Texas deep freeze carnage thread

[mchookem 16,598]

same^ from my husband from Ohio - he was like "what??" with a big eyeroll lol 

[mchookem 16,598]

1 hour ago, The Ace of Aces said:

Friend outside Tyler had his chicken coup roof collapse due to the snow ...  he has a bunch of dead chickens. 

awww 🙁

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, The Ace of Aces said:

Friend outside Tyler had his chicken coup roof collapse due to the snow ...  he has a bunch of dead chickens. 

"There ain't nobody here but us chickens.

Now, there ain't nobody here at all."

-Louis Jordan, 1956 

[The Ace of Aces 5,338]

15 minutes ago, dcbc said:

I'm interested to hear if anyone had an issue resulting from an ice dam.  Our roof snow and ice mostly melted today and I guess we have enough ventilation at our eaves that it wasn't an issue.  Was talking to a neighbor who lived in Colorado for 30 years and have never heard of such a thing being a problem. 

Ice dams usually result from more snow than you guys got. They’re definitely a thing but more common after you get 2’+ on the roof. We got a 32” storm a few years ago and had to improvise a long broom tied to another and lean out the 2nd story window to free up one here. That sucked.  

[BrickHorn 18,334]

53 minutes ago, dcbc said:

I'm interested to hear if anyone had an issue resulting from an ice dam.  Our roof snow and ice mostly melted today and I guess we have enough ventilation at our eaves that it wasn't an issue.  Was talking to a neighbor who lived in Colorado for 30 years and have never heard of such a thing being a problem. 

I’m pretty sure that happened in my screened porch. 

[Axle Hongsnort 208]

I'm interested to hear if anyone had an issue resulting from an ice dam.  Our roof snow and ice mostly melted today and I guess we have enough ventilation at our eaves that it wasn't an issue.  Was talking to a neighbor who lived in Colorado for 30 years and have never heard of such a thing being a problem. 

hell yes an issue if you’re roof flashing isn’t tight. especially if you have different pitches. i think austin melted so fast most skipped over, but nothing to roll eyes at.

[dcbc 14,574]

16 minutes ago, Axle Hongsnort said:

hell yes an issue if you’re roof flashing isn’t tight. especially if you have different pitches. i think austin melted so fast most skipped over, but nothing to roll eyes at.

Wasn't rolling my eyes at it.  Just asking if anyone here had issues with it after this storm.  Not doubting it could be an issue under the right circumstances. 

You know how it is though.  You never hear of anything, all of a sudden, it's on social media, you're a bit suspicious how you could have circled the planet so many times and never heard of something. 

Edited February 21, 2021 by dcbc

[gsoda3 3,317]

we have a friend in pflugerville who had an ice dam issue.  single story home, low pitch roof.  

[pacman 7,442]

1 hour ago, dcbc said:

I'm interested to hear if anyone had an issue resulting from an ice dam.  Our roof snow and ice mostly melted today and I guess we have enough ventilation at our eaves that it wasn't an issue.  Was talking to a neighbor who lived in Colorado for 30 years and have never heard of such a thing being a problem. 

Fortunately, turned out to be nothing for me either. I took note of the areas of collection for future reference but I checked and found no issues.

[UTHornFan014 722]

Two outdoor tankless water heaters down at our house (only ~8 months old). Waiting another day before turning on the pool pump to see if we have any damage there. If we can get out of it with the water heaters as the only casualties I'll be very gruntled.

Sent from my HD1925 using Tapatalk

[immamac 43,723]

2 minutes ago, UTHornFan014 said:

Two outdoor tankless water heaters down at our house (only ~8 months old). Waiting another day before turning on the pool pump to see if we have any damage there. If we can get out of it with the water heaters as the only casualties I'll be very gruntled.

Sent from my HD1925 using Tapatalk
 

same story at my rental property. some exterior pipes into the tankless and the actual tankless themselves (one is 13 yrs old the other is 10) so the inconvenience for the renters sucks, but replacement was inevitable soon either way for both units. 

