Burst Pipes Discussion

[Ares]

Woke up to water pouring up out of the concrete in my garage.

It was flowing downhill towards the door and then escaping under/around and out into the street, which was a small ice rink.

Public Works visit #1: The guy shuts off my water, supposedly, and leaves.

I call my Pops and he comes out to look at it with me, see if we can fix it together or if I should call someone to do it.

He shuts off the water at the meter, and the flow out to the street doesn't stop, so the leak, in theory, must be in the main line running to the meter from the street.

Public Works visit #2: Three guys come out including guy from visit #1 and they check the buffalo box again, and claim the water is shut off. My Dad and I both argue we see a flow coming out, it has to be water under pressure. They maintain that its likely just ground water flowing out, and it'll stop eventually. They maintain the line is closed and water isn't running between the buffalo box and my water meter in the back of the garage.

This sucks, but we go rent a jackhammer and bust up the concrete all along the wall, with water flowing downhill at us as we go.

I go out and buy a submersible pump off the shelf at Loews and begin pumping the water out of the channel and into the street by the sewer, while my Pops is jackhammering away more and more concrete.

We are hoping, at this point, that we can find the leak while the pump drains out the supposed ground water, but it keeps flowing like it is under pressure, and I can barely drain it 50% while continuously running the pump.

We conclude the Public works guys must have just not closed the line fully.

Public Works visit #3: The nice girl at Public Works sends me the night crew, so a different trio this time, and the crew had an old timer, so I was happy. We (somewhat unkindly) unloaded on them about our frustrations with the previous crew claiming this was just ground water. But I wanted to make sure they understood we were not gonna take some bullshit "Eh not my problem" answer, and they clearly understood. They went to work on that buffalo box and made absolutely-fucking-sure it was closed, then they opened it to see if the flow to the street would gush even more and it didn't, it remained steady.

The older gent on the crew asks about the building and the units and whatnot, and takes a walk around the corner and reports back that the neighbor directly behind me (This is a 4 unit Townhouse type construction) has water pouring out of their garage.

I call my next-door neighbor who tells me the lady behind me was put in a nursing home recently, and her niece is meant to be handling the house and preparing to sell it, but no one is living in the home.


TL;DR: My neighbor behind me has a burst pipe sending water under the house and into my garage.

Public Works went and shut off that unit's water, and right now we're waiting to see if the flow ceases overnight.

If it doesn't, I have no fucking clue what to do next, but I plan to call the HOA Management company in the morning to report what happened.

My neighbor said she was putting everything I told her into an e-mail to the entire HOA tonight anyhow, so they should be aware.

 

[Tjodalv]

Have fun man...

My only fun with winter piping issues was when I was growing up my family owned a 100+ year old hunting/fishing cabin in PA directly next to the Delaware River (Mt. Bethel, if you're curious). Being an old as **** log cabin it stood roughly 3' off the ground on its pilings. Running water had been installed leading from a natural spring on the property sometime in the '50s. My job at the end of the usable season (no heat, central river rock built hearth) was to shimmy under the cabin after the water had been turned off and open a valve to let the remaining water in the pipes drain. Have you ******* ever seen a cave cricket?

My young ass had to shimmy through thousands of those fucking things to help prep the place for winter. Good times...

 

[Ares]

Have fun man...

My only fun with winter piping issues was when I was growing up my family owned a 100+ year old hunting/fishing cabin in PA directly next to the Delaware River (Mt. Bethel, if you're curious). Being an old as **** log cabin it stood roughly 3' off the ground on its pilings. Running water had been installed leading from a natural spring on the property sometime in the '50s. My job at the end of the usable season (no heat, central river rock built hearth) was to shimmy under the cabin after the water had been turned off and open a valve to let the remaining water in the pipes drain. Have you ******* ever seen a cave cricket?

My young ass had to shimmy through thousands of those fucking things to help prep the place for winter. Good times...

I am actually raising 3/4" crickets downstairs for my baby grass spiders, but I've never seen a cave cricket, that's a big'n.

Crickets are misleading in appearance to a kid, in the dark it just looks like a spider got swoll af.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

That's a hell of a story. And jackhammering concrete in January would not be fun lol. I don't know much about HOA's but will they replace that concrete for you?

 

[Ares]

That's a hell of a story. And jackhammering concrete in January would not be fun lol. I don't know much about HOA's but will they replace that concrete for you?

Neighbor lady claimed on the phone to me that the HOA should somehow cover it.

But if I am being honest, I'd prefer to just rent a machine and do it myself with my Dad as soon as the weather permits.

I personally have mixed and poured an obnoxious amount of concrete while working on projects with my Dad.

