water explosion

curlylocks · Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:11 pm

I was watching tv... heard cats fighting under my home then the next thing I hear is a loud boom ....water running..... like a fire hose under the house!

I have the layout with a bedroom at each end and 2 full baths.

the geyser was located at the end with the guest bedroom and small bathroom from what I could tell it sounded like the gush was located about under where the bathroom sink is located. (this was the only area where I saw water under the home)

is it possible the cats knocked the pvc connection or waterline loose?

I am posting this late at night so I have not been able to really see what happened,

just ran outside and closed off the water valve to the entire home..

grrrr there must be at least 3" of water under there now... any guesses?

Looks like I will be doing some mud bogging tomorrow!

Yanita · Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:21 pm

Yup, that's probably what happened. Hopefully you are in a warm climate. While you are getting your new plumbing parts don't forget to replace all wet insulation. Get that skirting buttoned up to keep those animals out.

Yanita

curlylocks · Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:28 pm

I was hoping that you might still be up! no its cold here.. not looking forward to that job! But I am hoping that I can just re-connect it and they havent busted something up.

guess I will go slop around in the muck tomorrow...

Yanita · Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:32 pm

LOL, I doubt that anyone ever really wants to go down under. I was there just the other day, checking on the heat tape as Hubby was at work and it would be after dark by the time he got home.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

Again, once the repair is made get that skirting put back together.

Yanita

curlylocks · Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:21 am

Well no luck, I got under the home far enough to see that the insulation was saturated and I had at least 3" of standing water...

My father monkey rigged the hot water heater to cut off the hot water line so that I can at least have cold water and can flush!

but the standing water has to dry up .. before attempting the repair

my parents live @ 1 mile from me so for a while I will be borrowing their shower.

in the mean time also got the open place closed up in the skirting..

Yanita · Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:52 am

Hi,

Its amazing what cats and other critters can do for damage under our homes. I love cats but have seen first hand what kind of destruction they can render.

Hopefully you have removed the wet insulation already, to not do so allows the sub floor to absorb the moisture and can ruin the floor.

If you do not have shutoff off valves at this time , now would be a good time to install them. We have several, all labeled so I know which is which.

Yanita

flcruising · Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:44 am

Sorry to hear you have such an ordeal from a couple strays. I put an electric fence around the underside perimeter of my mother's home to keep out the dogs and cats that were making holes in her hvac ducts to keep cool. Now I'm not saying you have to go that extreme, but I've found that you can add some moth balls under there to keep away critters too.