The Happy Side

Real frosting on the Christmas wreath


The unhappy side is that frost froze a water pipe in the hall loo.

So up came the carpet to get at the access hatch to get under the foor.
Of course the hatch was under he radiator, not the sink.
Even better ..... the hatch had been put in place before the radiator. It had had a hole cut for the pipe to go through and THEN the radiator fitted so you couldn't actually lift the hatch. I had to cut a slot to get it out.

Then I found there was a pipe running right across it........ and there was less than 6" between the bottom of the joists and the floor.

So I stuck the camera down to see what the set up was (aren't digital cameras great?)

What I saw was an impossible space to get into.
Also, another joist between the hatch and the pipe I need to get to.

So I have to cut another section of flooring out and find that there are in fact 2 joists in the way. So I can't actually see the pipe - just feel it.

Time to get down and dirty lying on the floor with my arm in the cavity.
What I find is even more cowboy work............... the pipe from the sink which is frozen is unlagged and is hard up against the outside wall. It also runs along just below an air-brick allowing the super cold air to flow over it.

I managed to find a couple of lengths of pipe lagging which I was able to fit. Although it wasn't quite long enough and would not fit over a joint and a valve (which was frozen solid).

I got some underlay and stuffed it into the airbrick (that is the dark ares just above the pipe).
i also managed to wrap some more round the joint and valve.

After that I put a fan heater into thevoid and left the tap switched on.

It took about half an hour before the water started running through the pipe - but it would appear there is no burst.

Fingers crossed.