You buy the concrete mix, get a hose, and rent the machine, mix, pour, level/smooth/etc.

I'd bet we do it cheaper, faster, safer, and higher quality work.

Every story I hear about the HOA setting up to have work done, sounds like a fucking nightmare.

I'd love to hear them yell at me about footing the bill and pouring my own concrete inside my own garage lol.

Honestly, I should get them to hire my Dad to consult on all this repair work that they cannot get right, he's one of those dudes who just knows house stuff and can smell bullshit from miles away.

 

[Ares]

I remember in college getting a notice from our landlord that detailed how cold weather causes pipes to burst and to keep our thermostat at least at 63 and to leave our faucets on a tiny trickle, moving water don't freeze up as easily.

I've been preventing burst pipes everywhere I've gone ever since.

Now ima have to start kicking in doors every time the weather changes.... setting faucets to trickling, then stomping away with promises to fix the door.

 

[Tjodalv]

I am actually raising 3/4" crickets downstairs for my baby grass spiders, but I've never seen a cave cricket, that's a big'n.

Crickets are misleading in appearance to a kid, in the dark it just looks like a spider got swoll af.

Pretty much. I used to have bug fights when I spent my summers there (catch the weirdest shit I could find and hold a tournament). Ever since, two insects have terrified me.

The Assassin Bug (Wheel Bug):

Think 3/4" long mosquito that preys by sucking anything out of whatever.


And helgramites:

 

[Ares]

Pretty much. I used to have bug fights when I spent my summers there (catch the weirdest shit I could find and hold a tournament). Ever since, two insects have terrified me.

The Assassin Bug (Wheel Bug):

Think 3/4" long mosquito that preys by sucking anything out of whatever.


And helgramites:

And these ******* are why I decided to raise grass spiders to defend my home lol.

 

[Ares]

The channel we bored out of the concrete is mostly dry now and no water is flowing at all any longer.

Looks like the shut off of the water flowing into the home behind mine was the solution.

Need to get this channel as dry as we can and then see about pouring concrete to fill in where we dug.

I am thinking we'll opt to wait for the weather to warm up, but I never know with my Pops lol he may wanna just pour it today.

 

[Scoot26]

The channel we bored out of the concrete is mostly dry now and no water is flowing at all any longer.

Looks like the shut off of the water flowing into the home behind mine was the solution.

Need to get this channel as dry as we can and then see about pouring concrete to fill in where we dug.

I am thinking we'll opt to wait for the weather to warm up, but I never know with my Pops lol he may wanna just pour it today.

So is there any actual water damage to your house? Or it just flowed out via the concrete? Either way, I'd be most concerned about water damage in places you can't see.

 

[Ares]

So is there any actual water damage to your house? Or it just flowed out via the concrete? Either way, I'd be most concerned about water damage in places you can't see.

No water damage to the inside of my house, but my primary worry is the same as yours.... wtf damage did that water do to the foundation? The walls between units? The shared sewer lines?

The lady from our HOA whom I spoke to said they were well aware of the situation, though I kept giving her information she didn't have, so it was kinda odd she didn't seem to want to hear from me.

I got off the phone and wrote it up in an e-mail for the record and sent it to the HOA board, the lady I talked to, my neighbor, and the owner of the Management company.

She said on the phone they had people looking at the unit behind and were supposedly on top of trying to assess the damage.

TBH they sound like dipshits who have no idea how to hire someone who won't bullshit them.

I am more and more firm in my desire to just fix my concrete on my own and not waste my time trying to get them to repair my garage.

If they find major damage and want to rip walls out or repour major patches of concrete, then I'll work with them on that and they can obviously coordinate the work and the payments.

But fixing this concrete/asphalt should be, at most, a couple hundred dollars.

Sounds like a large sum of money until you think about the amount of time and hassle you'd spend getting someone else to do it.

 

[Scoot26]

No water damage to the inside of my house, but my primary worry is the same as yours.... wtf damage did that water do to the foundation? The walls between units? The shared sewer lines?

The lady from our HOA whom I spoke to said they were well aware of the situation, though I kept giving her information she didn't have, so it was kinda odd she didn't seem to want to hear from me.

I got off the phone and wrote it up in an e-mail for the record and sent it to the HOA board, the lady I talked to, my neighbor, and the owner of the Management company.

She said on the phone they had people looking at the unit behind and were supposedly on top of trying to assess the damage.

TBH they sound like dipshits who have no idea how to hire someone who won't bullshit them.

I am more and more firm in my desire to just fix my concrete on my own and not waste my time trying to get them to repair my garage.

If they find major damage and want to rip walls out or repour major patches of concrete, then I'll work with them on that and they can obviously coordinate the work and the payments.

