brand new house-water pipes froze

[hiwaygal]

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.

I think you should seriously consider either going higher up in the chain at the builders or contact a consumer protection group or something. Read your homeowners manual or your mortgage documents or something...you should not have to pay for this and waiting until something happens again is not the answer! If it doesn't happen again until 4 years down the line, it's because of "shoddy" construction and you will no longer have the warranty to back you up!

Using a term like "good faith" will usually get their attention. Send them certified letters (with delivery confirmation) of the problem.

It doesn't surprise me that they aren't too eager to fix the problem. But this is something you don't want happening every year. It's really an "easy" problem to fix, you just might have a hard time getting them to do it.

 

[Kitty 34]

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.

Sounds like some of the problems my brother had with their new house. Sure hope you didn't use the same builders!!! They ended up having to take their builder to court for a number of things that ended up happening to their house. It was an absolute nightmare for them. We're in mid-Michigan.

 

[kristen821]

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.

You may want to get something in writing on thier letter head stating they will fix the problem when it happens again. You usually only have warranty for a year and it sounds like this builder is hoping it doesn't happen again until your year is up. You may also want to tell them you are going to consult a lawyer to see what should be done about this and the other problem you had with the floor while your there. Also, if it was me I think I would consult a lawyer and see what they say. A lot of lawyers have free consultation.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

72OL
No I am not in a brand new house. Oh my gosh, they still aren't thawed out? I hope you get straightened out soon. Good luck!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

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.

I know that area well! My sister lives on the other side of 290, off of FM 1960. I'm in Spring.

Would you believe we haven't had a hard freeze since December 1990? We've had some pretty mild winters lately.

It's 34 today and I can't warm up... lol.

 

[Skatermom23]

Oh boy, we went through this two years ago. Ours was also a new house. The pipe was the kitchen sink and it is on an outside overhang...kind of like a bump out. The first winter it didn't freeze because we had an unfinished basement and the heat was able to circulate and get to the pipes. The following year we finished the basement and ever time it got below freezing the pipe would freeze because the heat wasn't getting to it. The builder said the only thing they would do is tear down the wall and look at it. No promises. My DH wouldn't let them touch it. He finally went under the overhand and put that pipe installation stuff on in...but that didn't work. We concluded that the only way to solve it was to get heat to the area. So, we cut a hole in the ceiling right under the area where the overhang is and put a vent cover over it to make it look nice. Thankfully, this has solved the problem.
Good luck to you!

 

[DisneyDotty]

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.

They told us not to paint over the builder's white that was on the walls. Hmm--all their model homes had lovely, vibrant coats of paint...

Anyway, I'd pursue your situation with the builder, too. If this happens again once your home is out of warranty, you'd be lucky if the builder even returned your calls. Good luck!

 

[Skatermom23]

They told us not to paint over the builder's white that was on the walls. Hmm--all their model homes had lovely, vibrant coats of paint...

Anyway, I'd pursue your situation with the builder, too. If this happens again once your home is out of warranty, you'd be lucky if the builder even returned your calls. Good luck!

I think they tell you not to paint over the builders white for one year, or when you home warrenty is up. That way they can repair nail pops or anything else that comes up without ruining your custom paint.