We heard tales of -35 degree temperatures in Alamosa while we were enjoying 70 degrees in Arizona and were dreading what might be awaiting us when we returned. (Do the math...that's a 105 degree difference.)
We arrived at home at 7:30pm on Jan. 3rd and this is what we've found (so far)...
Frozen pipes...no water. We tried thawing the pipes overnight, to no avail. This morning, Bill braved a trip into the crawl space to see what the problem might be. His "professional" opinion (ha! ha!) was that we needed a plumber, evidenced by the water filter system (frozen solid and busted off of the water line) that he brought out. Thankfully, the plumber came out this afternoon and restored the luxury of indoor plumbing within a couple of hours. He had to use industrial heaters underneath the house, though, which apparently emit heavy doses of carbon monoxide. When the plumber left, he told us to make sure and open some windows so the house could vent.
The major problem, however, is not the lack of water but the overabundance of it. We discovered that the hot tub froze and the 300+ gallons of water that were in the hot tub drained out into the carpet, walls and floor of our computer room/office/craft room and attached storage room. We naively thought that we could Shop-Vac the water...ha! After about an hour of vacuuming water and making no progress, we decided that it was time to call in professionals. We had to move all of the furniture and stuff we had in that room plus the storage closet, so it is now stacked in our living room & dining room. One of my New Year's resolutions was to clean out and organize my craft room but I sure didn't expect to go about it in this manner! But, the problems don't end there... oh no...the water seeped into everything (carpet, walls, floor) and then froze, so the carpet is frozen to the pad, which is frozen to the floor and it's all frozen to the tack strip. We have to run space heaters overnight and try to thaw everything out. Once everything is thawed out, we're told it's simple to pull the carpet up and dry it with these huge fans. We're hoping that this can happen tomorrow.
It's been a crazy day and, thankfully, Jamie got to spend most of it at Justin & Ryan's house. It was a huge relief for Bill & me to be able to deal with these issues without having to also try to entertain a five year old. Thanks Coleen!!
So, right now we're camping out in the south side of the house, windows open to vent carbon monoxide and space heaters running on high to thaw the frozen carpet in the computer room. But, we do have running water so, all is well.
By the way, we have decided that we will never again leave Alamosa to go anywhere over Christmas Break. (We had frozen septic lines when we returned from Amarillo over Christmas Break last year.)
Hope your 2008 is off to a better start than ours!!
We arrived at home at 7:30pm on Jan. 3rd and this is what we've found (so far)...
Frozen pipes...no water. We tried thawing the pipes overnight, to no avail. This morning, Bill braved a trip into the crawl space to see what the problem might be. His "professional" opinion (ha! ha!) was that we needed a plumber, evidenced by the water filter system (frozen solid and busted off of the water line) that he brought out. Thankfully, the plumber came out this afternoon and restored the luxury of indoor plumbing within a couple of hours. He had to use industrial heaters underneath the house, though, which apparently emit heavy doses of carbon monoxide. When the plumber left, he told us to make sure and open some windows so the house could vent.
The major problem, however, is not the lack of water but the overabundance of it. We discovered that the hot tub froze and the 300+ gallons of water that were in the hot tub drained out into the carpet, walls and floor of our computer room/office/craft room and attached storage room. We naively thought that we could Shop-Vac the water...ha! After about an hour of vacuuming water and making no progress, we decided that it was time to call in professionals. We had to move all of the furniture and stuff we had in that room plus the storage closet, so it is now stacked in our living room & dining room. One of my New Year's resolutions was to clean out and organize my craft room but I sure didn't expect to go about it in this manner! But, the problems don't end there... oh no...the water seeped into everything (carpet, walls, floor) and then froze, so the carpet is frozen to the pad, which is frozen to the floor and it's all frozen to the tack strip. We have to run space heaters overnight and try to thaw everything out. Once everything is thawed out, we're told it's simple to pull the carpet up and dry it with these huge fans. We're hoping that this can happen tomorrow.
It's been a crazy day and, thankfully, Jamie got to spend most of it at Justin & Ryan's house. It was a huge relief for Bill & me to be able to deal with these issues without having to also try to entertain a five year old. Thanks Coleen!!
So, right now we're camping out in the south side of the house, windows open to vent carbon monoxide and space heaters running on high to thaw the frozen carpet in the computer room. But, we do have running water so, all is well.
By the way, we have decided that we will never again leave Alamosa to go anywhere over Christmas Break. (We had frozen septic lines when we returned from Amarillo over Christmas Break last year.)
Hope your 2008 is off to a better start than ours!!
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