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vinny

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So, most here know that I made the laundry room more functional for a wine transferring and equipment washing area. Counter over the washer/dryer, new sink, faucet, etc. Well it all has worked out great. It's much nicer than working in the kitchen.

Except for this thing. The no plumbing needed thread on fitting that came with my cup washer that I installed to rinse bottles.
IMG_20220723_214254.jpg


This C********** G*** D**** M******* F***** thing. Imagine them as you prefer, I used them all.

IMG_20220723_214135.jpg

Three weeks after install, this no warning drip, complete fail POS let go at 2:30 AM. Completely failed! Open plumbing line into the laundry cabinet.

I hear the bedroom door open, and an unusual sound... I say shit, what is that? And the reply is, GET UP! Get up, get up, get up!

I walked through at least half an inch of freezing cold well water to get to the shut off. The laundry was flooded from wall to wall, the adjoining washroom as well. The pantry is a walk through into the kitchen and it was seeping under the transition and moving under the hardwood. The master bedroom is on one side, and the kitchen on the other. It was deep, pouring into the furnace vents and seeping under the walls. Soaking into the carpet on the bedroom side, and under the cabinets and flooring in the kitchen.. OF MY 10 MONTH OLD HOUSE!

SO, I went to the shop and got a floor squeegee and the shop vac. I opened the back door and moved out about 10 gallons just shovelling it through the door with the squeegee. Then I got out about 3 full vacuum tanks from the bathroom and under the washer, dryer and freezer. We worked opposite areas. Every towel in the kitchen and pantry, while I sucked up the bulk in the laundry. We then used the shop vac to suck water out from between the floor boards and a little upholstery cleaner to suck up the bulk from the bedroom carpet, which was soaked about 4 feet into the bedroom. It went about 15 feet through the pantry into the kitchen by what swelled, 10 ft under the wall portion.

The nice thing was I got to watch the sun come up.. Actually I didn't notice it at all, but it was up by the time we dealt with everything we could, around 5:30 am.

It was at this time I was told we never should have moved out of the trailer, this place is just going to get moldy and rot out from under us. AND! We are never doing anything without a qualified plumber again.. It was nice to realize I had been getting blamed the whole time we were working.😄

I noted that the situation has been unpleasant enough without an argument, and that I was far too tired for one. I explained that the fitting failed and it was not my work that was the cause. As well as the fact that mould and rot take a long time of constant leaking. I explained that I would get a commercial dehumidifier in the morning and that they are so efficient that everything will be dry and back to normal in a couple of days. That I may need to replace some of the hardwood, but that's the worst of it. So we went back to bed to get ready for Monday morning business.

Luckily I was tired and just done, otherwise I likely would have ripped up the flooring so it could dry underneath. I was considering it and said I may in the morning, but I didn't need to. They call it resilient flooring in the building specs, and it is amazing. It swelled and buckled a good 1/4 inch or more. When I woke up in the morning it was BAD. Buckled all over the place. about a 1/4 of the floor would have to come up, IF I could match it. Within 3 days with the dehumidifier moved through the different rooms it was half way back to normal and there are just a few notable ridges that are still settling back, now.

The saga didn't end there, though. Just the topical portion. The carpet and floor inside were dry after 3 days. The bedroom door case swelled enough so the door was hard to close and after three days everything pulled back and there were no notable signs of any moisture. Unfortunately, it went through all the plumbing cut outs and vents into the floor joists. Most of it went right down into the crawl space, but what didn't filled up the belly board between the joists. Maybe a half inch of wet insulation. So I had to cut all that open and drain it out. Some areas were so bad it was a steady stream. I had to go down a few times to find all the wet areas.

I just taped it all back up on Thursday and took the dehumidifier back on Friday. Over 150 feet of slices, but I did not want to pull the insulation out. At that point it would have been an insurance claim, which I considered on day 3 or 4 when I was still finding wet areas, but that is a nightmare I don't want to be a part of. SO I ran the dehumidifier for a month, well 2. I rented one and bought one. A couple hundred dollars and time spent now is well worth not having any surprises or issues in the future. Any lingering issues would be 100 fold in the future so I just let 'em go until I was sure there was nothing left.

SO, now I am ready to finish up the laundry wine area completely, and put the whole event behind me. All in all no harm done, just a royal pain in my..

If you want to install a glass cleaner to wash your bottles, I would recommend using a separate shut off valve and plumb it in instead of using the fitting included. Mine is still installed, but it is on a properly installed shut off valve, now.

And if you made it this far, thanks for reliving it with me.. 😜 It was quite the thing.
 
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Oh geez. That’s awful.. I would have cried.


when it’s February and -10°c and humidity is 10% it should dry right out.

i noticed for some reason these things happen in the dead of early early morning. EVERY time a smoke detector battery dies here it’s like 2 or 3 am.
 
