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Nightmare on Briarwood Dr!
Tuesday morning I decided to sort some dirty laundry before heading out to work. Getting to the sorting bins I stepped into about 1/4" of water. After calling my supervisor and letting her know I had an emergency I got the shop vac out and cleaned up the water.
My first thought was the water heater, but that end of the room was dry. With the washer and dryer moved out of the way I could hear the hissing sound inside the wall. Figured either I had a snake in the wall that drank WAY too much, or a pipe was leaking. Since possiblity #2 was the most likely, I started tearing out sheet rock.
What I found was evidence of a slow leak at a joint that had finaly gotten bad enough to flood the room. The insulatio was wet about 4' up and there was damage to the jack studs for the window, as well as the sole plate and 2 studs.
My neighbor is a contractor, licensed as an electrician and AC man, but up to speed on plumbing. I called and asked him to swing by when he could to give me his opinion on some changes I wanted to make while I was in there. I wanted to reposition the washer connections / drain and move the dryer vent. The cold water pipe ran between the drain pipe and the wall and there wasn't enough room for it. It was slightly proud of the studs and was wearing a groove in the drain pipe. He said he didn't see any problems with the mods and that if I got the structural work done, he would come back to replace the lines with PEX.
I had to replace a section of the sole plate and sister in 2x4 to repair the damaged studs. The jack studs for the window ran too close to the hot water pipe (May have at leasat contributed to the problem) so instead of replacing them, I cut them off and put a header under them. When I nailed it in place I used a floor jack to apply some upward pressure. The stud repairs are braced/sistered better than what shows in the photo.
Tuesday evening I stapled a double layer of plastic to the inside of the wall to keep out the weather and replaced the sheathing with foam board last night. I want to move the freezer and stacked washer /dryer around to find a better arrangementbefore I close the wall up. With only one 115V duplex outlet in the room, the freezer and washer / dryer had to sit next to each other causing the dryer to block the window. The outlet is an end run so it will be simple to tie into it and put another outlet on the other side of the window.
I will post more pics as progress is made. I am off Monday so hopefully I will be able to get the wall closed up and in primer this weekend.
My first thought was the water heater, but that end of the room was dry. With the washer and dryer moved out of the way I could hear the hissing sound inside the wall. Figured either I had a snake in the wall that drank WAY too much, or a pipe was leaking. Since possiblity #2 was the most likely, I started tearing out sheet rock.
What I found was evidence of a slow leak at a joint that had finaly gotten bad enough to flood the room. The insulatio was wet about 4' up and there was damage to the jack studs for the window, as well as the sole plate and 2 studs.
My neighbor is a contractor, licensed as an electrician and AC man, but up to speed on plumbing. I called and asked him to swing by when he could to give me his opinion on some changes I wanted to make while I was in there. I wanted to reposition the washer connections / drain and move the dryer vent. The cold water pipe ran between the drain pipe and the wall and there wasn't enough room for it. It was slightly proud of the studs and was wearing a groove in the drain pipe. He said he didn't see any problems with the mods and that if I got the structural work done, he would come back to replace the lines with PEX.
I had to replace a section of the sole plate and sister in 2x4 to repair the damaged studs. The jack studs for the window ran too close to the hot water pipe (May have at leasat contributed to the problem) so instead of replacing them, I cut them off and put a header under them. When I nailed it in place I used a floor jack to apply some upward pressure. The stud repairs are braced/sistered better than what shows in the photo.
Tuesday evening I stapled a double layer of plastic to the inside of the wall to keep out the weather and replaced the sheathing with foam board last night. I want to move the freezer and stacked washer /dryer around to find a better arrangementbefore I close the wall up. With only one 115V duplex outlet in the room, the freezer and washer / dryer had to sit next to each other causing the dryer to block the window. The outlet is an end run so it will be simple to tie into it and put another outlet on the other side of the window.
I will post more pics as progress is made. I am off Monday so hopefully I will be able to get the wall closed up and in primer this weekend.
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