Hi All,
My Grandmother owns a cape two story in upstate NY. Grandpa passed away and she’s been living with my parents for about ten years in Florida. They get up to the house for a month every year and and the rest of the time a friend watched over it quite well until diying in a car accident. The new person watching the house has not been so good. My dad, the retired engineer, rigged a flashing light set in the front window to activate when the temp fell below 40. Didn’t wok though. The water company called my g-ma in Fl to say the water bill was $1000 for the month. Make some calls and send someone over. A copper pipe next to the boiler burst during a cold spell and shorted out the boiler shutting down the heat. 50″ of water in the basement!!!!!!!! The sump pump outlet hose broke but was still pumping water all over the underside of the subfloor like a fountain. Fire Dept was called to suck the water out of the basement and a really helpfull plumber has been in making repairs. The linens on the second floor were wet. Carpets trashed, Kitchen floor is buckling and who knows what else has been effected. I live in the midwest and cant get up there for any length of time or else I’d be helping. I haven’t even seen it. Just thought I’d share the misery.
Useless things in aviation. 1. Altitude above you. 2 Runway behind you. 3 Fuel in the fuel truck.
Replies
Useless things in a residence: Burst water pipes; shorted out boiler in a cold snap; nobody home.
Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)
You and yours have my sympathy....what a mess! I've seen and helped with the aftermath of similar but never been the victim.
Hope it all works out to the good.
A sad story, and no doubt traumatic for your grandma.
You may want to find out if there was any structural damage to the foundation...
Consider bringing in a disaster recovery specialist, someone with training in the behaviour of materials, mould, etc. These people regularly salvage homes from smoke/fire/water/sewage damage.
Then decide if the house is worth salvaging.
Same thing happened to my dad last year. Finally retired and went to FL for the winter. The neighbor who was supposed to be watching the house was apparently just sticking his head out the window saying "yep, it's still there".
When they came back in April they walked in to find drywall falling off the ceilings and walls, mushrooms growing in the carpet, mold, water dripping on everything. They figure it burst sometime in January (right about the time his wife's mother died in FL).
Last I heard, he still hadn't managed to settle with the insurance company. They keep saying they don't cover mold damage, and the structure is just fine. He brought in independent evaluators who said the whole thing needs to come down. But if he does raze the structure and start over again at his own expense, his property taxes will probably shoot through the roof, at which point they can't afford to live there anymore.
Hopefully her insurance company is a little more helpful. Do get your own expert opinions in ASAP, and there are lawyers who specialize in this sort of thing if it comes to that.
Good luck,
Jo
Suddenly my ceiling painting problems don't seem too important anymore. What a bummer!
Thought I would add my story.....
We've been in our home 20 years. However, we got off to a rocky start. We had problems finding a home that would house our family as my Father was very ill with cancer and we needed to house our extended family. Finally after several months we found a nice 4 Bedroom home in a nice older neighborhood.
The home was in no way new nor had it been given all the TLC it needed. However, it fit us nicely. So the next day after closing found us at our new home to see what we needed to do to move in. The house needed a lot of elbow grease and the carpets were worn but serviceable. So we decided to have them steam cleaned.
We worked most of the weekend cleaning and doing some painting. We found that somehow the former owners had broken one of the toilet tank covers. The toilets were old and we were unable to find a replacement. So we decided to try to glue the top.
We had some success with the repair and laid the tank top on an old towel until it could be put back into service. As it was getting late and the weekend was drawing to a close we left our new abode and went back to our respective apartments.
The next Friday after work the wife and I went to one of the local outlets to purchase a new Fridge and a Washer & Dryer set. I rented a U-haul and we made a delivery to our new house. With the assistance of my wife we were able to install the new appliances. However, to our dismay the new Fridge wasn't working. So I called the service center and was told that someone would meet us on Monday evening at the house to take a look at the Fridge.
So Monday after work my wife and I made the trek to our new home to meet the repairman. When we got to the house the repairman was waiting and we started up the walk toward the front door. My wife and I noticed that there was water on the front porch and the sidewalk was wet. So we opened the front door to a wall of water that rushed out to meet us. It was like a cartoon. The valve on the old toilet had broken while we were away and flooded the house. The water had run for 2 days and was running out under the front door and out from under the garage door.
The problem was we were to move in Thanksgiving week. So we had to call the insurance company and report that the house we just bought was now flooded and we were going to need some assistance getting the house in condition to move in.
The insurance company sent out a restoration company that vacuumed out the water. We had to shut the water off to the entire house as the old shut off to the toilet wouldn't work. We now needed a miracle as the house was in a mess. All the carpet had to be replaced and several of the rooms had to have the wall paper removed and new installed. We had to find someone who could provide us with a house full of carpet and install it before move in. To compound the problem it was Thanksgiving week and we only had three days to get things done. There was no turning back as we had told the management at the apartments we would be out by Thanksgiving.