😮 sorry to hear about that Vinny. Water damage really sucks. I would have Called the insurance company right away even if I were going to handle it. Keep an eye on that insulation. That’s going to be the most likely area to trap and retain some moisture.
 
Sucks.
One of my early careers was in building maintenance. Great job, learned a LOT, but glad to move on. It's amazing how often a fitting or pipe or supply line will magically fail. The stories I could tell.

Consider yourself lucky - it could have happened while you were on vacation!

Worse one I saw was busted supply line in bathroom, people on vacation for two weeks, came back to black mold growing on walls. Had to gut to the studs.

I'm sorry it happened but I'm glad you were home.
 
Oh geez. That’s awful.. I would have cried.
Luckily I don't react emotionally in any way, especially at 3 am. I take time to process and just react with what needs to be done. You could cut your finger off in front of me, and I'd pass you a rag. 'You're gonna wanna put some pressure on that'. 😜

It took about 4 days to stress me out because I really didn't want to open it all up and pull out the insulation, but it was more than I first thought. Then it gets serious.

Keep an eye on that insulation. That’s going to be the most likely area to trap and retain some moisture.
Last Saturday, I finally crawled under and stapled poly to the floor joists around the effected area. 30 x 14, a little over 2 feet tall. I had both dehumidifiers going all week and put a sensor above the insulation. I cut every wet area open every couple of feet, dry areas I staggered joist runs and opened every six feet. Everywhere was reading 20% humidity by Thursday when I sealed it up and I wasn't getting much water out anymore. I reached in and around and couldn't find anything. I opened it right up around all the plumbing. Everything else was pretty topical. Because the belly board doesn't breath, it just ran along it for the whole length between the joists. The only super bad areas were around the drains. I just wanted to make sure I found it all.

Consider yourself lucky - it could have happened while you were on vacation
Oh, I do. Not sure if it was running for 20 minutes or what, but it coulda been a lot worse. I found a control valve that you can cotrol from your phone, and set to away. It will turn off the water main in 10 seconds if there is flow.. Cups of water instead of gallons. I'm thinking it might be a good investment.

Only after this did I learn that flood claims are the most common. Well beyond fire and theft.
came back to black mold growing on walls
Musta been a soggy mess to get mold growth that fast. That's what insurance is for, in my mind. I'm not sure if I have a deductible, but I didn't even spend enough to warrant the grief.
Hope that this is all in your rear view mirror soon.
I'm pretty confident, but I sure hope so!

Thanks!
 
I found a control valve that you can cotrol from your phone, and set to away. It will turn off the water main in 10 seconds if there is flow.. Cups of water instead of gallons. I'm thinking it might be a good investment.
Gotta link. That sounds like a valve everybody should have!
 
China quality strikes again!
Exactly what it was. No excuse for it, just straight up junk.

Now, I don't want to trigger anyone, but I have to wonder about all these people testing positive with covid, but showing no symptoms. Somehow a Chinese test is the gold standard. Do you really think they actually got it right, finally? :rolleyes:

I say it for humours sake, don't throw anything at me! 😃
 
Man, as I'm reading, I'm feeling your pain. I recently built a house too. My old house have a few instances of leaks and pipe breaks. That s*** always seems to happen at the most inconvenient times.

Here is a few on my list but I actually have more! Ridiculous bad luck!

Outdoor spigot pinhole (from trim nail) poorly repaired slow leaked and destroyed my hard wood floor.

Christmas vacation (while away), copper pipe pin hole in ceiling above exterior door into kitchen leaked and destroyed ceiling, door frame and walls.

Summer vacation (while away), 3/4" pvc sprinkler system broke in back yard and dumped over $3000 worth of Texas city water. I was forced to pay for all of it as they threatened to shut my water supply off. Only point in my life that I nearly went "postal".

Middle of the night, pvc water pipe broke at meter. The water company replaced water meter a few months earlier and put my buried pvc piping in a bind. A 1" line under 100 psi will put out a tremendous amount of water. I did not need to pay for the water loss that time but I ended up spending $400 to replace the damaged piping with copper (because I hated having pvc for the main supply directly off the meter). I also had to kill a tree as it had grown into the area and made replacement impossible. Nightmare repair.

2007 5th wheel travel trailer, plumbing leak soaked under the floor and flooded the insulation barrier. The vapor barrier held that water in for years until I noticed. Ended up replacing the entire 2x3 wood floor framing structure and Plywood floor over 90% of what was accessible. It was a crazy amount of labor intensive work. Probably the last time I'll be able to convince my buddies to help me with a "little" project.

New house, trim nail through pex line running under the slab to kitchen island.... that was "fun" finding the leak and repairing that one.

New house, leaking Shutoff valve below sink nearly destroyed a vanity.

Since this time, I've installed leak detectors everywhere. I also shutoff the water supply if we ever leave for more than 1 day. And I installed a commercial grade sprinkler supply valve near the main water connection so none of the sprinkler system is ever charged unless we are watering.

