brand new house-water pipes froze

[720L]

I am beyond mad. We have been living in our house a month, woke up this morning and the kids bathroom water pipes are froze!! How does this happen in a brand new house built by a supposedly good builder (not to mention expensive!) Hopefully they don't burst. What do we do now? Shouldn't the builder fix this? Help!

 

[golfgal]

I don't really see how it is the builder's fault other then if he put the pipes on an outside wall. Get out a hair dryer and start thawing out the pipes, slowly, so the don't burst. How cold was it where you are?

 

[720L]

I think they are on an outside wall!!

 

[hiwaygal]

You probably have some kind of warranty on the workmanship of the house (surely it would cover something within the first 30 days or so, if not the first year). You might want to get the builder to come in and better insulate those pipes (but don't expect a quick reaction), and any others that are on an outside wall. See if you can get a set of plans and identify the pipes on outside walls so you can make sure those pipes are insulated.

For now...golfgals suggestion is a good one!

 

[golfgal]

Can you get to the pipes? After you thaw them out, get some pipe insulation, round foam stuff at any hardware/home store and tape that stuff on.

 

[marybet]

Of course it's the builders' fault. Turn the faucets on and use the hair dryer on very low heat, it may take an hour or so but I used to get frozen pipes all the time when I lived in Ohio and that will work. If it is going to be cold again tonight than leave them drip all night and they won't freeze again.


Call the builder and have him fix the problem. Maybe they aren't buried deep enough coming into the house. Our house was built in 1900 and it tooks us awhile to get all that stuff fixed, you should not have that problem in a new house.

 

[720L]

Thanks everyone--they aren't frozen where I can reach-they are frozen in the wall/above the garage. We turned the heat up in the garage, that's all we can do for now. I contacted the builder and thats what they said to do. It's 0 here today so I don't know how long this will take.

 

[kristen821]

Normally they don't put the pipes on the outside walls. Did you ask for the bathroom to be moved to a different locations? If not I would think the builder would be responsible. If you asked for the bathroom to be moved then you may be responsible, but I am not sure how that would work.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Zero isn't a temperature you get in the South, so my guess is you are somewhere where the temperature regularly gets below freezing. It sounds to me like he didn't adequately insulate the piping. Once you get them unthawed. leave the farthest faucet in the house on a slight drip and that might help keep them unfrozen. But you shouldn't have to do that on a normal winter day. The builder should fix this problem.

Right after we moved into our house (two story) I took the dog out one morning before I left for work. My husband was already gone. While I was in the back yard I heard a loud noise and water running. The toilet upstairs had overflowed because the workers had put carpet scraps and other junk into the toilet. My kitchen light fixture was right under the toilet and it fell out of the ceiling, cutting the new vinyl and with water pouring out of the ceiling. I had to find the water shut off (luckily there was a construction trailer right next door and they found it for me). The builder redid the toilet, the ceiling, the light fixture and the floor.

 

[720L]

Deb&Bill: We've already had something like what happened to you happen to us BEFORE we moved in. Our Kohler kitchen faucet broke and flooded our downstairs. We have all hardwood floors downstairs. Nice huh? They had a professional dryer come out and dry the floors. Thats all we got. Hopefully it did the job. I pray the builders will fix this because we live in MI so this isn't a one time temperature thing.

 

[kristen821]

Deb&Bill: We've already had something like what happened to you happen to us BEFORE we moved in. Our Kohler kitchen faucet broke and flooded our downstairs. We have all hardwood floors downstairs. Nice huh? They had a professional dryer come out and dry the floors. Thats all we got. Hopefully it did the job. I pray the builders will fix this because we live in MI so this isn't a one time temperature thing.

Have you tried demanding new floors?