It was a real mess. However, the Good Lord came through and got us in our new Old House without any delay and we were able to move in over the Thanksgiving holiday. The wallpapering had to wait until after the holidays but we had new carpet for my two little ones to walk and play on instead of concrete and carpet tack strips. We did have to go out to a restaurant to eat instead of having Thanksgiving at home.
Real bummer. That scenario has always scared me.
Have a house for sale right now, and even though I check it out at least once a week, the water is turned off at the main. I don't want to take the chance (especially in winter) of a freeze-up and a leak.
I thought this thread would generate some interesting horror stories. Mushrooms on the carpet! Oh My God! I have to tell my family about that one. I should look into a disaster specialist to evaluate the structure. Hadn't thought of that. My sister and dad are going up in March to survey the damage. The house really needs some TLC. Last time I saw it several years ago the fascia was rotting and the wood clapboard needed scraping and painting. My dad does most of the repairs on the house when they go up but he's 75 and the roof has at least a 12/12 pitch. She's on fixed income and I don't see her dumping the money into the house to make it right. Also, managing a project from a 1000 miles away. Sadly I think my parents are waiting for her to pass away and then they will just sell it. Hard to suggest to someone to sell something that comprised 50 of her 92 years of existence. Maybe it's time for a family talk!Useless things in aviation. 1. Altitude above you. 2 Runway behind you. 3 Fuel in the fuel truck.
http://mysite.verizon.net/respum0e/johnclanton/
Worked on a job last year that I won't soon forget. The house was empty and we were painting a good portion of it. The electrician, who is a good friend of mine, and I were instructed by the homeowner, to not use the main bath toilet. She said it was acting up and they needed to have a plumber look at it.
A week went by and the electrician "forgot" her warnings about the toilet. (there was no sign to remind ) He flushed and walked away. As the house sat empty over the weekend, the toilet proceeded to overflow. For two days, the toilet spilled onto the floor and into the basement.
The homeowner called all the subs and asked if anyone had used the toilet in the main bath. The electrician acknowledged he had and submitted the claim to his liability insurance. $15,000 worth of tile, carpet, subfloor, drywall had to be replaced.
The stinky part about this (no pun intended), is that the electrician after admitting his mistake and taking responsiblility was fired. The homeowner was furious for the inconvenience. She was lucky she hired an honest electrician.
Now when I use a customer's toilet, I make sure it isn't going to raise my liability premiums.
........."the electrician after admitting his mistake and taking responsiblility was fired. The homeowner was furious for the inconvenience. ........" let no good deed go unpunished
And why didn't the homeowner turn off the water to the terlet or put a garbage bag over it? If there ever was an "attractive nuisance" it would be trick toilet masquerading as a good one when you're in dire need...
Billy
hindsight is always 20/20. and if I was using this 20/20 hindsite, I think I would have had the water shut off and the lines drained.
My current project house suffered a similar fate. It was vacant for at least 5 years. During that time, the law firm that was supposedly maintaining it allowed a water pipe to freeze. Who knows how many days the water ran prior to a neighbor noticing the windows were fogged up. Presumably, the crawlspace was completely filled and several inches on the first floor. They had pulled the carpet up, but had been slow drying the house out. The result was MASSIVE mold. And then the moldy/damp wood attracted the attention of termites, who found the vacant home an ideal locale.
All the damage led to the low estate auction price that I bought it at. I'm currently gutting the entire structure. Massive amount of work. Wouldn't be economically feasible if I wasn't doing most of the work myself.
In your situation, I would probably get someone in there to make an evaluation. The sooner they get it dried out, the better off you'll be. But this could very likely be the straw that broke the camel's back and you will be forced to sell the house.
jt8
"Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame." -- Erica Mann Jong
Hey, I've always been paranoid about that scenario, particularly after it happened at some friends' houses. I installed a Watercop system http://www.watercop.com
It's an electronic valve that fits on the water main and it has a radio receiver. You put water sensors around the house (under sinks, behind toilets, washing machine, etc) and if there's a leak they send a radio signal to shut off the water. My wife thinks I'm crazy (for more reasons than this) and the system is a little expensive but not when compared to major flood damage.
Nothing is perfect though -- it doesn't work during a power outage.
Billy
Edited 2/22/2006 2:09 pm ET by Billy
why not just cut off the water when you are away from the house for more than a day or two?
I thought the same....Im away for days even weeks at a time
and live alone. I drain water EVEYTIME...easy, takes five
minutes. I put antifreeze in the boiler water. I empty
the toilet.I learned the almost hard way: it froze but it was so cold
the mess never UNFROZE!. I walked around the house picking
up big flat slabs of ice and pitched them out the window.
No rugs. Mind you, I was LUCKY!True story.....
We had a minor leak at my daughter's house - 7000 gallons of hot water into the crawl space. A month to dry out in the summer.
Things dry out. Life goes on.