In colder weather, it takes a whole lot longer to smoke stuff. Yes, outdoor temperature matters.
He went downstairs yesterday around 10:30 a.m. to get the chicken ready. A minute or so later he came back upstairs and said, “Did you just get out of the shower?”
“Um, no,” I replied. “Why?”
“I hear water running,” he said.
I went down to the kitchen and, sure enough, there was water running somewhere. A lot of water. It actually sounded like the dishwasher was running, only it wasn’t.
He said he’d checked the basement, and all looked well. So I went down in my stockinged feet, into the storage room at the bottom of the basement stairs. All LOOKED okay, but you could really hear water running.
Then I realized my feet were wet. Which meant the carpet was wet. Ruh ro.
Lucky for us, the water shut-off valve is in that room. Both the main shut-off and the one for the hose bibb on the front of the house.
That’s how Hubby discovered the problem was at the bibb.
There were no visible signs of leakage outside of the house, only inside. Not only was the carpet wet, you could see signs of water damage in the wall and ceiling in that room. Which means the pipe leading to the hose bibb had burst inside the wall.
Lovely.
Lucky for us, we caught it early. The wet carpet was confined to about a third of that room. But we’re going to need a plumber. The wall and/or ceiling will likely need to be torn apart, too, to get to the site of the problem.
We notified the insurance company yesterday. A claims rep is supposed to call us today.
It’s a good thing he went down to start that chicken when he did. All sounded well from our offices.No telling how long it would have continued.
Although we do have a slightly wet carpet, I was able to get all of the boxes off of the floor in that room before any of them were damaged. It could have been a lot worse.
Hopefully, it won’t be too big a deal getting the thing fixed. I dread the thought of needing exterior excavation to reach the thing…
Wow! It is a good thing you found it when you did. It’s not like that room gets a whole lot of use. Do you think it the cold that made the pipes burst?
Yep. pipe froze. We were SO lucky.
Kathy:
SO glad you caught it in time. Was it due to the cold weather (Arctic Vortex) ? we aren’t used to colder weather here either but I make sure to turn off our outside faucets. I had a pipe burst before
You are lucky to have discovered it before it went un-noticed for longer.
I also have to make dinner half the week but I am running out of ideas and it gets repetitive with my limited menus.
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Yikes. Good thing you caught it when you did. Hooray for the lucky chicken.
Hopefully insurance can make things good as new without too many hassles. Good thing it burst when you guys were home and not out at your dads.
Bob, me, too! Yes, it was the cold. At least we think. Won’t know for sure until we get a repairman out here. We have the special frost-free hose bibbs, but did remove the hoses.
Menu planning is my least-favorite part of cooking!
Brandy, I can’t imagine what a mess it would have been had we not been here.