I installed inside the house shut-off valves and every Fall I drain all the outside Spigots. If you know how to cut and sweat copper - it's a very easy job. If you don''t you might want to learn - it's not that hard. Worst case scenario, get them professionally installed and be done with frozen Spigots!
Hopefully your clean up will go well - watch out for mold!
OLDSTER
Member
YUCK !!!!!! To use an overused adage; "been there done that" !!.
OP
Capt Steve
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Thanks guys...
OP here and we are 5 days down the road with repairs progressing nicely. With the damaged areas thoroughly dried out {finally} they opened up the drywall along the lower 1 - 2' and of course found m ore moisture which is now gone.
I spent most of every day at home keeping the wood burning stove cranked up heating the house to 80 degrees. Running the electric furnace was impossible due to the high draw of all of their equipment. A big shout out/thank you to the professionals from Sunshine Restoration, these guys are awesome!
They sprayed a lot of antimicrobial on all of the surfaces to inhibit any possible mold formation but getting everything bone dry of course was job one. Hopefully the new drywall will be going in first thing next week followed by paint and the carpet replacement. Our insurance is with Liberty Mutual and they have been great to work with and I anticipate no problems settling out when all is done.
We spent the last 4 nights in a nearby hotel enjoying the locals only rate of $341 OTD and a nice Comfort Inn at that. LM will pick up the hotel bill and our meals as we could not cook at home due to all of the equipment running and spinning my meter like a gyroscope. The fans and humidifier/heater should be removed shortly and we can start putting our house back together.
It has been a PITA for us old folks {71 and 70} but we are moving forward and as noted... nobody died.
OP here and we are 5 days down the road with repairs progressing nicely. With the damaged areas thoroughly dried out {finally} they opened up the drywall along the lower 1 - 2' and of course found m ore moisture which is now gone.
I spent most of every day at home keeping the wood burning stove cranked up heating the house to 80 degrees. Running the electric furnace was impossible due to the high draw of all of their equipment. A big shout out/thank you to the professionals from Sunshine Restoration, these guys are awesome!
They sprayed a lot of antimicrobial on all of the surfaces to inhibit any possible mold formation but getting everything bone dry of course was job one. Hopefully the new drywall will be going in first thing next week followed by paint and the carpet replacement. Our insurance is with Liberty Mutual and they have been great to work with and I anticipate no problems settling out when all is done.
We spent the last 4 nights in a nearby hotel enjoying the locals only rate of $341 OTD and a nice Comfort Inn at that. LM will pick up the hotel bill and our meals as we could not cook at home due to all of the equipment running and spinning my meter like a gyroscope. The fans and humidifier/heater should be removed shortly and we can start putting our house back together.
It has been a PITA for us old folks {71 and 70} but we are moving forward and as noted... nobody died.
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OP
Capt Steve
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OP with an update...
Another week has gone by and not much has happened. I got the restoration companies estimate today, it came in at just over $8,000 which is pretty close to what i was expecting. Now Liberty Mutual wants another 5 - 7 days to review it. I will "encourage" them to speed that up a bit next week. No further repairs can be done until LM signs off.
In the meantime our house looks like a bomb went off. Everything that was in the master bedroom is strewn throughout the rest of the house. The master is developing a musty smell as the carpet and pad have not yet been removed though the restoration company is scheduled to come and pull it up on Monday.
Looks like it will be another couple of weeks but once we get the green light from LM things should start moving with the remaining restoration repairs looking like 3 or 4 days + the replacement carpet install... sigh.
Film at eleven.
Another week has gone by and not much has happened. I got the restoration companies estimate today, it came in at just over $8,000 which is pretty close to what i was expecting. Now Liberty Mutual wants another 5 - 7 days to review it. I will "encourage" them to speed that up a bit next week. No further repairs can be done until LM signs off.
In the meantime our house looks like a bomb went off. Everything that was in the master bedroom is strewn throughout the rest of the house. The master is developing a musty smell as the carpet and pad have not yet been removed though the restoration company is scheduled to come and pull it up on Monday.
Looks like it will be another couple of weeks but once we get the green light from LM things should start moving with the remaining restoration repairs looking like 3 or 4 days + the replacement carpet install... sigh.
Film at eleven.
How much extra are they going to pay to take care of the mold that will result from them dragging their feet?
You guys have scared the pizzzle out of me. I have one hose at the front of the house I forgot to remove. Just did it, and whoo whee I got lucky, the line was empty. We have frost free spigots that drain. I must have drained the hose but didn't disconnect it. That spigot leaks at the valve handle anyway so I'm sure all the water was drained out before the freezing temps arrived.
