Thread: Came home to this...

Hi,
I feel for you, mine rusted out the boiler in the range. Took a week to finally stop the flow and another few weeks to disassemble the whole shebang and get 400kg of cast iron out the door.
Cheers

We came home to this on 31st May. I paid the house insurance the day before which I always do after a bit of moaning about the price. Only bit of damage still outstanding is bedroom furniture restoration. IMG_4109.jpgIMG_4104.jpgIMG_4111.jpg

LOL! these things happen, and even while you are right there sometimes.

Disclaimer, my house is pretty crappy(condition) and require extensive reno works, but is livable.

Some years ago, I had the kids over during my time with them(separated) and we were watching TV, and only meters away we heard an almighty crash in the hallway(concealed by a wall). We all jumped up wondering what the hell, to find a large-ish (about 1m x 1.5m) chunk of ceiling plaster crashed on the floor, now exposing the rafters and roof cavity. Insulation still on the plaster rectangle was sopping wet, drenched to high heaven. Hadn't been raining or anything .... just got to the point where gravity took hold of plaster, insulation and water collection. Came out as a perfectly cut rectangle.

Reason for sopping wet insulation was very simple. The section that fell was right at the junction of the central heating unit intake vent, and the plastic condensation overflow tube had broken at the heater(again right next to this plaster/vent area, and all the overflow fell straight onto the ceiling, instead of out the tube and out the roof as installer intended. No idea how long it was doing this, but heater installed maybe 6 years or so prior.
Had a brass fitting that fitted in place of the plastic, into the plastic tube out the roof and outside the house and all was fine in that regard again.

Cleaned up the plaster that all fell to pieces on the hallway floor, but what to do about the hole in the roof? At the time, I just got some corflute, just to patch it while I had plans to potentially turn the new opening into a proper access hatch into ceiling .. maybe.
My access hatch into ceiling is a teeny tiny square that only an anorexic jockey could fit through, not a lumbering, partially dismembered hulking oaf like me. Of course this was about 10 years ago, and nothing got done.

I suppose I really should get onto the job one day.

Well the plumber landed at 8.30 this morning. Issue sorted with the tank. Unlike modern cars the problem was easily found and sorted
Now it is just the drying out.
The cost of the plumber was ....€65 (107AUD). This included the call out, replacing the ballcock and the joint for the overflow pipe on the tank. He called in on the way to another job.

Originally Posted by austastar

Hi,
I feel for you, mine rusted out the boiler in the range. Took a week to finally stop the flow and another few weeks to disassemble the whole shebang and get 400kg of cast iron out the door.
Cheers

Last winter we had a very cold spell of weather when the boiler in our kitchen solid fuel stove sprung a leak. So you have my sympathies for the above! Getting the boiler out was a big enough job but getting a replacement boiler was difficult owing to the age of the stove. Bit more expensive than our latest issue.

Friends had a water heater tank in the roof. Not common but seems they do exist. They were away in Brisbane for 2 weeks. Came home to find water running out the front door. Seems the tank had been over flowing for some time. Insurance assessor said at least a week. All house contents were covered in mould and had to be thrown out. Plaster walls had swelled as they adsorbed water. Due to the water damage the house was rebuilt with virtually only the roof tiles kept

Insurance.....Some years ago we had to do a lot of digging in the kitchen to find a leak. I had to remove kitchen units .When the assessor arrived he said "I suppose you will be claiming for new units." I said no as though they got a few scratches on removal/refitting they were perfectly servicable. I was claiming for the damage to the floor, skirting boards and water damage to the lower walls. When the cheque arrived they said as my house was "under insured" by 10% they were taking 10% off the amount they were paying me, despite they fact I did not put in a claim for new kitchen units!

Originally Posted by 3toes

Friends had a water heater tank in the roof. Not common but seems they do exist. .............

Was the normal type until perhaps about 1960, so there are probably a lot of them about.

Including mine, which is only thirty years old.

But it has a 75mm deep tray under it, and the tray has a 50mm drain that comes out just under the gutter, with a flap on it to keep the vermin out.