Brrrrrrrr

[telophase]

It was 18°F when we got up this morning. In Texas. And as it didn't occur to us to check the weather conditions before we went to bed, we didn't set taps to dripping and ... the cold water on my sink in the master bath does not work now. The cold water on Toby's sink in the same bathroom still works, as do the shower and tub, so we're a bit perplexed as to what, exactly, may have broken, but we're going on the assumption that 18°F weather and a frozen pipe possibly breaking is the culprit. The sink was fine at 5AM, as I washed my hands then.

At least we can call our own plumber and not whatever low bidder used by a management company. That's what finally spurred us to buy a house: the owner and the management company of the rental we were in weren't willing to invest the money to do proper repairs, so things would just break again.

Comments

[trouble]

Oh my gosh! D: You know, I've experienced a lot of cold weather, and I've never had frozen pipes. I hope it's a really easy fix.

[telophase]

Easy enough: Toby says there's water now! But we've got the plumber coming in anyway to ensure no cracks in it or in the outside faucets (we have insulators over the faucets themselves, but I don't know about the pipes), and to check a nagging problem we've had with the kitchen sink.

[solarbird]

Oooh! Do you have the pipes in the attic thing? Uninsulated pipes in the attic? When I was in grad school I roomed with a few people including a guy from Texas whose family had that, so when they got a hard freeze, once it melted: POW! Shower time!

I hope you don't have that. But if you don't know, um, check.

[telophase]

I don't think we do. The house is about 5 years old, and Toby's been up in the attic multiple times without seeing any (although they could be buried in insulation). We'll definitely keep an eye out, though. Thanks!

We do have a spiffy thing where we can cut water off to different parts of the house individually, though! Haven't had to use it, but it's nice to know that we can isolate the master bath and keep using the guest bath if there's a problem.

[solarbird]

This is mostly but not entirely an older-house thing, and older-builder thing. People started to stop doing it, he said, in the ... 1980s? I think? Not sure.

The reasoning was fairly sound when people didn't insulate attics; easier access for installation and repair both, and leaking heat from the house would keep it from freezing. Retrofit insulation, though, and, well, whups.

[telophase]

I wouldn't be surprised if the rental house we had a couple years back, built in 1953 or 54, was like that. Especially since the attic allowed on the order of 2' of vertical space, in order to make life hard for all the service people who had to work on it. The portly electrician made his young, skinny apprentice go up and do the work because he couldn't fit through the access hatch!

[solarbird]

Yeah, his parents' house was built about then, and was like that, and his grandmother's was built in 1948, and it was too, so I bet so. COLD SHOWER TIME O NOES XD

[telophase]

We had one leak in the ceiling, but it was from a hole in the roof. We also had a cast-iron (or something; it wasn't fiberglass!) tub covered in enamel in the hall bathroom, set on the foundation or something, which made a hot bath completely pointless in the dead of winter, exactly when you wanted it most, because the frigid air surrounding it cooled the water off in the blink of an eye.

[solarbird]

Almost certainly cast iron, yep. I've seen that up here, too, and if it's on insulated concrete, it works fine. Sadly, sometimes they just set them on regular concrete, and, once again, O NOES. (And what a huge pain in the ass to remove!)

[telophase]

I am very, very happy we took my mother's advice and bought a newer house, even though I really liked some of the older ones we looked at. I can have a hot bath in the middle of winter! And top up the water multiple times, from a water heater that is STILL PRODUCING hot water! The only time I had a problem is when Toby, puttering around and being domestic, started a load of towels on hot just as I started to fill the tub. I was able to get one full tub of hot water, but as it cooled I couldn't top it off as the remaining water was lukewarm. Alas.

new vs old

[movingfinger]

And your electricity isn't funky! And things work!

Friends just moved into a newer house and my god we all went around counting the electrical outlets and ALL OF THEM ARE GROUNDED. And the plumbing! All of it works! Correctly! (Like, not hooked up backwards so you get frozen on "hot" and scalded on "cold"!)

[meganbmoore]

It was 15F here when I left for work.