Shop Cleanup

[McRabbet]

I'm afraid I'm going to be busy for the next several days with a major shop cleanup -- about 6:30 PM I heard a noise in our upstairs bathroom that made me suspicious (I had heard it this morning, too but thought it was the wind echoing through the vent fan) -- went down to my shop for the first time since yesterday to find the floor covered in 1-1/2" of water and a burst pipe leading to an outside faucet without a shutoff valve. :gar-Cr We are on a well and it had run at least 12 hours through a split where the CPVC pipe had frozen in an outside wall. I got the well pump and HW heater off, cut the pipe near the ceiling where it turns toward the outside wall and drained; then installed a shutoff valve (glad I had one!).

Spent the last two hours running my shopvac on water pickup mode and emptied it about 10 times (16 gal vac -- probably dumped 100 gallons) to get the majority of standing water. I had some tools in carrying sacks and cases on the floor that got a little wet and fortunately, most of my wood and plywood is stored higher than the waterline... Turned the water back on at 10:00 PM and it is okay.

I'll be running my dehumidifier for days and cleaning up for awhile... My main concern is the shop floor which is OSB and hope it doesn't warp. But I've got wet sawdust and wood chips and lots of cutoff pieces on the floor that will need to be cleaned up and disposed. Guess my time for a major shop cleanup has come...

 

[Canuck]

WOW!!!

This is terrible, Rob!:gar-Cr

I can think of a lot better excuses to clean up shop.

I hope that everything works out ok you and the damage will be minimal. Glad you caught it when you did.

Sounds like you have all of the right DIY skills to take care of the issue.

Take care and good luck with the cleanup/out.

Wish I were closer to lend a helping hand.:wsad:

Wayne

 

[ptt49er]

Oh wow! Hope everything dries out ok!

 

[Ozzie-x]

Rob, sorry to hear about your water woes. Hopefully everything will dry out OK. Let me know if you need any help.

 

[Glennbear]

Sorry about your misfortune Rob:wsad: Almost exactly a year ago I had some freezing pipe issues (no breaks fortunately) I have since insulated the heck out of my well house and all the plumbing under the house. I hope my preventitive measures work. :wsmile:

 

[MrAudio815]

Man I am so sorry to hear about that Rob. I hope the best for you and your shop in getting back to working order and hopefully a little better than you had it before. As clean up's sometimes help, but they sure SUCK when it has to be done because of a problem like that.

 

[ScottM]

Sorry Rob. Lucky you caught it before it got worse.

 

[Sealeveler]

Sorry to hear of your tide rising there.Hope osb doesn't dance around.Tony

 

[FredP]

Rob sorry to hear about this but on a good note flooring grade OSB can stand a good amount of water before de-laminating. hopefully you caught it in time. good luck.:icon_thum

 

[froglips]

Man, so sorry to hear about that.

What a mess. I have a spare portable dehumidifier you are welcome to borrow. We can Pony Express it if it would help.

Jim

 

[CaptnA]

Rob
What a bummer!
If you need any assistance please let me know.

 

[Trent Mason]

Rob,

I'm really sorry to hear about that. :tinysmile_cry_t: The important thing is that you fixed the pipe and got the standing water up. Is your shop heated? Either way, you need to get some major heat going on in there, run your dehumidifier and get some airflow going in a circular pattern around the perimeter. Is your floor just OSB or is there something else on top of it? Vinyl, etc? If there is something on top of it, that will probably keep the OSB from drying and you might want to take that up. The OSB itself, should dry just fine if you do what I said above. Also, any wet insulation needs to be removed to prevent mold growth (in the walls and underneath the floor if need be). Hope this helps buddy. :icon_thum

 

[dancam]

Hey Rob,

Bummer...sorry to hear about your woes. I sympathize from first hand experience. Let me know if I can help.

Dan C.

 

[McRabbet]

Thanks everyone for the solace and offers of help -- fortunately, the insulated shop walls did not get wet as the water did not rise above the base stud. The OSB is good quality and should be okay -- no flooring covering it has to be removed but I still have lots of cleanup work to do. It is unheated except for a kerosene heater I use and my dehumidifier should help clear our the moisture. I am going to fully insulate and heat tape my incoming well water line to be sure it doesn't freeze -- we are in the midst of the longest freeze snap here in history -- we still have snow on the ground from before Christmas. I'm headed back to the shop shortly to turn the heater on and to set up the dehumidifier and to get to work.

 

[FredP]

I would also set a couple of fans up to circulate the warm air. it will help.:icon_thum

 

[bwat]

Not what you'd prefer to be spending your shop time on I'm sure but it could always have been much worse. Glad to hear the major losses will be your labor and not your finished projects, equipment or wood supply! Something tells me you will end up with improvements along the way. :icon_thum Good luck!

 

[Mt. Gomer]

wow, I'm really sorry to hear about this! Good luck on the cleanup!

 

[Bas]

Rob, my sympathies. NOT the kind of work you want to do in the shop. I hope everything dries out, the temperature rises and this will soon be a distant memory.

 

[Ray Martin]

... The OSB is good quality and should be okay -- ...

Sorry to hear about wet anything when it comes to the shop. I can't think of any advice other than what's been offered already. On a positive note, you said you have a good OSB on the floor. If it's something like AdvanTech, you can put a piece of that in a bucket of water and come back a week later... and you won't find any swelling. Watch out for mold.

 

[Mr. Bill]

I believe the King James version would say that this "Stinketh". Sorry for your troubles.