This is the Wisconsin weather I remember having when I grew up. Within the last week we had a foot of snow dumped on the ground quickly followed up by -10 to -15° F temperatures. As a kid it wasn’t such a big deal; other than having to help my dad haul wood in from a nearby woods as my parents have a wood burning furnace. Now, being a homeowner I have the joy of frozen pipes to deal with. This is exactly the problem my wife and I discovered Saturday morning when we woke up to take a shower. My house is 100+ years old so our bathroom was added on at a later date from that which the orginal building was constructed. The bathtub area appears to be the most recent addition to the house which according to our city records was in the mid 1960’s. There is very poor insulation under and sorrounding our bathroom which is sorrounded by 3 outside walls. So, whenever we get REALLY cold weather the pipes to the bathtub/shower freeze up. Last year was the first year we had this problem since we bought the house and I sorrounded all the plumbing with foam and fiberglass insulation. This last fall I also placed heat tape around the hot and cold water pipes for our shower. Well, with -10 temps it froze anyway. And that’s not the worst, the drain pipe also froze so that when I did finally get the water pipes thawed the water would not drain from the tub.
In our basement under the tub there is the cement block addition which was built for the extended portion of the bathroom. Now for whatever reason the owners at that time filled this portion in with building debris and dirt from the project, leaving about a 2-1/2′ crawl space under the tub. So I took the logical approach and relieved my frustration by smashing the dividing wall with my sledge hammer. This, along with a little shoveling allowed me enough room to crawl under the tub and thaw the pipes with my heat gun. Once it warms up a bit I will completely clear the area of all debris and insulate the living day lights out of it. That was my Sunday off, how was yours?
As you can see in the picture, all major forms of sewer drain pipe are covered: Pvc, ABS, cast iron, and galvenized! Note to future home owners. These are things you want to look at in the basement before you buy so at least you know what you’re getting in to.