Pool pump still wasn't thawed today, it stays in the shade all day, hoping no damage there, the polaris pump is fine, hoping my DE filter didn't break, but it relieved itself of pressure today so I have high hopes that maybe all I have to replace in a worst case scenario is my pump - Also hoping my line didn't freeze that is buried to the pump if that is gone then I'm pretty fucked. 

[EfficientlyCorrectly 0]

12 hours ago, Captainant said:

If the unit is in the attic, it guarantees hot water pressure to the entire house. If it's on the ground floor, you could have pressure issues in the rooms furthest from it.

That is not the reason the hot water heater is in the attic. I have owned several houses and all the water heaters have been in the basement, There has never been a water pressure problem in any of the houses. Nearly all of the United States and Canada where homes are built with basements have their water heaters in the basement.
I have to say, putting a water heater in the attic is just plain STUPID. This is done because a builder wants to save money. It is how you do it when you want to do it on the CHEAP! It's incredibly foolish to do such a thing. If a leak occurs you get water damage. A good builder who actually cares about the future of the house would never put a hot water heater in the attic. It is STUPID.

[Okie State 3,868]

Why are these tankless units on the outside of the house?

[Gatorubet 30,441]

That is not the reason the hot water heater is in the attic. I have owned several houses and all the water heaters have been in the basement, There has never been a water pressure problem in any of the houses. Nearly all of the United States and Canada where homes are built with basements have their water heaters in the basement.
I have to say, putting a water heater in the attic is just plain STUPID. This is done because a builder wants to save money. It is how you do it when you want to do it on the CHEAP! It's incredibly foolish to do such a thing. If a leak occurs you get water damage. A good builder who actually cares about the future of the house would never put a hot water heater in the attic. It is STUPID.

User name checks out.

[Somnio 751]

I came home tonight to a puddle of water on the floor in front of kitchen sink, yet everything was dry inside of cabinet.  I'm thinking that means a leak inside the wall.  Luckily I rent so I'm not on the hook to pay a plumber, but am curious how much work will be required to fix.  Am I going to have a plumber in my apartment all day long, ripping out drywall and shit? 

[TwiceHorn 31,707]

28 minutes ago, EfficientlyCorrectly said:

That is not the reason the hot water heater is in the attic. I have owned several houses and all the water heaters have been in the basement, There has never been a water pressure problem in any of the houses. Nearly all of the United States and Canada where homes are built with basements have their water heaters in the basement.
I have to say, putting a water heater in the attic is just plain STUPID. This is done because a builder wants to save money. It is how you do it when you want to do it on the CHEAP! It's incredibly foolish to do such a thing. If a leak occurs you get water damage. A good builder who actually cares about the future of the house would never put a hot water heater in the attic. It is STUPID.

STFU.

[Anastasis 23,529]

10 minutes ago, Somnio said:

t.  I'm thinking that means a leak inside the wall. 

Sounds reasonable to me. 

[AUS-97HORN 11,895]

9 minutes ago, Somnio said:

I came home tonight to a puddle of water on the floor in front of kitchen sink, yet everything was dry inside of cabinet.  I'm thinking that means a leak inside the wall.  Luckily I rent so I'm not on the hook to pay a plumber, but am curious how much work will be required to fix.  Am I going to have a plumber in my apartment all day long, ripping out drywall and shit? 

you do realize most plumbers are booked for the next month right...   kinda tough to live in a house without a kitchen sink

[gsoda3 3,317]

2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

STFU.

????

[Somnio 751]

Just now, AUS-97HORN said:

you do realize most plumbers are booked for the next month right...   kinda tough to live in a house without a kitchen sink

Yes. My complex has had plumbers working the last two or three days.  They continue to find more leaks everytime they turn the water back on, such as mine today.

[TwiceHorn 31,707]

Just now, gsoda3 said:

????

It was a stupid post.  The anecdotes about basements are useless in Texas.  It doesn't save a builder any money.  It saves the owner square footage.

