Frozen Pipes

I woke up this morning and found this e-mail from my mom at 2:15 in the morning:

We had a pipe break, most likely from the cold. Water gushing down through our bedroom wall, so much so that it put a hole in the wall, then it kept going down and comes out the doorway beam of the hallway/living room. Dad shut the water off, and we got big buckets, lining them up the length from the stairs to the front living room wall. He’s using the wetvac in our bedroom now, already did the living room. It splashed as far as the plaid chair, which is all wet on the side. I called the 24 hour plumber and they called back and said as long as we have the water off, just call when they open in the morning. This is going to be major; a Bryan Denman call for sure. And we won’t have water until this gets fixed. Dad will stay home for the plumber, I’ll head to work, I’m sure. I don’t think either of us will get any sleep. I figure you may want to call me at work; that’s fine, or call dad at home. We won’t know what’s going to be involved until after the plumber comes. This really sucks.

love,

Mom

I thought, “Total bummer for them.” and gave my dad a call to see how things were going.  I casually mentioned that our cold water faucet in the bathroom wasn’t working and he thought I should be a bit more concerned.  He talked to his plumber who was working to fix their problem, and, we too, had a frozen pipe the could burst.  After talking to Zak numerous times, getting quotes and advise from a half dozen plumbers, and several conversations with both my dad and mom, I made an appointment for a plumber to come out, find the pipe, and thaw it.  Zak then decided to take a half day to lend a helping hand to the situation.  Once he got home he figured out that the only faucet affected was the bathroom sink.  He found the pipe in the attic and he and Zoe are now out buying a space heater to try to thaw it.  Meanwhile, I canceled our appointment with Riverside Plumbing.  What a morning!  Anyone else ready for spring?

Note:  My folks situation is getting better.  The plumbing situation is all fixed and now they are dealing with the cleanup process.