Attention Basement Shoppers

 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 9:10 am

The water may not be shut off. The plumbing service entrance is probably below the surface of that basement glacier and of course would be frozen solid. I’m assuming this home is on public water? Maybe turned off at the water meter well outside. In any event it’s quite a cluster f**k.

 
titleist1
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Post by titleist1 » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 9:18 am

I am amazed at how cold it must have been to freeze that volume of water below grade inside a house. When we get our "cold weather" (0 at night, teens during the day) I leave the bilco door propped open for the outside cats to get some shelter. Their small bowl of water at the bottom of the steps never freezes, not even a skim of ice after a week of those temps. The underground reservoir for the stream froze this year for the first time ever but it was only about 1" thick. And that reservoir in the middle of the yard, has no shelter around it.

Just imagine the amount of BTU's it will take to melt all that.

 
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Post by coalfan » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 9:31 am

and the damage !!!!!!!!!! buyer BE where NO THANX ON THAT SALE !!!

 
Pacowy
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Post by Pacowy » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 9:32 am

Somewhere in the process one of the basement windows was broken, so there's no shortage of cold down there. I think if the water hadn't been shut off it would still be flowing out the windows and building up as ice in the yard. The frozen runoff wasn't real thick, leading to my speculation about how it may have been shut off.

Mike


 
Pacowy
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Post by Pacowy » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 9:37 am

titleist1 wrote:
Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 9:18 am
Just imagine the amount of BTU's it will take to melt all that.
I asked the broker to tell them they're going to need a pretty big hair dryer. :roll:

Mike

 
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coalkirk
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Post by coalkirk » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 10:07 am

The foundation will surely be damaged. I too was surprised that the water froze solid in this basement. Of course Titleist1 and I both have that tropical where the palm trees sway Maryland perspective. My son's in-laws live in northwest Wisconsin and 2 years ago his well line froze under his driveway. That line was 7' in the ground!

 
Pacowy
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Post by Pacowy » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 10:13 am

coalkirk wrote:
Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 10:07 am
The foundation will surely be damaged. I too was surprised that the water froze solid in this basement. Of course Titleist1 and I both have that tropical where the palm trees sway Maryland perspective. My son's in-laws live in northwest Wisconsin and 2 years ago his well line froze under his driveway. That line was 7' in the ground!
Yes, we probably should put the pic in a "Welcome to the Berkshires" brochure. I'm sure when the folks from upstate NY, NEK, northern NH and of course the Mainiacs thaw out they will have their own stories to tell.

Mike

 
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BunkerdCaddis
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Post by BunkerdCaddis » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 6:00 pm

titleist1 wrote:
Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 9:18 am
I am amazed at how cold it must have been to freeze that volume of water below grade inside a house."

"Just imagine the amount of BTU's it will take to melt all that.
Exactly what I was thinking. :o I was up in Alaska at a kids camp, and in the course of conversation with the maintenance guy regarding the logistics of living there, he told me he had had a test drill hole run down next to a horse stable/barn where the floating slab floor had shifted. They hit clear ice at 32' and it went another 30' :what: There are places on this Earth God never intended humans to live...


 
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Lightning
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Post by Lightning » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 6:10 pm

I wouldn't think that it's frozen solid all the way to the floor, but I suppose anything is possible. I would think more likely it has a frozen layer with liquid underneath. My above ground swimming pool doesn't even freeze solid but the top and sides (nearly to the bottom) does become ice.

 
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Post by StokerDon » Fri. Feb. 02, 2018 7:53 pm

All I can say is, WOW!

Mike, if you put the Ol' 85R down there for a while that would thaw it out.

-Don

 
Pacowy
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Post by Pacowy » Sun. Feb. 04, 2018 10:08 am

Yes, Don, if that ice is really thick I should probably offer them some kind of coal-fired solution. I'm thinking a good blast of steam might do the trick.

Mike

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