GGGRrrrrrrr...happily DUing when

[ewagner]

my wife screams at me that there's a "problem" in the basement.

I run down to find the rack on which we have stored all our memorabilia and old financial records is soaking wet! The floor has about an inch of water on it!

There's a stream of water shooting 15 FEET! ACROSS THE ROOM from a pinhole leak in a copper water pipe.

Shut off the main water supply, called the plumber and started mopping.

Plumber just left. $100/hour on the weekend.

Merry #$%@&* Christmas.

[Padraig18]

1. Sorry! Watch out for mold!

Throw a dehumidifier down there pronto and get some air moving, too, or you'll have mold.

[zulchzulu]

2. Good luck

You may be rooting for the wrong candidate.

Kiddin'.

Really, good luck. You must be in a cold zone, broken frozen pipes?

[ewagner]

3. Not cold

Copper pipes evidently corrode over the years. The house is only forty years old but the plumber says to expect more of this........

prolly on Christmas or Easter day..grrrr..

Put a fan and the dehumidifier down there a little while ago......

[Robb]

4. Sorry for you...!

As a plumber who loves to give advice, I have to ask: was the leak smack in the center of a length of copper pipe, or was it at a connection? Copper pipe should live longer than you!

[dweller]

5. Same here, ewagner

pinhole in copper pipe, that i just luckily found out about while rummaging for some wood that i had stored in the crawlspace underneath my place, and found it wet, and myself in mud. My problem must have happened really recently, b/c i had just stored some wood there and it was fine.
Tracked down the culprit, in the laundry room wall cold water connection, in a flex copper line that ran to the bathroom toilet. It was a really slow but steady leak that had managed to stay out of sight until it had seeped through.
Longshot, i spent the day plumbing and redoing the line to the toilet, installed a cutoff and made it better than original i hope. Part of the problem is the old line had a weird curve in it (which is where the hole was, stress i guess) that i could eleminate with a 90/elbow.
I got out for under $20, which i kinda hate to bring up here, but damn, it helps to have a little knowledge of plumbing, a flaring tool, and the catastrophe to put it all to good use.

sorry to hear about your personal goods, that was the greater loss. Hope you can save the memorabilia and all.

dp