While I was out of town working on my daughter’s Ford Focus transmission issue, my wife called me to tell me that something was wrong in the garage. She said it was well over 100 degrees in there and that she thought the refrigerator was finished because of the water around it. She thought it had defrosted. Later she called me to tell me we had no hot water and that’s when the light clicked that we had a blown out water heater, I mean how else could all that hot water get into the garage? I asked her to turn off the water heater at the breaker box. It’s times like these that make you realize how things that make complete sense to yourself might not be so easy for someone else to do. Will she know how to find the breaker for the hot water heater? Luckily for me, it was labelled properly.
When I returned home I inspected the situation and found no significant water in the water heater pan but there was water all throughout the garage. In some places the water had pooled 1/2 inch or more. I brought out my shop fan and squeegees and proceeded to clean up the water and soaked paper products. I highly recommend that any and all paper products get stored on shelves to prevent being damaged by a small flood.
My analysis of the project is listed below with my budget set at about $1200.
- Replacement water heater – I assumed my water heater was to blame for the leak but I was wrong and only figured it out after I had the new heater installed. I paid about $900 for a Rheem 50 gallon electric water heater with wifi features, including auto shut off when a leak is detected.
- Pex tool, pipe and rings – $150
- Water heater pan – about $25
- Replacement emergency relief pipe and connector – The new water heater is shorter and wider than the original. The emergency relief pipe needs to be reconfigured to work. I estimate about $30 for the materials
- Six concrete blocks – The original water heater was seated directly on the ground. I wanted to lift the heater to keep it off the floor. These cost about $5/block so about $30.
That wasn’t my problem
Removing the old water heater was quite easy once I figured out how to drain the system. A hose is supposed to connect to the drain spigot at the bottom but in order to get water to come out I had to loosen the handle AND release the emergency release value at the top of the water heater. It sort of made a mess with more water in my garage. Another round of clean up and overnight drying. Once the water heater was drained it was much easier to move. I laid the concrete bricks out to form a platform for the new heater and moved the new heater into place. I decided to take this opportunity to install the hot water booster I bought a few years back. The water heater booster I am using is made from Rheem and includes a secondary heater system to extend the hot water time. 50 gallons is plenty for two people but when we have guests hot water sometimes becomes an issue. The booster provides 50% more hot water time.
I spent about 2 hours working the install being careful to check and double check my connections both electrical and plumbing. Finally my job was done and it was time to check everything. I found a small leak in the cold water connection from the heater and a PEX 3/4in joint. No worries, I can fix that later. Instead I wanted to heat up the water and take a shower. After I finished my shower I inspected the water heater and found another large pool of water in the garage. Oh no, the original water heater wasn’t my problem. It looks like water is coming from under the drywall. How did I make that mistake? Looking back at the decision to replace the water heater, I think I assumed that the lack of water in the pan was due to corrosion in the pan. But it was made of plastic. I didn’t really give myself the right evidence of troubleshooting. That is a take away from this project. Prove your diagnosis with evidence.
It’s in the wall
With a sad heart I cleaned up my garage again and uninstalled the new water heater. I brought out the fan again and ran it all night to dry up the pooled water. Now that my workspace is dry I can begin removing the drywall. I started with the area closest to the pipes that feed the water heater. I figured if the pipe is leaking anywhere it would originate from that spot. I couldn’t locate the leak, is the leak coming from a different pipe? I decided to clear out more drywall and eventually exposed all of the pipes. Testing the leak proved that it was coming in from the outside. Notice all of the water damage at the base of the OSX exterior board.
I could see water flowing in at the bottom. I decided to dig out the area on the other side of the wall and quickly discovered the inbound pipes coming into the foundation. I dug out and around those pipes and eventually found where the water was coming out from under the slab.
Time to call a plumber
One thing about living in rural America is the lack of organized skilled talent. It’s more of a who you know kind of experience. I knew the job was beyond my skills and I needed a plumber. Luckily we have a neighborhood hardware store, that’s right a legit independent hardware store. John usually keeps a list of the locals working in the area and he gave me two recommendations. I decided to connect with Sergio from ABL plumbing. Nothing moves fast out here either. It took a few days to get on his schedule. After inspecting the situation Serigo called me in to discuss the slab leak. We agreed to a game plan that included the following:
- Chip away the concrete to expose the pipes below. Upon finding the leak the pipe will be cut and replaced with a PEX joint.
- Reinstall the water heater.
In the meantime I knew I needed to change the wall design so that the pipes coming in from the slab would be insulated properly. To further illustrate why the wall needs to be modified, take a look at the water damage at the bottom and notice how closely the pipes are located to the exterior. The red tape marks the hot water line while the blue tape marks the cold water line.
I need to move the wall about an inch out and install 1 inch foam board to complement the interior insulation. To make that happen I would need to remove the Hardie board exterior and the OSX board to gain access to that portion of the wall. I would build a frame around the section to fit the foam board and allow for the internal insulation to be properly fit around those pipes. Essentially my supplies list was as follows and my budget was about $500:
- 2×4 pressure treated studs – I’ll use these to construct the new frame
- 3 in screws – I’ll use these to secure the new frame
- 1 sheet of 1 inch foam board – I’ll use this to further insulate the pipes.