[atomheartbevo 90,149]

Is this true?

 

[gsoda3 3,317]

2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

It was a stupid post.  The anecdotes about basements are useless in Texas.  It doesn't save a builder any money.  It saves the owner square footage.

the premise of water heaters in attics not being a function of water pressure still stands even taking into consideration our lack of basements.  the issue of saving money is something i can't speak to because i don't know enough to, but it wasn't a completely worthless post.  

[gsoda3 3,317]

Just now, atomheartbevo said:

Is this true?

 

i know millions of gallons is hyperbole but how many gallons does a water tower typically hold?

[CHIEF 5,111]

44 minutes ago, Okie State said:

Why are these tankless units on the outside of the house?

Because they run on natural gas at extremely high temps. Think of a hot air balloon burner, they have to vent directly to the outside.. I use electric tankless on all of the houses I build, the entire house is foamed, so the attic is within 10 degrees of the interior. BUT, I also put drain valves for a case such as this. Drain the coils in extreme cold if you have lost electrical power.

CHIEF

[bernorange 8,377]

11 hours ago, SquishMitten said:

Never had to file an insurance claim before. My contractor can’t make it over until early next week so I won’t have estimates until then. Do I need to file ASAP to get my place in line? Or do they not really start processing a claim until you have repair estimates first?

My brother called ASAP.  His ins. Co. said to start mold remediation/repairs as he can, but to take pictures of everything and save receipts.  They are sending an agent over this week to assess the damage for his claim.

I say, call your ins co and talk to them.

[Post Oak 20,365]

36 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

i know millions of gallons is hyperbole but how many gallons does a water tower typically hold?

Tree fiddy

[Brew 3,049]

2 hours ago, dcbc said:

I'm interested to hear if anyone had an issue resulting from an ice dam.  Our roof snow and ice mostly melted today and I guess we have enough ventilation at our eaves that it wasn't an issue.  Was talking to a neighbor who lived in Colorado for 30 years and have never heard of such a thing being a problem. 

Dealt with one at our last house that took out a master bedroom ceiling and garage ceiling. From what we were told then, it typically happens where two different pitches come together. The ice formed, blocked the gutters, and we had a rain before it melted which caused our issues. Snow melt wasn’t an issue because it was slow. The rain was a different story.

[Surly Bevo 25,542]

54 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

i know millions of gallons is hyperbole but how many gallons does a water tower typically hold?

Probably somewhere between 500K and 1.5M gallons depending on its size...so million(s) is likely minor hyperbole.

[Brisketexan 105,787]

Ive got a busted pipe somewhere in the ceiling, water turned off since Wed.  Plumber that i use all the time orignally said he could make it Fri, then sat.... today I called and they told me, maybe Mon, or Tues...   I get it, they are overwhelmed, but I get the feeling its gonna be another week before he is gonna make it. 
the water damage is really contained to the master bath,  so as long I can turn the water back on and wash some clothes and take a shower, I am fine..... but the pipe isnt in an easy spot to fix without some experience. 

Caution: don’t assume that’s your only leak. I thought I’d found ours. And I did. Then, when I got a plumber here to fix it....we found another. And fixed it. And found another.

5 leaks total.

FYI, if any of y’all in Austin, I have parts on the way (was going for today, looks like tomorrow) for pipe repairs.

[drt 642]

Supposedly we now have water back in the neighborhood, but with the kids down and it being dark there is no way I'm turning that shit back on right now.  If we have leaks they can wait until tomorrow morning when I can actually see them.

[4th&Five 41,729]

Small potato’s for a lot of people with bigger issues in this thread but I just filled out a claim for food spoilage on the USAA app. Took 60 seconds. I assume other insurance companies are doing similar. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,830]

Finally got some water pressure back at my house in 78748.  Of course they turned it on at 2:30am, so I had to get up and check for leaks.  Haven’t found any yet, but it’s not at full pressure.  Still I’m glad for the first time in 4 days I don’t have to dread the feeling of a turd forming.  

