By NANNETTE DRAKE OLDENBOURG
The temperature outside is below freezing; you’ve opened the tap and no water is coming out of the faucet. Oh, no! You probably have a frozen pipe section (unless your area’s water has been turned off for construction, unlikely in deep winter). Now what?
Leave the faucets open so that when the ice melts, the water can flow out, decreasing the chance of a burst, and increasing the melting action.
Listen carefully to your water pipes: do you hear water flowing anywhere? If so, or if you’re not sure, turn off your main valve where water comes into your home to stop the flow at its source. (The way to be sure about water flow would be to read the water meters.)
When warming a frozen section of pipe, help the ice melt on the side closest to the faucet, where it will be able to drain out, creating flow that will further help loosen the ice.
Do not apply heat on the side of the ice away from the faucet. This would only create pressure on the bulge, possibly causing a burst.
Use a hairdryer, warm towels or UL-listed electric pipe-warming cable to warm the pipe. Do not use open-flame sources of heat. (People have caused smoldering in walls that they did not detect until the heat had spread quietly far and wide, allowing flames to burst in many places beyond their control.) If you no longer have electric power, have someone bring some hot water in a thermos and warm some towels you put around the pipes.
If using electricity (such as when using a hair dryer or UL listed heated cable) do not stand in water!
Later, when turning the water back on again, watch for leaks that might be out of sight.
OUTSIDE—
dealing with ice dams
Ice dams form along the outside edge of roofs, blocking melting snow from escaping.
Don’t forget that removing an ice dam is dangerous. If you can’t call a professional, chip away at it very carefully from a safe and steady position at ground level or from a window rather than by climbing on a ladder. Use the buddy system.
Never climb onto a snowy or icy roof. Chipping away from below at an angle saves your head and body from potentially falling snow or ice, you can make holes through ice and snow to allow water to escape. Stop before your tools are close to the roof, where you could do damage.
Don’t move snow sideways across a roof. You can scrape up edges of the roof shingles.
Don’t use salt or calcium chloride or any other corrosive chemical on your roof. It can damage both your roof and the plants below.
What if the worst has happened? There’s water damage to your walls or more. What then?
The first order of business is to make sure people and pets are out of harm’s way. Stop the flow of water by turning off the main valve.
Of course you want to remove any water as soon as possible. If water got in, and it’s more than you can sop up quickly, you’ll likely need professional help, enlisting industrial-strength machines to remove water and to dry out areas.
Disaster Specialists, based in Sandwich, employs its truck-mounted water extraction units and promise they can be onsite within two hours of getting calls in Barnstable, Plymouth, Bristol and Dukes counties.
Disaster Specialists classifies damage according to the type of water that caused it. Damage from clean water from the domestic water supply (i.e., from a burst pipe) doesn’t pose as much immediate danger of contamination, but can cause mold and other problems if not dealt with quickly and thoroughly.
Gray water from sink or washing machine outflow (as from a blocked or broken outflow pipe) might contain chemical, biological or physical contaminants and can cause illness, depending on what was used and washed in the water.
Of course, black water from sewage or flooding causes the worst and most immediate damage. It can contain a concentrated level of harmful fungi and bacteria that cause illness, odors and staining.
After flowing and pooling water is removed, it’s time to remove wet items and get rid of humidity. With wet debris out of the way, industrial-strength fans and dehumidifiers can make a huge difference in terms of drying the structure of the dwelling. The goal is to get things dry within 48 hours, before undesirable organisms can grow. Depending on the damage, decontamination and deodorizing might be in order.
Some contents can be recovered if they were saved quickly enough. They will likely have to be dried and stored elsewhere while the home’s structure dries out.
Soaked carpet always needs to be removed, as it can keep the house from drying out and can harbor undesirable microscopic critters who like warm and cozy wet spots.
What and how to report to your insurance company can vary. Be aware of your coverage. Generally, normal wear and tear on a house, problems due to negligence (such as not draining pipes when turning the heat off) and natural disasters are not covered.
When we face real destruction, after immediate practical considerations there are moments of wondering about what architecture works best. The basic designs for homes we use today are based on homes in more temperate climates. In Europe, known for its Mediterranean climate, the temperature swings are not as severe as they are in New England. Fireplaces and chimneys notoriously allow lots of hot air to escape, and lots of cold air in. In our old house, when the power is out, we use our fireplace for cooking and entertaining ourselves, getting warm very close to it. But unlike heat stoves, the fireplace at the side of the house doesn’t warm our home.
On a hot day in August, I thought I was procrastinating writing articles about winter calamities by taking summer guests to visit Plimoth Plantation’s living history museum. But while I sat in awe of how comfortably cool the winter wetu hut was on a hot day, the interpreter told about the merits of the wetu building’s design in winter. Built in an aerodynamic shape, with bent saplings anchored with rocks several feet below ground, the huts had no eaves or gutters to worry about. Sure, people had to go out for spring water, but native people only had to work four or five hours a day at such tasks, instead of working much longer to pay for a house with pipes. The bark walls were insulated with many grass mats woven with patterns of dyed grasses. Inside, the hot fire in the center of the one-fire wetu draws cold air from all sides and radiates warmth all around. (Wampanoag classic buildings vary in size and number of fires.) Some hot air was lost with the smoke escaping out the hole in the ceiling, but cold air coming in above slides down along the curved walls and is drawn along the floor to the fire. Meanwhile, people stayed warm on raised beds piled high with fur pelts.
It will be interesting to see what old and new techniques we learn to keep ourselves warm and safe in the future.