I was dripping every indoor faucet and had the 3 exterior faucets covered. The 2 cold water faucets in my master bathroom froze off and the exterior faucet immediately opposite them froze off at the same time. I zip-tied my heat gun to a camera tripod and ran it straight at the exterior faucet with about an inch standoff. I had drops of water in about 10 minutes and full stream in about 20 minutes. The 2 interior faucets were running full stream again, and I increased the drip on them. This was all on the North wall in shade.
The exterior faucet on the South wall, unshaded, also froze off, so I put the heat gun on it, but only ever got some sporadic drips from it. This evening I was making the rounds and when I got near the laundry/utility room I could hear a strange sound coming from the garage which was water dripping out of every sheetrock joint in the garage ceiling with lots coming out of the pull-down attic stairs. I shut the house main valve off and the MUD’s valve off and opened every faucet. The burst pipe is 5/8” OD copper running along the garage rafters and covered in black foam insulation.
I estimate it flowed for about 15 minutes and I’d guess about 30 gallons or so flowed. So the garage ceiling is ruined and there’s already a little moisture getting on the top of the garage walls in a few spots - this will surely spread. Water doesn’t seem to have gotten beyond the garage, which is slightly isolated from the rest of the house. No personal property in the garage of any value seems to be affected.
I got a claim going with my insurance company, and will call a few plumbers later and get on some lists. Later today I am probably going to cut the burst pipe upstream of the burst and sweat/solder a cap onto it and isolate the pipe from above the burst to the faucet from the rest of the plumbing and then carefully refill the house’s plumbing and see if I can get the water back online. If that works, it won’t matter much about being on long waiting lists for an adjuster, plumber, or general contractor. A licensed plumber can do his thing later. Otherwise, living here without water for days/weeks/months is untenable.
This happened earlier: I got a five gallon bucket, a plastic trash bag, 2 3-foot lengths of 2x4, and a roll of toilet paper, dropped a deuce, sealed the bag, and set it outside. If you fall as far as I have, you want smooth lumber.
tl,dr: (1) I am reduced to living like a savage. I piss outside and shit in a 5-gallon bucket.
(2) La vida chupa, y luego te mueres.