[El Diablo 4,232]

HEB does not open until 9 this morning. This news ungruntles me. A friend's wife said that she went, not sure what day because it was a woman telling the story, and the shelves looked worse than they did in the early pandemic panic days.

[GhostOfTomJoad 9,453]

So if I dripped all of the interior faucets/showers until we got above freezing Sat morning. We only experienced one frozen line (cold water under the kitchen sink on Wed morning; thawed after 45 minutes of hair dryer application). Just amazingly fortunate since we never lost power/heat/water.

My question is, when should I uncover the two outdoor spigots & attempt to turn them on to determine flow? I haven't detected any leakage or problems at those spigots, so am I safe in just letting mother nature do her work on them? 

[TwiceHorn 31,707]

11 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

So if I dripped all of the interior faucets/showers until we got above freezing Sat morning. We only experienced one frozen line (cold water under the kitchen sink on Wed morning; thawed after 45 minutes of hair dryer application). Just amazingly fortunate since we never lost power/heat/water.

My question is, when should I uncover the two outdoor spigots & attempt to turn them on to determine flow? I haven't detected any leakage or problems at those spigots, so am I safe in just letting mother nature do her work on them? 

Here's my theory on that.  If they're gonna leak, they're gonna do it when they thaw, if not before.

Checking to see if they are running will tell you whether they have thawed.  So you can pretty much end the suspense by checking them out.  Of course, if they're still frozen, you will still be in suspense.  But with a day above freezing, they should be at least partially running.

[burntorangebongos 10,787]

They are limiting some items to just 2. And now their trucks can get to store so they can restock. I'll bet that open after 8 store will have lots of what you need.

[immamac 43,723]

I have 4 3/4" sharkbite 90 degree fittings and about 8 feet of copper pipe if someone needs it. 

[deadshank 24,653]

13 hours ago, Axle Hongsnort said:

hell yes an issue if you’re roof flashing isn’t tight. especially if you have different pitches. i think austin melted so fast most skipped over, but nothing to roll eyes at.

Ice dams have nothing to do with roof flashing or the pitch of a roof.

Ice dams form when warm air escapes the interior of house (and especially in houses with poor attic ventilation) and the warm air melts the snow on the roof.  

The melted snow exits the drainage plane of the roof and runs into the unmelted snow at the eave of a roof (which is outside of the attic and “unheated”). The former snow now water re-freezes at the eaves and becomes the ice dam.  
 

Warm attics and poorly ventilated attics cause ice dams.  This has been studied over and over.  
 

Don’t insulate your attic.  Insulate the conditioned living space of your house and insulate the pipes in the uninsulated attic.  
 

Caveat: spray foam insulated houses are a different animal. 

Edited February 21, 2021 by deadshank

[Message Board User 12,397]

31 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

So if I dripped all of the interior faucets/showers until we got above freezing Sat morning. We only experienced one frozen line (cold water under the kitchen sink on Wed morning; thawed after 45 minutes of hair dryer application). Just amazingly fortunate since we never lost power/heat/water.

My question is, when should I uncover the two outdoor spigots & attempt to turn them on to determine flow? I haven't detected any leakage or problems at those spigots, so am I safe in just letting mother nature do her work on them? 

I uncovered mine yesterday and ran the outside spigots and everything was good.  Just be careful turn it on gradually like it's South Austin's mom and you should be rewarded (like with south austin's mom).

[GhostOfTomJoad 9,453]

Thanks for the tips. I think I'll wait until noon which should be a full 24 hours above freezing before slowly opening the spigots. My challenge will be detecting any leaks since one spigot is located in brick & the other in hardiplank. If I don't see obvious water leaking through the interior walls (brick's opposite wall is sheetrock to front office, hard is sheetrock to garage) I guess I'm just trying to determine if the flow is too low as an indicator of a leak.

[DaysOff 8,042]

The flow rate sensors on your meter or water softener are highly sensitive. If a few drips go by it will move the needle. You'll know.

