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daleslad
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2011 12:12pm
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Looking for some suggestions as to how to best handle a soaked cabin.
My cabin sits about 7300 feet in the California Sierra's and I got blind sided by an unexpected snow storm and heavy freeze.
The result was two burst pipes that had been pouring water on the kitchen and bathroom floors for at least 2 days.
The kitchen floor is pine planking was effected the worst, it is a very old cabin and the caulking between the planks was missing in places allowing the water to soak through into the crawl space below.
By the time I got there and was able to shut off the water I had a mass of icicles in the crawl space, see image I posted.
My question is this, should I just leave it as is until it thaws next spring or should I try to blow some heat underneath to melt the ice and try to dry out the timbers.
Temps on average are running at a high of 45 and a low of 24 most days.
Another snow storm is expected in a couple of days.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2011 04:06pm
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that is quite a shame!
I guess if it were me I would try to clean(dry) it up. What type of heat do you have? Can you stay for enough time to try and keep it warm and give it enough time to dry?
Is most of the water now in the crawl space? If you were to remove some of your pine boards would you see into the crawlspace?
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daleslad
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2011 05:05pm
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Unfortunately I only have a wood stove and that only heats the room it is in.
It's not a winter cabin, has only limited insulation and usually I'm long gone out of there with the cabin boarded up and winterized until the spring.
I've cleaned up all of the water inside but the water that ran down into the crawl space is all frozen as you can see on the photo.
The crawl space is open in places to the elements so if left as is would be pretty much frozen for a long time.
Yes if I were to remove the boards I would be looking at the crawl space underneath.
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Martian
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2011 05:41pm
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The more ice you get out now, the less water you'll have to dry up later. Also, the freeze/thaw cycle is very hard on wood; the freeze breaks down the fibers, and the thaw provides water which soaks into them.......and so on.....and so on.......... until the board is gone.
The nicest thing about a wood stove is the dry heat. I'd fire that sucker up, pull a couple of boards, and use a fan to circulate air in the crawl space.
Tom
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daleslad
Member
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2011 06:09pm
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That is pretty much what I was thinking would happen, so it looks like I might have to rent a couple of those large propane heaters and put them underneath or pointing under the crawl space and blow hot air in there.
The location of the wood stove would not be very effective for getting any heat down there, I'm afraid.
Thanks for the suggestion.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2011 09:37pm
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Martian I was thinking the same thing with the wood stove. Fire it up,remove some of the floor boards and use a fan to blow the air around but propane heaters would certainly help too.
I once heard that if you put clothes out on a clothes line during winter and let the wet clothes freeze that when you thawed them they would no longer be wet. Doesn't sound right to me but if it is true,maybe it would benefit you that the water all froze. Good luck!
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daleslad
Member
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2011 11:23pm
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I think I will go with the propane heater blowers and try to dry it as much as i can.
Thanks fellows
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