Gaithersburg, MD Estate Home Floods - $250,000 in Damage!

Wednesday, May 8th, 2019 by Justin Dobson

Challenge

This $1.3 million estate home in Gaithersburg, MD was built as a pre-fabricated home. After only living in the home 4 months, the homeowner returned one evening to find water gushing throughout the entire home. The problem was the entire house fire sprinkler piping had frozen and burst. The entire basement and first floors were flooded in below-freezing temperatures. The most confusing part was the pipes had burst almost 20 feet away from an exterior wall... WHY? HOW?

Solution

Thermal imaging showed a very cold half-bath ceiling adjacent to the garage. After removing the half-bath ceiling, we found a hole in the exterior perimeter of the home where the kitchen exhaust fan terminated. Either the builder got lazy or just didn't know! They vented the round 8" diameter kitchen exhaust pipe through a 10" square. Remember pre-school everyone?? Don't put round pegs into square holes! The cold air was allowed to come into the dwelling and travel in any direction as this was a pre-fab home.

The cost of fixing the problem: $250.00 The cost of the insurance claim: Over $250,000, plus the homeowners couldn't even occupy their dream home for another 6 months!!!

Project Summary

Evaluator: Justin Dobson

This $1.3 million estate home in Gaithersburg, MD was destroyed by a flood from a freezing fire sprinkler line. They had only lived in their dream home for 4 months when this happened.

See the kitchen exhaust hood? The pipe for this traveled almost 20 feet across a mudroom ceiling and half-bath ceiling before exiting the home. The builder had cut a big square hole for the round pipe and this created air leakage.

This beautiful kitchen had to eventually be gutted. Due to it being a pre-fabricated house, the floor was installed before the cabinets and appliances. EVERYTHING had to be removed just to replace the wood floors.....ugh! All because of a small air leak.

Here is the culprit. A square hole for a round pipe. Make any sense to you? Me neither.....This small mistake created an insurance claim of over $250,000!!!

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Gaithersburg, MD Estate Home Floods - $250,000 in Damage!

Challenge

Solution

Project Summary

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