- 1 sheet of OSX – I’ll use this to replace rotten wood.
- Tar water proof tape – I’ll use this to waterproof the underside of the extended wall.
- 6 Hardie planks – These will replace the ones that I’ll remove and break.
- 3 Hardie trims – These will replace the ones that I’ll remove.
Limited Time
Knowing that I have the plumbers coming in a few days, I had a limited time to get the wall demolished and prepared so that I can repair the interior in time for the hot water heater install. I broke many Hardie planks trying to get to the OSX board that I knew was rotten from the work I had already completed inside the garage.
The OSX board has significant water damage and was removed. I also discovered evidence of bug damage. It is widespread on the corner support stud. Thankfully there were no actual bugs. I chipped away the debris and exposed the remaining good wood. I also installed a new support stud behind the bug damaged stud.
I ended up removing more dry wall on the interior to expose the back side of the bug damaged support stud. I installed a new stud next to the damaged one to help support the load. By cutting the 2×4 and using a hammer I was able to knock the new stud into place and then secure it with some screws.
Plumbers arrive
The plumbers arrived in the morning on the day they said. I had a few questions for them before they started. I asked about how they would approach the project. Sergio said they would begin chipping through the concrete just on the other side of where the concrete beam would be located. I was concerned about that because I also expected a concrete beam where I was digging but instead that part of the concrete was only 4 inches thick. He said they would cut a small hole about 1 ft to 1.5 ft to access the damaged pipe. I asked about the post tension cable and he said they would chip around any cables they run into. I also asked to protect the rest of the garage from the dust they would make during the jack hammering process. Shortly they were cleared to begin work. It took several hours to get the first hole dug and Sergio gave me the bad news, the leak wasn’t there. It was further interior to the garage and they would need to dig another hole. Alternatively we discussed routing a new PEX line to bypass the damaged copper pipe. Since there is no access to attic space there was no way to route the pipe easily and I would have to later cover the rerouted pipe with drywall, etc. I was willing to take a chance and dig a second hole. Thankfully they were right and discovered the source of the leak.
The blue green rod in the center of the hole is one of the post tension cables and the guys did a great job working around that cable. You can see one of the PEX fittings soldered to the copper pipe. The section of pipe cut out contains the hole and you can see the corrosion (blue green) on the pipe. The second picture illustrates the completed repair before recovering the holes with concrete.
3 Days to finish
Now that the leak has been fixed, I had only a few days to get the interior repaired so that the hot water heater could be installed. The new concrete would take several days to cure and the clock was ticking. I decided to repair the drywall instead of installing new panels. I chose this path because I want to have to go buy new drywall sheets and I had enough left over drywall to finish the repair. I used a technique of screwing furring strips to the existing dry wall edges and then screw the removed section of drywall into the same furring strips. This effectively reused all of the removed drywall. There was one large section that I used fresh drywall. I taped and applied drywall compound along all the edges. After drying overnight I sanded the taped sections to create a surface to apply texture and paint.
I ended up using a product to apply orange peel texture from a spray can. A single can was enough to apply texture to all of the seams and blank space. I took a portion of the old painted dry wall to Home Depot for paint matching but unfortunately they were unable to match it correctly but after some manual manipulation I was able to get a close match. Close enough for a garage.
The return of the plumbers
On Tuesday after Labor Day Sergio returned to finish the install of the water heater. He couldn’t believe his eyes that I was able to get the interior all done with the level of quality similar to a professional. I took my time and worked diligently to get everything ready for a speedy install. The final product inside the garage includes the hot water booster. I am very proud of the work I have done and this inspires me to do more.
The exterior
Now that the hot water has been restored to the house I can move on to completing the exterior. This involves extending the wall out to better insulate the water pipes in the wall. I chose to install R-Tech 1 inch foam board as well as replacement OSX. The original wall remains for the areas that do not have water pipes inside the wall. Since I broke several Hardie planks during the demo, I will need to cut new planks. I installed a new frame at the bottom that I screwed into the existing base board effectively creating space for the R-Tech foam and R-19 insulation around the pipes. I used a tar based water proofing tape to keep water from seeping under the wall. I discovered I have a draining problem while working on this project. The vertical boards in the picture below were custom ripped to the exact width to accommodate the increased dimensions of the wall. I secured the Hardie planks directly into those spacers.
I was able to reuse about half of the original Hardie planks. The others I had to replace. I purchased the Hardie planks from Home Depot. They are sold in 12 feet planks but my truck bed is only 6 ft and my wall needed about 5 1/2 feet of plank. I cut the planks in half in the Home Depot parking lot using my cordless radial saw.
I had plenty of exterior paint handy from painting the house a few years back. The rebuilt wall looks great and you can’t even tell the work was done by an amateur. I’ll be working on the drainage project soon.
