F*ck My Life: bathroom flood edition (Updated)

[politicat]

Last edited Tue Jul 18, 2017, 07:48 PM - Edit history (1)

I've been slowly replacing the 20 year old valves in our plumbing. We have copper pipes so this is not that difficult. I would rather not have gushers, given a choice. I did the four sink valves in the master bath last year when I removed the carpet, replaced the vanity, and tiled the floor, but I didn't do the toilet then. I had no problems with those valves, then or since. Our water kills valves - calcium.

I needed to replace toilet guts and add on a bidet attachment, so toilet valve time, too. I did all the toilet stuff first, because we live in a townhouse that's a support system for a staircase - 5 levels, bedroom on top, water shutoff in the basement.

I think I dumped no more than 10 gallons when the brand new valve blew off the pipe. However long it took to run up 5 flights and back down, and it's just a 3/8" copper, so in theory, no more than 2 gallons per minute. It feels like more, though.

I did a *great job* on the tile floor in the bathroom last year. It's fine. All the water went down the register vent and dropped into the basement. Not into the furnace, because it went down the hot/cold air, not the air return.

I am so glad I live in a dry climate. It will be fine. But goddammit.

Update in 5, below: Air vents aren't water-tight. With luck, I'm not replacing a ceiling. Sigh. Hot and dry.

[magicarpet]

1. Oh jeez look on the bright side...

..... at least your work on the bath tile floor remained intact. Good luck in the dry out.

[politicat]

4. At least we're hot and dry for the next couple of days.

I'm confident the HVAC is fine -- I left it running for an hour while dealing with water -- but Spouse wants it off and serviced before we turn it back on.

So... at least it's cooling off at night.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. What kind of valve blew off?

At least you had access to the shut off and knew where it was...

[politicat]

3. The standard, brass ferrule and nut quarter-turn type. Brasscraft, which are reliable.

I have push-type, too, because some of our copper stubs are a little too short or just barely long enough for the push-types. I used a push first, and it dripped a little, probably because this stub is a little short and has a little too much play behind the wall. So I pulled it off, put on the ferrule type, tightened it down, used the torque to make sure I had it tight... and gush. (I do know what I'm doing.)

Knowing where the breakers, water and gas shut offs were the very first thing I looked for when we first looked at the house. We passed on several others because they were not easily accessible.

As Spouse reminds me, this motivates me to get the basement finished so he can have his cave.

[politicat]

5. Update: Valve managed. HVAC okay.

I do have a slightly damp ceiling in the room under the bathroom, because the central heat/air vents are not water tight. I know how to dry drywall, so I've drilled holes and we have major air circulation in progress. Which means patching holes in a few weeks, after I'm sure we have everything dry. I had the endoscope up inside the holes this afternoon (after I reassembled everything upstairs, before Spouse got home so we could have a phone conversation while he turned on the main and I watched the valve like it was trying to take my cookie) and I now understand why I break drill bits and anchors when drilling into walls -- we have some steel framing. That explains that.

HVAC guy walked me through testing this morning; system seems okay, and it should be running anyway since it's a dehumidifier.

Now I just have three loads of towels to re-wash.