[drt 642]

Yeah. I checked for leaks now when I turned the water on after I bled the system for air, and plan on doing it later today again. Just turn everything off and go see if the triangle on the meter is rotating. 

[Biff Tannen 45,791]

10 hours ago, CHIEF said:

Because they run on natural gas at extremely high temps. Think of a hot air balloon burner, they have to vent directly to the outside.. I use electric tankless on all of the houses I build, the entire house is foamed, so the attic is within 10 degrees of the interior. BUT, I also put drain valves for a case such as this. Drain the coils in extreme cold if you have lost electrical power.

CHIEF

Mine is electric and on the outside. House is foamed too, which I think is what saved my pipes. Lost power for 17 hours, but it was mostly during the day and not on one of the coldest days. Was worried about the tankless, but as soon as power came back, we were back to hot water. 

[4th&Five 41,729]

2 hours ago, El Diablo said:

HEB does not open until 9 this morning. This news ungruntles me. A friend's wife said that she went, not sure what day because it was a woman telling the story, and the shelves looked worse than they did in the early pandemic panic days.

Go to Sprouts. All staples, water. 25 minutes to checkout but a lot shorter than heb. 

[Axle Hongsnort 208]

Ice dams have nothing to do with roof flashing or the pitch of a roof.

I had a lot of snow accumulated on the sub roof above my front door. The angles of how it accumulated and was then melting was sure as shit putting the flashing protection at risk. Maybe mine was a “snow berm” but i knocked all that shit down to be safe.

[deadshank 24,653]

25 minutes ago, Axle Hongsnort said:

I had a lot of snow accumulated on the sub roof above my front door. The angles of how it accumulated and was then melting was sure as shit putting the flashing protection at risk. Maybe mine was a “snow berm” but i knocked all that shit down to be safe.

I’m not going to argue with you about this.  You’re seeing the location of your ice dam and not the cause. 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

@TexasEd talked to my cousin who is a plumber in our area...I guess houses in the mountains have freeze proof spigots installed that actually stop the water a few feet away from the spigot head, where it’s safely always in the crawlspace or other climate safe environment. They aren’t insulated.

mystery solved.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

I think the danger ice dams pose is if they sit there all winter and the snow on the roof is constantly thawing (then snowing again, thawing, etc.) then overtime the water/ice that form will damage the shingles and eventually find it’s way into the attic. I don’t think they pose any risk for a one off snow event unless your shingles are pure shit already.

[horn4life 3,819]

Well hell I feel pretty damn good about everything now.  I was team drip, after being team frozen kitchen sink line.  One a little cun, a little heat gun, and a little torch the flow came and I kept it coming on that  fixture with the worst elemental exposure.  Wife was thrilled with my Trailer survival prep, and now the toughest thing for us besides water pressure, is fining a patio to eat on.  My Dad and mom were down to 39 degrees indoors and my 90 year old Dad lost a few pound from shivering. Now getting support from wife's brother in the water and support department for her parents which was basically a half time job the last week or so.  Hope they don't have leaks as the pressure returns.

The one thing that is a bit of a mess is that the hot water line in the sink is not coming up to pressure as much as the cold.  I assume there is some sort of blockage and I will hillbilly engineer a back flush so try and remove what I assume is debris or scaling since it's only on the HOT side.

My father sent me a link to shark bites on Amazon saying there were some good repair videos.  These guys sell shit on Amazon but they had several plumbing quick fix option videos that might be able to help some of you in trouble.  https://www.amazon.com/shop/got2learn  Not endorsing their products but the videos seemed on point.  

I need to do a good search for repair materials as I have a few friends that need leak repairs that they can't yet find. Without pressure how can you find the damn leak?  I did buy a little camera called a Ferret that I needed for another project that I am hoping will help my friends see behind into cut out areas to try and find the leak sources without tearing the hell out of everything.  Keep your chins up! Water pressure is coming back up, and hopefully in another day or two pressure will be back to the point where we can do a countdown on the boil notice...