We have been camping in the house almost every weekend this winter. I have been picking away at wiring on the main floor, strapping on the second floor and smaller odds and ends. In mid March we arrived on a Friday night anticipating a full week of puttering and completing the main floor wiring.
I got up in the morning, turned on the water, made coffee and went upstairs to get organized for strapping the ceiling. About an hour later, I was asked if I had turned on the water yet.
I thought this was odd and went downstairs to find water gurgling into the house around the water supply line. I shut the water supply valve off and the water continued to gurgle. Bad news.
I fussed around trying to find phone numbers for the maintenance department for the band to see if I could get a curb stop tool and shut off the water. About an hour later, the curb stop valve was shut off and I went to work vaccuming water on the floor. The entry point of the supply line is abourt 14 feet from the sump hole and the water coming in seemed to find it's way along two random routes to the hole.
The water was still coming in which helped me draw the conclusion that there was a break in the supply line either at the curb stop or further up the line. Within an hour, the water began to spurt up through the ground around the curb stop and I knew there would be big problems trying to find someone to dig up the line on a Saturday morning. I phoned around town to see if I could locate the company that did the installation. After getting the band maintenance supervisor to come back and assess the situation, he was able to contact the owner of the construction company. The owner was about to board a plane to fly north and agreed instead to drive back to Stanley and dig up the water line with his track hoe.
While the news that a track hoe was eventually going to arrive was comforting, the increased water volume arriving in the basement was a big issue. I borrowed a wet-dry vaccum from the maintenance crew and one from my nieghbor and continued to suck up water and move it to the sump hole. It took about six minutes for the vacum tank to fill each time. The battle against the incoming water had begun. Unfortunately there was also a battle going on with the track hoe across town. There were problems with the fuel line and it refused to start. After a sleepless night and another full day of sucking up water we were relieved to see a track hoe making it's way up the road. At about eight o'clock that evening the separated water line was repaired and buried and the vaccums were put away.
I got up in the morning, turned on the water, made coffee and went upstairs to get organized for strapping the ceiling. About an hour later, I was asked if I had turned on the water yet.
I thought this was odd and went downstairs to find water gurgling into the house around the water supply line. I shut the water supply valve off and the water continued to gurgle. Bad news.
I fussed around trying to find phone numbers for the maintenance department for the band to see if I could get a curb stop tool and shut off the water. About an hour later, the curb stop valve was shut off and I went to work vaccuming water on the floor. The entry point of the supply line is abourt 14 feet from the sump hole and the water coming in seemed to find it's way along two random routes to the hole.
The water was still coming in which helped me draw the conclusion that there was a break in the supply line either at the curb stop or further up the line. Within an hour, the water began to spurt up through the ground around the curb stop and I knew there would be big problems trying to find someone to dig up the line on a Saturday morning. I phoned around town to see if I could locate the company that did the installation. After getting the band maintenance supervisor to come back and assess the situation, he was able to contact the owner of the construction company. The owner was about to board a plane to fly north and agreed instead to drive back to Stanley and dig up the water line with his track hoe.
While the news that a track hoe was eventually going to arrive was comforting, the increased water volume arriving in the basement was a big issue. I borrowed a wet-dry vaccum from the maintenance crew and one from my nieghbor and continued to suck up water and move it to the sump hole. It took about six minutes for the vacum tank to fill each time. The battle against the incoming water had begun. Unfortunately there was also a battle going on with the track hoe across town. There were problems with the fuel line and it refused to start. After a sleepless night and another full day of sucking up water we were relieved to see a track hoe making it's way up the road. At about eight o'clock that evening the separated water line was repaired and buried and the vaccums were put away.
I pulled off the fresh drywall along the north wall to check for moisture and was encouraged to find relatively small amount of water had seeped along the bottom plate.
A new project will be to locate the hydronics line in the concrete floor next to the water supply line and make a new smaller sump hole. This should help to take care of any future water line catastrophes. The good news is that I know my sump hole and the weeping lines placed under the pad are working. I am also encouraged that the
A new project will be to locate the hydronics line in the concrete floor next to the water supply line and make a new smaller sump hole. This should help to take care of any future water line catastrophes. The good news is that I know my sump hole and the weeping lines placed under the pad are working. I am also encouraged that the