But fixing this concrete/asphalt should be, at most, a couple hundred dollars.

Sounds like a large sum of money until you think about the amount of time and hassle you'd spend getting someone else to do it.

A lot of it is probably dependent on what the damage to other person's place is.

Unless it's a problem that involved the shared walls, yes I would fix your own concrete.. The HOA may not even want to fix it in the end, given that's inside your unit.

Luckily I never had this kind of problem when I lived in a townhouse. Only pipe leak we had was contained to our unit.

But I've lived through two polar vortexes and a semi-one without any pipes bursting, so go me.

 

[Ares]

A lot of it is probably dependent on what the damage to other person's place is.

Unless it's a problem that involved the shared walls, yes I would fix your own concrete.. The HOA may not even want to fix it in the end, given that's inside your unit.

Luckily I never had this kind of problem when I lived in a townhouse. Only pipe leak we had was contained to our unit.

But I've lived through two polar vortexes and a semi-one without any pipes bursting, so go me.

Burst pipes are really easy to avoid.

When it gets cold, set your fucking water to trickle.

This was a situation where a woman was left in charge of selling a house and my guess is it never dawned on her to be concerned about the actual infrastructure of the house, considering no one was living there.

You cannot simply shut off your HVAC, close the door, lock it, and walk away.

But that appears to be what this lady did with her Aunt's house.

People don't seem to consider how they impact others in our society any longer.

 

[Scoot26]

Burst pipes are really easy to avoid.

When it gets cold, set your fucking water to trickle.

I don't even do that.. really I just make sure ever level of the house is above 60 (no one seems to agree on the threshold of temp as I've seen it varied), but it's really hard to keep my basement above 60 this time of year. The rest of the house is no problem. I also use multiple sinks regularly throughout the day, so water runs plenty.

This was a situation where a woman was left in charge of selling a house and my guess is it never dawned on her to be concerned about the actual infrastructure of the house, considering no one was living there.

You cannot simply shut off your HVAC, close the door, lock it, and walk away.

But that appears to be what this lady did with her Aunt's house.

People don't seem to consider how they impact others in our society any longer.

I imagine this is more so a case of her just being dumb and thinking "no one is home, nothing needs to be on." Not thinking beyond that either.

You'd be surprised the amount of people who just have zero experience with home ownership.. even those who do, who still just don't think about these things.

 

[Urblock]

No water damage to the inside of my house, but my primary worry is the same as yours.... wtf damage did that water do to the foundation? The walls between units? The shared sewer lines?

The lady from our HOA whom I spoke to said they were well aware of the situation, though I kept giving her information she didn't have, so it was kinda odd she didn't seem to want to hear from me.

I got off the phone and wrote it up in an e-mail for the record and sent it to the HOA board, the lady I talked to, my neighbor, and the owner of the Management company.

She said on the phone they had people looking at the unit behind and were supposedly on top of trying to assess the damage.

TBH they sound like dipshits who have no idea how to hire someone who won't bullshit them.

I am more and more firm in my desire to just fix my concrete on my own and not waste my time trying to get them to repair my garage.

If they find major damage and want to rip walls out or repour major patches of concrete, then I'll work with them on that and they can obviously coordinate the work and the payments.

But fixing this concrete/asphalt should be, at most, a couple hundred dollars.

Sounds like a large sum of money until you think about the amount of time and hassle you'd spend getting someone else to do it.

DO not do anything without getting at least 2 bids from contractors that do this kind of work. Report this to your insurance agent and let them hassle the HOA idiots. You try to fix it and you own it if things go sideways. This is why you pay for Insurance. **** HOAs.

 

[Scoot26]

DO not do anything without getting at least 2 bids from contractors that do this kind of work. Report this to your insurance agent and let them hassle the HOA idiots. You try to fix it and you own it if things go sideways. This is why you pay for Insurance. **** HOAs.

He's also the one who jackhammered it.. so I mean the HOA can already say he's at fault. There's some nice potential legal issues here.

However, if it's part of a larger problem in which all 4 units got damaged, or even just the pipe leaker and Ares unit.. then the game changes.

 

[Ares]

I don't even do that.. really I just make sure ever level of the house is above 60 (no one seems to agree on the threshold of temp as I've seen it varied), but it's really hard to keep my basement above 60 this time of year. The rest of the house is no problem. I also use multiple sinks regularly throughout the day, so water runs plenty.

I imagine this is more so a case of her just being dumb and thinking "no one is home, nothing needs to be on." Not thinking beyond that either.

You'd be surprised the amount of people who just have zero experience with home ownership.. even those who do, who still just don't think about these things.

