So today at work the boss calls my coworker and says "drop everything, there's a house with a burst pipe, get there and shut the water off, NOW!" Off we go....We arrive and my coworker starts digging through snow, ice and frozen dirt where the homeowner (husband) says the curb stop is outside to try and shut off the water supply to the house. I headed straight for the basement. I practically jumped down the stairs into about 3-4 inches of water (depending on which side of the basement you are on) and find the other homeowner (wife) had found a valve inside to make it stop. The basement had barely any walking room, stuff was laying everywhere. I, then, went back outside to tell my coworker we are good. Then, back to the basement. I looked at the busted pipe to try and figure out what I need to fix it. I drove down to the local hardware store 2 blocks away and picked up a piece of CPVC pipe and a couple of fittings. Headed back to the house and fixed the problem. (Yes, that board and rock are supporting the incoming water supply line, and no grounding strap on the copper pipe coming out of the ground. These people have almost no money). While waiting for the glue to set I started looking around at my surroundings. Icicles were on everything that was getting sprayed with water. Yes, it was that cold down there. Unfinished, un-insulated basement, crumbling concrete from what used to be the foundation everywhere. The water on the floor began seeping into the cracks in the concrete floor. Trash, sticks for firewood, a crappy wood burner, a massive ancient fuel oil burner that no longer worked and I swear had to be from the 1940's or earlier and old junk in piles all over. The lady then begins to build a fire.......with wet CARDBOARD BOXES AND STICKS. She then sprayed LIGHTER FLUID in the wood burner and struck a match. Meanwhile, I'm watching from about 10 feet away. Here was my view from the back side of the wood burner. Yep, that's right, that is a piece of wood supporting the single wall pipe going into the brick chimney just out of view. After about 15 minutes of her feeding trash and sticks into the fire that board began smoking, along with the asbestos lined support you can see on the far right side of the picture. Why there was asbestos wrapped on a piece of wood i will never know. Also the chimney pipe began GLOWING RED right up against the wood burner. I then asked her how she planned to heat the basement overnight. She said she would "just keep a fire going." I told her that boxes and sticks were not going to burn long enough and asked if she planned on being down there all night to feed the fire. She said she would just have to get it good and hot before going to bed. I said, "No, no, no, no, no! You need to get a space heater and an extention cord put it up on a chair out of the water and run that. Otherwise, it's going to freeze and burst the pipe again!" She says something along the lines of "I know what I'm doing, this hasn't happened before. So everything will be fine." I then showed her everything wrong with her wood burning set up and told her to not burn anything. She then saw what I was talking about and said she would fix it somehow. I said, "I'm not going to tell you what to do in your own house, ma'am. You can do as you please. But, I highly, HIGHLY, recommend you DO NOT use this wood burner and DO NOT start it with lighter fluid." She looked at me like I was an alien . She couldn't see the danger in it all. After I knew the glue had set on the piping I fixed, I slowly opened the water supply valve and pressurized the water lines. I then explained that she needed to find another way to heat that part of the basement or else this was going to happen again.....soon. I left. This is the piece of pipe that froze and shattered. I took this picture once I got back to the shop. People........
I get your frustration. Hard to know exactly how to help people like that I think you helped the best you could. My mother in law has some neighbors down the road she has known her whole life and has struggled through the years to know how to help them. Three generations living in the same house...very poor....one adult daughter walked to town every day for booze and ended up getting hit by car and died...I stopped on my way home one winter night to tell them their chimney was on fire....slowly picking apart old barn for firewood because they can’t afford firewood, yet have multiple cars sitting on property with grass growing around them. Truly a situation that makes no sense to anyone who has some. You just do what you can as you feel led. Anyone would go nuts trying to fix all of their problems! Also remember it isn’t a crisis for these folks till it’s a crisis! Heating that way is fine till the house is on fire. Well plumbing propped up by rock and board worked just fine till today, right?
I believe you do have the authority to "red tag" the system and with that step, I think the residents would be eligible for emergency assistance. Check into that tomorrow, looks like you would be doing them a huge favor! The companies I worked for would see stuff like that (and worse) and condemn them immediately. The very next day, we would be installing and emergency change out for them.........
Good information! Didn’t even know this was a thing. Testament to the power of the community here on the forum
That story sounds a lot like the guy I work with. His foundation and crawl space is so breezy I think a large raccoon could go top speed from outside to under the house and back out with out breaking stride. It’s always the first house in town to have the snow melt off the roof, actually I don’t think much ever collects, no insulation. The place is a shack. Had his water freeze up 3-4 times this year. Has 3 kids at home and a 20 yr old that stay there most of the time. He has these grand plans of fixing and repairs so tears things apart but lacks the knowledge and confidence to put it back together. I used to help him out a little, gave him some rolls of insulation I got dirt cheap at an auction, shot 2 deer and gave him all the meat (70lbs). Helped him with some roofing labor, always giving him tips and suggestions that fall on deaf ears. Then he goes and buys a brand new Harley. I’m done helping! Some people are just self defeating
Reminds me of the stove my landlord has set up with a piece of charred sheetrock as a "fireproof" backer. Sad thing is he's not poor. Burns green wood too. Smoke always coming out of his chimney. Cant fix stupid or ignorance.
People like this don't learn or change. If they did they wouldn't stay in these situations time after time. I hate to be negative, but you're wasting your breath. They "know everything", but in reality are clueless.
I have, he must have relatives near me. I don't know if there is anything worse than someone who is dumb, yet thinks they are really smart. Someone whos lazy, but feels entitled is up there as well.
It would be much more efficient if they put a damper in the stove pipe. Other than that everything looks oky doky to me. What else could go wrong?
I used to work for a well drilling/service outfit and been in a lot of basements on service calls. I've seen a lot, when the woodstove falls through the floor and lands in the basement just add more pipe. Trust me I've seen it.
Sounds like my stepdaughters husband. I was busting my hump helping him convert an outbuilding into his band man cave with bar and everything. Id be on my hands and knees doing demo, leveling the floor, framing. Hes got cell phone in hand doing God knows what. Buddies show up to smoke pot. He then complains "when do i get to do carpentry" when he would never clean or organize after i left. I would go with him to PU lumber insulation etc. Use my haggling skills to save him a few bucks and he then buys all this expensive stuff for the room. He keeps saying there's a deadline and im trying to do the best i can, alone for the most part and do a good job. Every weekend he had something more important to do. I got POed and quit. No more.
Understandable! I despise people like that. Always looking for handouts and telling lies to achieve their goals.
Nice thing is you don’t have to feel taken advantage of by him any more! Everyone needs to know their threshold for how much they can tolerate. Family or not!
