Clothes washer caused interior flood!

Hello folks,

I don't typically ready this newsgroup, but due to a recent fiasco, I've subscribed for the time-being. My clothes washing machine malfunction and caused an interior flood in my home, I'd like to learn as much as I can. Luckily, homeowner's insurance will cover the damage except for the deductible/excess.

The washing machine kept filling, and filling, and overfilling, and overfilling . . . . y'all get the picture! Luckily, spouse and I were home when this happened, but there was still a lot of accumulated water damage all the same, which could have been much worse had we not been home. Turns out the faulty part was the water intake valve where the hoses attach to the washing machine.

Anywho, there's substantial repair work to be done -- the estimate is now nearly US$20K due to replacement for drywall, subfloor, carpet, vinyl flooring, paint, removal of wallpaper, etc. Perhaps it's time for some pitas (food), oh wait - I meant PITA (not food) . All vinyl flooring has already been removed, and the w/w carpeting will be completely replaced except for a couple bedrooms upstairs. The washing machine is on the first floor.

I'm not sure that I have any specific question(s), but what the heck should I look for considering this scenario I've described? What should I know/learn? I've never gone through anything like this before, thank goodness! Luckily, I have "replacement value" for insurance (knock on wood!). TIA.

Sky, who dislikes choosing things for 'decorating'!

P.S. The silver-lining in this cloud is I get to get rid of the gahd-awful wallpapers in the kitchen & bathroom!!!!!

Reply to
Sky
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Sorry about your experience... one thing I would do if you haven;t already is get someone involved in the cleanup right away; I had a similar issue with the water heater in my garage shortly after moving in. I caught it almost immediately and the only damage was to the drywall ceiling downstairs, but my ins. co. insisted on sending out some remediation people and they set up two industrial sized dehumidifiers and fans, one upstairs and one downstairs, and they left them there for two weeks until all the framing etc. was dry enough for their liking. You don't want to have a mold issue down the road!

Sounds like you don't have a floor drain in your laundry room. I would definitely have it redone with a membrane under tile and a nice big drain.

good luck

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Thanks for your reply. Water rememdiation occurred within hours of the incident, although I was dissatisfied with their clean-up service (but that's another long story). Short version is I called insurance company from the get-go and followed their instructions. The clean-up service company had (4) industrial fans & (1) industrial dehumidifier in my house for more than week (at no small cost, too!).

I now have to deal with the 'remodel' work ;/ And I so dislike choosing stuff because it's so hard to decide!

Sky, who hates decorating!

Reply to
Sky

Yes, you need a drain, a floor that is sealed up behind the baseboard or whatever you install around the floor on the wall, plus a high threshold to prevent the water from running out the door. A tray under the washer would have retained most of the water providing it was hooked up to a drain.

Reply to
EXT

floor drain or machine in pan drain and definetely a auto solenoid valve.

it only turns the water on when the machine is running, burst hoses are common.

let us know if homeowners ads a exclusion to not cover this again, and your insurance rates will likely double. sorry thats how it works today

Reply to
hallerb

In an ideal situation, the floor drain would've been there. However, that was not the case. Nor will it be an easy thing to retrofit a floor drain either. Only vinyl flooring in the laundry room. Even if there had been tile flooring, that wouldn't have made a difference -- a floor drain would've, I'm sure.

However, this interior flood incidence has been an invaluable learning situation for me. Lessons learned: (1) Never leave home while an appliance is running -- I never left home while the clothes dryer was operating, but I never considered that with the washing machine -- I now know better, (2) always turn off the cold/hot water supplies at the spigots to the washing machine when leaving home for a few days or more for whatever reason, (3) change those washing machines hoses every 4 or

5 years or so, and (4) after I win the lottery and can build my own home from scratch, include a floor drain in the laundry room!

Sky, who still hasn't yet won the lottery!

Reply to
Sky

Sky wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@NOsbcglobal.SnPeAtM:

Perhaps you should have read this group before your washer flooded.

