SOFT NEWS Disaster for one poor customer due to freezing temps

lakemom

lakemom

Veteran Member
This poor guy. He lives out of state, but keeps this house to stay in when he comes to town. His caretaker finally went by his local house yesterday to see how it fared during the past couple of weeks of ice/snow storms & sub-freezing temperatures. She called him and said she heard water running in the cellar, so he called us. This pic is what our guys found when they opened the cellar/basement doors. Bossman called him to tell him what they found and said there wasn't that much standing water. Customer tells bossman there's a lot more water than he thinks as that hot water tank is sitting on a 3' platform. That's gonna take a loooong time to pump out.

Basement resized.jpg
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Is it not part of the caretaker's responsibilities to set faucets dripping or make sure, in whatever ways possible, that steps are taken to prevent stuff like this? I know of a caretaker than ended up owing a lot of money for neglecting that part of their job and destroying a house in a similar way.
 
WildDaisy

WildDaisy

God has a plan, Trust it!
kyrsyan said:
Is it not part of the caretaker's responsibilities to set faucets dripping or make sure, in whatever ways possible, that steps are taken to prevent stuff like this? I know of a caretaker than ended up owing a lot of money for neglecting that part of their job and destroying a house in a similar way.
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I guess it depends on the contract, but yeah, one would think a care takers job is to "Take care of the house" while the owner is away. Make sure of its safety, take due diligence to prevent damage, be a keyholder in the event of emergency and contact for locals. That would be what they are getting paid for. Now that said, if this is going to be considered "an act of god", the owner is out of luck, even though "snow happens" elsewhere in the country.
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
bethshaya said:
I guess it depends on the contract, but yeah, one would think a care takers job is to "Take care of the house" while the owner is away. Make sure of its safety, take due diligence to prevent damage, be a keyholder in the event of emergency and contact for locals. That would be what they are getting paid for. Now that said, if this is going to be considered "an act of god", the owner is out of luck, even though "snow happens" elsewhere in the country.
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OP says past couple of weeks... act of god or not, that's negligence. At the very least, he needs a better caretaker.
 
lakemom

lakemom

Veteran Member
kyrsyan said:
Is it not part of the caretaker's responsibilities to set faucets dripping or make sure, in whatever ways possible, that steps are taken to prevent stuff like this? I know of a caretaker than ended up owing a lot of money for neglecting that part of their job and destroying a house in a similar way.
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I think the term "caretaker" is being used very loosely. IIRC, this is just the woman that cleans after someone has stayed overnight or for the weekend and meets any service personnel.
 
Wildweasel

Wildweasel

F-4 Phantoms Phorever
The Snack Artist said:
Hmmmm......an accidental gas explosion fits right here. Just sayin.
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I foresee a lot of such "house fires" happening in the coming months. "The wiring must have gotten wet and gone bad. Where's my insurance check? I'm moving away from here."

And there will be a bunch of walk-aways as well. People maxed out paying for houses they can't live in and then facing repair bills that will be nearly as high as their mortgages are going to say "Eff it!" and walk away.
 
Marie

Marie

Veteran Member
Southside said:
Ooh, yes, especially that. Wait till it heats up. It will be a sauna breeding ground in there.
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I imagine most of the south that went through this will be fighting mold for awhile. Whatever can't be gutted and replaced is gonna be susceptible. In that case Bleach is your friend.
 
Millwright

Millwright

Knuckle Dragger
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Marie said:
I imagine most of the south that went through this will be fighting mold for awhile. Whatever can't be gutted and replaced is gonna be susceptible. In that case Bleach is your friend.
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Mold is a fact of life in the south.
 
Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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Millwright said:
Mold is a fact of life in the south.
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Yeah, there's a spray you can mix in a pumper spray and go around spraying the walls, slab, etc. After you've treated and run fans to completely dry it out you can then use a sealant paint to stop any mold from happening. But the clean up has to be don't correctly ... pump out, dry out, fans and dehumidifiers, then treat the walls, and paint. If you go cheap you're going to get just what you pay for.
 
Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior
there's "wet" alarms of all technical levels - they'll call or even email you these days >>> for a few bucks you can have a 9V battery one that screeches like a banshee when activated ...
 