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

My pipes are wrapped in heat tapes which I plug in when it is very cold. At night I leave the cabinet doors under the sinks open. My have frozen right at the spot that the pipe enters into the house, but they didn't burst, so I put the small electric heaters under the sink, when I am home, of course, and that thawed them out. I leave the water dripping at night. It took hours to thaw that small area, but I didn't want them to burst. My hot water heater is in a bad spot, that pipe has frozen before.

 

[720L]

luvsmickeymouse: Are you in a brand new house?? I understand having to do that in an old house. I just called the builder, waiting for him to call me back. They still are not unthawed. (because we can't really get a heater under the floor now can we?)
kristen821:
We asked for new floors but they said the people that dried the house out said the floors would be fine, so therefore they wouldn't replace them. This was prior to us moving in, it's not what I'm worried about now anyway.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

When we lived in Houston we had attic water pipes freeze and burst. What a site when we returned home and opened our garage to a waterfall. Beautiful sight when it's on a river, but not when it's over our driveway!!! We then went into our house and water was coming from the attic, through the upstairs and into our main level via the light fixtues. Did LOTS of damage! Hopefully you'll get yours thawed before you have the problems we did--what a headache that was and I remember it like it was yesterday--over 16 years later. Good luck!

 

[DisneyDotty]

Ah, the joys of homeownship!
Good luck to you with your builder--frozen water pipes should NOT be happening in new construction. You should be under warranty for a year.
Isn't it so frustrating--you expect to avoid these kinds of problems in a brand new house!?
About 7 months after we moved in our newly built house, I noticed a puddle of water on the floor in the basement. (Of course, right before a big birthday party at my house!) Long story short, the carpenter had put a trim nail in a pipe in the kids' bathroom. Had to cut through DD's bedroom wall, replace wall in dining room and butler's pantry. Of course, we had already painted, which builder would not redo--"We told you not to paint the first year." Too bad builders aren't as helpful and customer-service oriented AFTER they get your check as they are before! (Sorry to offend any builders out there--but there are so many horror stories. That could be a good thread, actually...)

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I think they are on an outside wall!!

Where are you? That is typical construction here in Texas. When we get hard freezes, it happens.

Back in '89 and '90 we had to two years of hard freezes in a row. I owned a plumbing company back then and you wouldn't believe the mess here in Houston.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

When we lived in Houston we had attic water pipes freeze and burst. What a site when we returned home and opened our garage to a waterfall. Beautiful sight when it's on a river, but not when it's over our driveway!!! We then went into our house and water was coming from the attic, through the upstairs and into our main level via the light fixtues. Did LOTS of damage! Hopefully you'll get yours thawed before you have the problems we did--what a headache that was and I remember it like it was yesterday--over 16 years later. Good luck!

You have to look at my post! Was it during the two Christmas freezes in '89 and '90??? We had friends coming out of the woodwork that we hadn't spoken to in years...

 

[wilderness01]

Your builder will stand behind this, as he has to. Good luck.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

You have to look at my post! Was it during the two Christmas freezes in '89 and '90??? We had friends coming out of the woodwork that we hadn't spoken to in years...

Was it ever!!! Let me think--it was December 20something 1989. We were getting ready for my DD's 2nd birthday party, out doing errands when we returned home to our waterfall. My in-laws were visiting, my DH got sick, we had major damage to our house, and I told my DH that I was fertile and it was time to "do it" and our son was conceived. Great family story. We lived in Copperfield at the time, by the way, and I was so sad to move.

 

[720L]

Well after having our garage at 80 degrees all day, the pipes thawed out. They didn't freeze last night. The builder came here and tried thawing the pipes with some kind of heat gun, but that didn't work. WHen I asked him what they were going to do about this, he said nothing until it happens again--maybe this was just a one time thing. He claims the same thing happened in his house 7 years ago and it hasn't happened again so maybe this will be the same case. I sure hope so.

wilderness01: are you a builder? Your post sounded like it.

DisneyDotty: they told you not to paint the first year? Do you mean not paint colors or they wanted you to leave drywall for a year? I've never heard of that.