I looked at those automatic Shutoff valves like you linked. One more incident and I'll probably buy one.

To put it lightly... I HATE water issues and I feel your pain more than you know.
 
Similar thing only no one at the house when it failed and the house is 75 years old. The new fitting on the upstairs shower failed and fortunately our daughter in law stopped by to pick up a couple bottles wine. Poor thing had to mop up the front hall and move things. Just one place in the 75 year old floor buckled and now 4 months later it is really improving. When she called, I envisioned the whole downstairs floor caved in and everything ruined.

Water damage is the worst! Finding it is horrifying! It always happens when no one is looking or we get lax about shutting off valves before leaving the house for more than 15 minutes.

On the plus side, I did not blame my husband the plumber. He worked for days on the original shower repair and I was with him when we bought the fittings at Lowes. China junk for sure. On the double plus side, we already had the leak and had not gotten around to replacing the sheetrock in the hallway ceiling. I would have been really upset with that damage.
 
Similar thing only no one at the house when it failed and the house is 75 years old. The new fitting on the upstairs shower failed and fortunately our daughter in law stopped by to pick up a couple bottles wine. Poor thing had to mop up the front hall and move things. Just one place in the 75 year old floor buckled and now 4 months later it is really improving. When she called, I envisioned the whole downstairs floor caved in and everything ruined.

Water damage is the worst! Finding it is horrifying! It always happens when no one is looking or we get lax about shutting off valves before leaving the house for more than 15 minutes.

On the plus side, I did not blame my husband the plumber. He worked for days on the original shower repair and I was with him when we bought the fittings at Lowes. China junk for sure. On the double plus side, we already had the leak and had not gotten around to replacing the sheetrock in the hallway ceiling. I would have been really upset with that damage.
When picking new valves for showers (behind walls), I went with expensive American brands because of my fears. Its definitely one place IMO u don't want to go cheap. Just not worth the risk. Buy once (and hopefully only) cry once.
 
When picking new valves for showers (behind walls), I went with expensive American brands because of my fears. Its definitely one place IMO u don't want to go cheap. Just not worth the risk. Buy once (and hopefully only) cry once.
I sometimes get my supplies from the hardware store, but I usually go to Emco, the commercial supplier. There wasn't one of these things available anywhere in town so I got it off of amazon. Good reviews, and honestly there is nothing I am worried about the unit itself, just this fitting. Never again though. I am definitely going to learn this lesson once.
 
Man, as I'm reading, I'm feeling your pain. I recently built a house too. My old house have a few instances of leaks and pipe breaks. That s*** always seems to happen at the most inconvenient times.

Here is a few on my list but I actually have more! Ridiculous bad luck!

Outdoor spigot pinhole (from trim nail) poorly repaired slow leaked and destroyed my hard wood floor.

Christmas vacation (while away), copper pipe pin hole in ceiling above exterior door into kitchen leaked and destroyed ceiling, door frame and walls.

Summer vacation (while away), 3/4" pvc sprinkler system broke in back yard and dumped over $3000 worth of Texas city water. I was forced to pay for all of it as they threatened to shut my water supply off. Only point in my life that I nearly went "postal".

Middle of the night, pvc water pipe broke at meter. The water company replaced water meter a few months earlier and put my buried pvc piping in a bind. A 1" line under 100 psi will put out a tremendous amount of water. I did not need to pay for the water loss that time but I ended up spending $400 to replace the damaged piping with copper (because I hated having pvc for the main supply directly off the meter). I also had to kill a tree as it had grown into the area and made replacement impossible. Nightmare repair.

2007 5th wheel travel trailer, plumbing leak soaked under the floor and flooded the insulation barrier. The vapor barrier held that water in for years until I noticed. Ended up replacing the entire 2x3 wood floor framing structure and Plywood floor over 90% of what was accessible. It was a crazy amount of labor intensive work. Probably the last time I'll be able to convince my buddies to help me with a "little" project.

New house, trim nail through pex line running under the slab to kitchen island.... that was "fun" finding the leak and repairing that one.

New house, leaking Shutoff valve below sink nearly destroyed a vanity.

Since this time, I've installed leak detectors everywhere. I also shutoff the water supply if we ever leave for more than 1 day. And I installed a commercial grade sprinkler supply valve near the main water connection so none of the sprinkler system is ever charged unless we are watering.

I looked at those automatic Shutoff valves like you linked. One more incident and I'll probably buy one.

To put it lightly... I HATE water issues and I feel your pain more than you know.
Damn, you are the entire water leak support group. 😄

That's rough going, but I appreciate the reply. I'll be getting one fail safe or another for sure. Yours and VinesnBines stories brought it home. I've had 2 leaks in the shop, concrete floor, who cares, squeegee it out. But it's not happening in here again if I can do anything about it.
 

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