I am of the opinion that Americans don't deserve universal rights in regards to home ownership, car ownership, driving a car, etc.

I mean is it so much to ask that my neighbor be required to be competent enough to know they need to keep their pipes from bursting in -10 wind chills?

Is it so much to ask people to not be on their cell phones when they drive?

Is it so much to ask people to act like adults who pay attention all the time so they don't actively harm the society around them?

America is literally a sandbox full of adult moron children who think "Well I didn't know" is a good excuse for not bothering to pay attention.

I know there are perfectly competent home owners setting examples.... you, me, @clonetrooper264, @tardigrade, @HeHateMe and I'm sure dozens more on this board are adult home owners who could teach morons what they should be doing. Or those morons could Google "Things to pay attention to as a home owner" and let an article do the same thing.

Seems like we just kinda shrug shit like this off as "Eh mistakes are mistakes, too bad so sad for you."

It is the sign of a crumbling society IMO.

 

[Ares]

DO not do anything without getting at least 2 bids from contractors that do this kind of work. Report this to your insurance agent and let them hassle the HOA idiots. You try to fix it and you own it if things go sideways. This is why you pay for Insurance. **** HOAs.

I think you're missing the part where water was running thru my garage like a river and literally no one was lifting a finger to do anything about it but myself and my Dad.

This isn't a hard fix and it is inside the walls.

I get what you're saying, but this is my house... my water, my life.... I aint gonna sit around waiting on an HOA that has been trying to fix leaks in my next-door neighbor's plumbing for, and I shit you not, he told me the story 2 hrs ago.... TWENTY FUCKING YEARS.

There have been 3 different plumbers out and they've torn up most of the fucking floors in 3 units trying to fix this plumbing and couldn't get it, supposedly until yesterday/today.

This problem started in the year 2000.

They can fine me a miniscule amount for doing my own work, I do not give a ****.

I'd love to see them haul me in front of a judge and complain they want money back because I fixed my own mess and never asked them to drop a dime, on a problem caused by a tenant that allowed their pipes to burst and flood my garage.

Even if the judge ordered me to pay, I could, I have the money.... I honestly don't know what he/she/they would order me to pay for tho lol.

The concrete we pour will be done better/faster/safer than anyone they could hire.

My Pops is far more trustworthy and experienced than the goobers they keep hiring to tear up people's floors and not fix problems.

 

[Scoot26]

I am of the opinion that Americans don't deserve universal rights in regards to home ownership, car ownership, driving a car, etc.

I mean is it so much to ask that my neighbor be required to be competent enough to know they need to keep their pipes from bursting in -10 wind chills?

Is it so much to ask people to not be on their cell phones when they drive?

Is it so much to ask people to act like adults who pay attention all the time so they don't actively harm the society around them?

America is literally a sandbox full of adult moron children who think "Well I didn't know" is a good excuse for not bothering to pay attention.

I know there are perfectly competent home owners setting examples.... you, me, @clonetrooper264, @tardigrade, @HeHateMe and I'm sure dozens more on this board are adult home owners who could teach morons what they should be doing. Or those morons could Google "Things to pay attention to as a home owner" and let an article do the same thing.

Seems like we just kinda shrug shit like this off as "Eh mistakes are mistakes, too bad so sad for you."

It is the sign of a crumbling society IMO.

I'd argue we've always had shitty homeowners, they're just more visible now. Also from my own experience, shittier homeowners in general will live in a place like a townhouse.

You're kind of almost buying into a myth of the past that people were more worthy, more knowledgeable, more respectful. They're just as dumb as they always were.

Build a time machine and go to any era and you'll find plenty of pieces of shit.

 

[Ares]

I'd argue we've always had shitty homeowners, they're just more visible now. Also from my own experience, shittier homeowners in general will live in a place like a townhouse.

You're kind of almost buying into a myth of the past that people were more worthy, more knowledgeable, more respectful. They're just as dumb as they always were.

Build a time machine and go to any era and you'll find plenty of pieces of shit.

Start holding them accountable.

I did it to the Public Works crew last night and ended up getting the problem figured out.

I'm not sure why people are so averse to the notion of accountability and the rap on the knuckles it requires when you **** up.

I'm not advocating we drag that lady out into the town square and do awful things to her.

But she should be held accountable for the burst pipe in more than just "Oh my Aunt's insurance went up"

The Public Works crew who fucked up the first two times at my house, should be held accountable for not investigating the water as the 3rd crew did.

If they were, by a real leader, that person would've visited me today or given me a call to say "Hey I talked to my guys about what happened, and here's what I told them so that doesn't happen in the future."

That's what I used to do when I was a leader, it was the bare fucking minimum.

People don't do even that bare fucking minimum any longer.