A Costly Cold Weather Hazard

My wife and I are real estate Agents here in Shelby Co. and had an incident happen today that reminds of the problems you can get hit with in the current cold wave if you’re not careful.

We were having lunch when I get a call from a lady living near a home we have listed for sale in Alabaster, advising of a water problem (she called us because she didn’t know how to reach the owner and saw our yard sign).

The home has been vacant for several months, and water and power were off. At first, I envision that maybe we’re talking about a small leak, but then, a few minutes later, my phone rings again. Another resident is calling about the same thing. At that point, we’re thinking this doesn’t sound good, so we head straight over.

When we pull up, water is flowing from the house across the driveway and into the street. When I walk up to the front, even with the door still closed, I hear what sounds like a good sized waterfall inside. Water is pouring (not trickling, mind you, pouring!) out of both the front and back doors, as well as down the side of the house. It’s almost like what you’d expect to see in a movie. The bad feelings in our stomachs have begun!

I open the outer front door and look through the glass to see a stream of water pouring from the ceiling at a fast rate, with easily an inch and a half of water on the floor. We are stumped at how water could be pouring inside a home where the water has been shut off!

I call for help from the big guns. Three cheers, by the way, for Alabaster Fire … an AFD engine crew shows up only moments later. Alabaster Water Board personnel arrive very quickly thereafter.

It turns out that the home has a fire/sprinkler system which is served by a separate water line. When a customer disconnects water service, the regular water feed is turned off, but (for obvious safety reasons), not the sprinkler line.

So, the lesson here is all about what happens when you have water in pipes in a property that is not maintained properly, combined with frigid cold weather. The sprinkler system pipes just couldn’t take it and blew. People need to be really careful. The water board crew says they’re seeing a lot of burst pipes.

We have no idea what the damage is going to cost, but I suspect the owner will be looking at new flooring throughout the entire lower level at minimum. Unfortunately, water also got into an adjoining home, causing problems there, too.

This was sad, because we had a Contract to sell this home, but it fell apart. If we had been able to get it sold, an owner might have been living there, and this probably would not have happened…

Category: Pre-November 2010 Posts