Hockessin burst pipe water damage

Hockessin's larger homes often have bathrooms and a laundry on the second floor, with supply lines running through the floor system above the kitchen and family room. Bonus rooms over garages have pipes that run through cold garage ceilings. Exterior walls in two-story foyers and great rooms can be hard to insulate well. In a deep cold snap, those are the places water freezes, expands and splits pipes or fittings ^[1].

Not every burst is a freeze. Braided supply lines and washer hoses age, ice maker lines crack, and fittings loosen. A failed washer hose on a second-floor laundry can release a large amount of water while the family is out, and it all heads downward.

Bonus rooms and bathrooms above attached garages put pipes in a floor that sits over an unheated space. In a long freeze, garage air can get cold enough to freeze them, especially if the garage door is left open or the ceiling insulation has gaps. Keep the garage door closed in cold snaps, and ask a plumber or insulation contractor about protecting those runs.

A burst over a garage drops water onto cars, storage and the garage floor, and soaks the bonus room floor above. Drying the garage ceiling usually means opening it where it is wet and replacing insulation.

In homes on wells, a burst pipe drains the pressure tank and then the well pump runs to refill it, feeding the leak. Turning off the pump's breaker, as well as closing the main valve, stops it. Know where both are before winter.

Insulate pipes in garage ceilings and exterior walls, seal drafts, disconnect hoses and close outdoor faucets from inside, keep the heat steady, and let at-risk faucets drip in extreme cold ^[2]. Replace washer hoses with braided lines and consider an automatic shutoff valve for a second-floor laundry. Smart leak detectors that shut off the main when they sense water are another option for larger homes.

If the house will be empty in winter, keep the heat on, ask someone to check, and consider shutting the main and draining the lines for long trips. A burst that runs for days through a three-level home is one of the largest water losses a household can have.

Main-level hardwood under a second-floor leak often cups; it can usually be dried with mats and from the basement below. Basement carpet pad usually goes. See hardwood floor drying in Hockessin.

Keep the failed hose or pipe section, note when the leak was found and stopped, and photograph each level. A thermostat history can help show the house was heated if a freeze is involved.

With ceilings open and insulation out, a three-level burst usually needs several days of drying; hardwood and basement slabs can stretch it. Readings decide.

See burst pipe water damage, structural drying in Hockessin and the Hockessin area page.

In a colonial, the floor between the second floor and the main level is a cavity of joists, often with no insulation except over the garage. Water from a second-floor leak spreads along it and soaks the drywall ceiling below. A stained but firm ceiling can often be dried once the cavity is ventilated through a few openings; a sagging one is drained and removed in the wet area. Recessed lights in the wet area should be checked by an electrician.

Basement ceilings in finished Hockessin basements may be drywall or a dropped tile ceiling. Wet ceiling tiles are usually replaced, since they absorb water and stain.

When a primary bath or laundry sits over the kitchen, a burst sends water onto cabinets, counters and the hardwood floor. Cabinets are checked inside and underneath, toe kicks come off, and the subfloor under the cabinets is dried. Upper cabinets on the wet wall may need to come down if the wall cavity behind them is soaked.

For larger homes, a whole-house leak detection system with a motorized valve on the main can shut the water off when a sensor detects a leak. It is a useful safeguard for second-floor laundries and for families that travel.

If any faucet ran dry during a cold snap, watch that area as it warms up; splits often leak during the thaw.