Comments on: Flood 911

By: Lyle

Lyle — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:58:54 +0000

A question further: does the code require that the house and irrigation system split early in the pipe chase, i.e. the rest of the house is downstream from the split? That way you have a manifold with 2 valves one for irrigation and one for the rest of the house. It would seem to make sense even if not required, and give the needed protection until with the next drought CA finally gets its act together and bans all outdoor irrigation.

By: Jim the Realtor

Jim the Realtor — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:40:05 +0000

The bank has insurance. I’m with Jeeman, we want to keep the grass green, though with the rain lately it could have been turned off.

Second bid came in today, $13,300 for the exact same work.

By: Downturn

Downturn — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:55:14 +0000

Jim,
Two concerns here.

1. A water restoration firm that can’t spell “moisture.”

2. Who’s going to pay? Does the bank have a policy? If so, it must me a large blanket type policy and the deductible may exceed the value of this loss.

(I’d estimate the “cosmetic” repairs will run between $10,000 – $15,000.)

By: Jeeman

Jeeman — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:03:48 +0000

Turn off the water main? What about sprinkling the lawn?

By: doughboy

doughboy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:34:15 +0000

A friend of mine is in the business of water damage repair and he says never, ever leave your home for more than 1 day w/o turning off the entire water main.

He sees stuff like this daily!

By: Locomotive Breath

Locomotive Breath — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:48:54 +0000

I had never thought of doing that Lyle…think I will start with my next vacation…

By: Geotpf

Geotpf — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:28:03 +0000

Looks like the five grand only covers removing the damaged stuff, not replacing the drywall, cabinets, carpet, and who knows what else. But when an old, boring, generic tract home by the freeway is worth four hundred thousand dollars (after a price crash even), I guess that’s no big deal.

By: Kwaping

Kwaping — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:16:01 +0000

Lyle, good tip! I’ll have to do that myself.

By: Dan Tanner

Dan Tanner — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:22:33 +0000

This happened to one of our neighbors (~15 yr old house). The one piece solid corrugated copper toilet supply line / valve cracked and flooded their house from one of the upstairs bathrooms.

We went around our house and replaced all the toilet and sink supply valves and lines with braided stainless steel hoses to try and avoid the same fate.

By: bubblenerd

bubblenerd — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:47:27 +0000

I was thinking the same thing Lyle. I would think there would be a procedure for recently vacated homes such as turning off gas, water, electricity?