In this episode, the Crackman explains how to properly care for outside faucets in the winter.
Narrator: Narrator: It’s time once again for the “Crack Man Podcast” hosted by A1 Foundation Crack Repair. We’re here with the Crackman himself, Rich Comeras. Rich has 30 years of experience in the construction industry and over 20 years’ experience as the President and founder of A1 Foundation and Crack Repair Inc. His podcasts provides expert basement waterproofing, concrete repair, and preventative maintenance tips for homeowners and businesses. A1 Foundation’s valuable insight will help avert a disastrous flood within the basement, health problems associated with water infiltration within the basement, and protect your biggest investment….your home. The topic of today’s podcast: A Crackman Case Study: Leaking faucet reveals wall crack issue in Lexington Mass. Well alright there Crackman, I’ve got my popcorn and soda pop and I’m ready for story time again. What do you have for us today?
Yeah, we recently have had a cold few days and I recently got a call from Lexington Mass. They were celebrating the American Revolution where shots were heard, and these homeowners had a crack and jeez, it wasn’t raining but water was coming in. So, I had them look outside, and what they discovered was that their outside faucet had continually been leaking. And this cold weather caused that outside faucet to split and started leaking water in their nice finished basement. And we saw a crack near that faucet, we had to open the wall and do a repair to that crack in the wall and give them a warranty so it’s not going to leak again. They’re very grateful that we found out what was causing it. But they felt that, and they are 100% right, that that crack should be repaired because it’s not the faucet that’s going to leak in the future, it’s going to be rain coming down, hitting the house and going down. But the lesson I feel that you can learn from this is follow your pipe, from the faucet outside into the basement is usually a shut-off. Shut-off that water and then go outside and open the faucet. That’ll lead out the water so there’s no water in there to freeze, to ruin washers or split pipes. So, you do that this winter, that’s one problem that you’re not going to have.
Narrator: Yeah, I had a problem in my house Rich, where the pipe going into the outside faucet inside the crawlspace broke in there, in the crawlspace, so the crawlspace was filling up with water. Didn’t even realize it, just heard this water running inside. And I don’t know how many gallons of water we wasted in there, but yeah, you can definitely have problems from inside the crawlspace, and places you really don’t want the water to be found, so.
Crackman: That certainly happens, and I know it can’t ruin your structure of what’s down there but you can end up with a really big water bill on the next time that bill comes out.
Narrator: Yup. Alright, well very good Crackman. Thanks for this important reminder of how to properly deal with outside faucets in the winter. If you have a basement water problem and think you need a professional, or, if you’d like more information on foundation repair and waterproofing topics, please visit A1FoundationCrackRepair.com or call Rich at (866) 929-3171. Or you can email rich at info@a1foundationcrackrepair.com. Thanks for listening and keep that basement dry.