Home Repair: Frozen Pipes

Two of our good friends (Forsyth's) had the opportunity to move to London for work for a couple of months. While they are gone we have moved into their townhouse to ‘house sit’ and ‘dog sit.’ Yes, dog sit! Ben and I are foster parenting a super well behaved black lab, Annie. We were a little nervous (neither of us being dog people and having a slightly negative dog-sitting life ratio) but it is going well and we love her. We moved in on Monday and are enjoying having our own place again; cooking meals, organizing and walking around in our underwear (which we totally DON’T do).

Last night we had our first ‘problem’ with the house. It has been getting colder and we were warned and have been cautious about the pipes but alas…the pipes froze. We tried space heaters, high powered blow-dryers, blankets, and having the water ‘running’ (with nothing coming out) all day. Both of us had to work (with me coming home every couple hours to make sure the house wasn’t flooded) and we both worried all day. So when Ben got off work he (and his brother Jesse) decided to make sure this never happened again. Here’s the home repair process…
   

They cleared everything out from under the sink, pulled out the bottom floor board and cut a hole in the ground to see where the pipes went.



Here is the hole. (About 4"x4")



Here is what they found.  The pipes were running next to the concrete foundation (which is cold) and therefore they were freezing in that one spot.  They stuck the blow-dryer in the hole aimed at that bend and wala, we had water. Now to PREVENT the problem.

They found some pipe insulation coveres- now the only trick is getting the pipe (which is in that little hole) covered!

He said "No Butt Shot!" So I shifted to the left. It was a little tight down there.



Finished Project- covered pipes!! Hopefully more insulated and freeze free!