Scrapman

Scrapman

Veteran Member
Why wasn't the main valve shut off and the pipes drained if he is gone for long periods of time. I'm a plumber by trade and find these people and stories ridiculous. Does anyone have any common sense anymore. Even if there wasn't a freeze you still turn your water off . Plumbing fixtures fail all the time.
I hope people here learn something from this .
 
R

raven

TB Fanatic
Bleach kills mold on non porous surfaces.
Vinegar kills mold on porous surface but will react with tile grout and brick mortar - it is an acid.
Peroxide kills mold on porous surfaces and does not react with tile and grout.

Zinsser Mold Killing Primer a Rust-Oleum product can be used after you cleanup.
 
West

West

Senior
raven said:
Bleach kills mold on non porous surfaces.
Vinegar kills mold on porous surface but will react with tile grout and brick mortar - it is an acid.
Peroxide kills mold on porous surfaces and does not react with tile and grout.

Zinsser Mold Killing Primer a Rust-Oleum product can be used after you cleanup.
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Good stuff ^^^

Why I use white vinegar to clean our knifes and cutting surfaces after we butcher stuff. Then follow up with peroxide.

Also use white vinegar to prep/etch galvanized metal before painting it.

It's amazing that with a gallon of bleach, vinegar and fresh peroxide, one can clean/disinfect and prep most things at low cost vary effectively.

And let people still go out and spend three plus times the amount because the above is bottled and labeled by some bald headed mr clean guy or alike...
 
R

raven

TB Fanatic
West said:
Good stuff ^^^

Why I use white vinegar to clean our knifes and cutting surfaces after we butcher stuff. Then follow up with peroxide.

Also use white vinegar to prep/etch galvanized metal before painting it.

It's amazing that with a gallon of bleach, vinegar and fresh peroxide, one can clean/disinfect and prep most things at low cost vary effectively.

And let people still go out and spend three plus times the amount because the above is bottled and labeled by some bald headed mr clean guy or alike...
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most people have learned how to clean from television commercials
but it is merely academic knowledge . . . they don't ever put it into practice.

In this house, the prior owner had remove the sliding shower doors and put them in the garage because they were black with mold. When I talked with the realtor about what I was going to offer, I had a list of deductions. I got to the shower doors and said "I am going to need $500 to replace those shower doors" and she said "oh yea! Those are bad".
And one of the first things I did after closing was buy a spray bottle and fill it with vinegar and spray down the sinks shower and tubs. When I got out to the shower doors, my help says "Oh god, that's going in the trash" and I said "nope, vinegar ".
The next day when he came back the shower doors were clean - he was really surprised.
 
CTFIREBATTCHIEF

CTFIREBATTCHIEF

Veteran Member
Those portable electric sump pumps that you can get at the home depot are not up to THAT job that's for sure. We used to have gasoline powered portable pumps that were real beasts, took two guys to move em and set em up but they'd pump 250 gallons a minute easy out of a cellar like that. Only once or twice in my career can I remember us using a pumper truck to dewater because of the chance of something getting into the pump, even with a strainer on it. now THOSE could move some water in a hurry. but the space would have to be pristine and that almost never happens. I fear there are going to be a LOT of cellars that have been turned into swimming pools when this is all said and done
 
A

anna43

Veteran Member
Usual procedure when you have a flooded basement like that is the electricity and gas will be shut off by the power/gas companies.

My dad worked for a John Deere dealership back in the late 1950's and the owner of the business was building a housing development on land behind the dealership. Some homes were already occupied but the storm sewers were still open so when we had a tremendous downpour the basements flooded plus toilets in the basements were spewing sewage under such pressure it was hitting the basement ceiling. Dad took a John Deere tractor with some sort of huge transfer pump and pumped out those basement. He commented that a lot of interesting stuff came out of the discharge. I would guess the pump was a type used for pumping manure pits.

The reason I have my Generac generator and two piggybacked sump pumps is just to avoid such disasters. My basement has no drains. Foundation drains empty into inside sump pit. Terrible design but cheaper to buy the generator and sump pumps that to do a proper fix.
 
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