I'm not quite sure how or when it happened, but I'm the "goto" guy in our little townhome subdivision. Need a ride to the bus depot, you come to me. Need help with moving a tv, you come to me. Need tools, I'm here. Want to know why your toilet rattles, I'm your guy (previous owner replaced the toilet, didn't caulk next to the floor).
Notice water pouring out from under the neighbor's garage? That's right, you come to me.
Our next door neighbor noticed water streaming out from under the garage of the abandoned townhouse across the street. They came and got me to figure out what to do. I called 911 to get an emergency utility crew out and my wife contact our on-call maintenance.
Rather than a utility crew, we got the fire department and a policeman. They forced entry to the house. We waited until our maintenance guy got there and took a little tour ourselves.
We walked in to a waterfall coming down from the second story through the ceiling into the garage and around the light fixtures on the first floor. Basically, the toilet in the master bathroom blew up. The master bathroom and bedroom were soaked and a river was flowing out into the hallway. It was a pretty awesome sight... water everywhere, drywall all over the garage (garage had two runs of drywall as a firewall, bottom run fell off).
And, there's nothing like getting a couple fire chiefs and a ladder truck out to get the neighborhood going. I think I've met more of my neighbors last night in sub-zero temps than at our block party this summer. One of the neighbors was nice enough to furnish beers. The kids were out playing in the street. Very, very odd.
My guess is that the house was abandoned in about August or September. They stopped paying utilities far enough back that the gas company turned off their service before the winter (they can't disconnect in the winter here). The pipes have probably frozen and thawed several times. Yesterday was sunny and above zero and the house warmed above freezing (thermometer read 42 when we toured the carnage). That probably thawed the last ice dam up enough that water could run freely again and drained through a previously burst pipe.
We (the association) called a restoration company in right away to contain the damage and try and prevent any mold growth... now we'll just try and track down who actually owns the house and take it from there.
Moral of the story: If you want to meet your neighbors, flood a house.
Notice water pouring out from under the neighbor's garage? That's right, you come to me.
Our next door neighbor noticed water streaming out from under the garage of the abandoned townhouse across the street. They came and got me to figure out what to do. I called 911 to get an emergency utility crew out and my wife contact our on-call maintenance.
Rather than a utility crew, we got the fire department and a policeman. They forced entry to the house. We waited until our maintenance guy got there and took a little tour ourselves.
We walked in to a waterfall coming down from the second story through the ceiling into the garage and around the light fixtures on the first floor. Basically, the toilet in the master bathroom blew up. The master bathroom and bedroom were soaked and a river was flowing out into the hallway. It was a pretty awesome sight... water everywhere, drywall all over the garage (garage had two runs of drywall as a firewall, bottom run fell off).
And, there's nothing like getting a couple fire chiefs and a ladder truck out to get the neighborhood going. I think I've met more of my neighbors last night in sub-zero temps than at our block party this summer. One of the neighbors was nice enough to furnish beers. The kids were out playing in the street. Very, very odd.
My guess is that the house was abandoned in about August or September. They stopped paying utilities far enough back that the gas company turned off their service before the winter (they can't disconnect in the winter here). The pipes have probably frozen and thawed several times. Yesterday was sunny and above zero and the house warmed above freezing (thermometer read 42 when we toured the carnage). That probably thawed the last ice dam up enough that water could run freely again and drained through a previously burst pipe.
We (the association) called a restoration company in right away to contain the damage and try and prevent any mold growth... now we'll just try and track down who actually owns the house and take it from there.
Moral of the story: If you want to meet your neighbors, flood a house.
Couldn't prove anything, but asked the neighbor to keep an eye on the place and make sure nobody was tapping water from our outside spigot. Apparently the guilt trip worked as water bill was back to normal the next month.