Reply to
Stephen King

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote: (snip)

Luckily (knock on wood) this is the first time I've ever had such a major claim for my homeowner's and/or renter's insurance in 20+ years. I doubt if they'll exclude the same circumstance again, but it's a good thing to ask (my insurance company) just to make sure. I've been told my insurance premiums shouldn't increase much either, but I'll find that out next year (sigh).

Sky

Reply to
Sky

Unfortunately, I'm not exactly psychic! Nor do I read tarot cards or tea leaves (sigh). I haven't won the lottery yet either, dang it .

Sky

Reply to
Sky

The only thing to be learned is to protect yourself from disaster. If you're building, make a sloped floor in the laundry room to a floor drain. Put the hot water heater in there, too. Put them with catch pans.

When I moved my washing machine, I took 24 ga. paintlock steel and made a square tub for it with six inch high walls. Put a PVC drain pipe on it, as it was built on a pedestal, and that drain punched through the wall to the outside. I had a flood one time while I was away in San Diego for two weeks. When I came home, the water was still running. And it all went outside.

When you put it all back together, put a tub of some kind under it. A good sheetmetal person can build you one for reasonable. Darnright cheap when compared to $20k.

And if you're building, plan for disaster.

Steve. PS: It always happens at 3 AM

Reply to
SteveB

On Sat 09 Feb 2008 05:10:07p, Sky told us...

I can certainly sympathize and empathize with you as the exact same thing happened to us in 1998, with similar damages.

After all repairs, replacements, and redecoration was completed, we purchased a new washer and dryer and had a 4" deep floor pan installed under the washer. Since our home was built on slab, the cost of adding a floor drain was prohibitive, and we opted to have the floor pan drain through a pipe through an outside wall into the yard. The outside tip had a spring flap installed on it to prevent anything from entering the pipe.

Even prior to this event, we were already using steel mesh supply hoses and solenoid control valves that prevented water flow to the supply hoses when the washer was not running. Neither of these precautions could have prevented the fault with the washer, but they are still an excellent idea to prevent damage from hose ruptures.

Best of luck, and happy redecorating!

Reply to
Wayne Boatwright

My mother and neice had their hoses rupture, I did a search for solenoid control valves but returned too many results, could you give me an idea what kind so I know what Im looking for when I ask for one. Thanks CathyLee

Reply to
C_L_R_D

Too late now. I have my washer in the basement near a cellar drain in case that happens. If you don't have a basement they make pans for washing machines. The washing machine sits inside the pan which has a drain connected to the plumbing. See:

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Reply to
"Blattus Slaf

Thanks for the recommendations. Alas, I don't think a 4" pan under the washing machine would've made all that much difference in this case, since the amount of water was significantly more than that pan could've held. It might be possible to have a drain installed in the laundry room, but the cost is most likely more than I can afford at the present time.

Sky

Reply to
Sky

Thanks for the suggestion and the links.

Sky

Reply to
Sky

Why can't you put a drain in your laundry room? I don't think you've said explicitly, but for some reason I get the impression that your laundry room is not on the ground floor. Even if it *is* you can still bust up the slab and install a drain.

nate

(whose laundry room is basically half the basement, and does NOT have a floor drain, and who sees busted concrete and plumbing in his future...)

Reply to
N8N

The laundry room is on the first floor of a 1.5 story home. The house is on a very small crawl space. Perhaps someday I'll be able to put a drain in the laundry room, but that's not an option at this point in time.

Sky

Reply to
Sky

ou've

great hole in floor of laundry room preferably near washer will prevent major damage.

a water leak alarm thats positioned at the drain would let you know theres a problem

Reply to
hallerb

Sounds like putting in a drain would actually be quite easy, then. Seriously, you should look into it, if you have to put a new floor down anyway now is the time to do it so you don't duplicate cost later.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

On Sun 10 Feb 2008 01:02:02p, Sky told us...

The pan was drined to the outside of the house.

Reply to
Wayne Boatwright

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