Burst pipes...yikes

The house had been "Winterized" when we bought it, so I started the process of de-winterizing all of the plumbing. This pretty much just involves slowly turning on the water, checking all of the fixtures and valves for leaks and running the water to let the non-glycol based antifreeze flush out of the system. Well, when I slowly cracked the valve on the water main coming into the house (located in the crawl space) I immediately heard dripping somewhere in the crawl space. After alot of investigations I managed to find 5 bursts in the cold water line and 4 in the hot water line that are going upstairs to feed the bathroom.

Unfortunatly, I dont think that the company that winterized the house drained the lines. This resulted in standing water in the pipes on the North side of the house. The copper pipes were well insulated as was the wall but with no one living in the house running the water and no heat on in the house it was just a matter of time.

I had to cut some major holes in the downstairs living room and office as well as the upstairs bathroom to run new pipes but there is the positive side......sheetrock walls instead of lathe and plaster, insulation in all of the exterior walls, no water damage because the main was turned off when the break happened.

Now I just have to fill in the holes with new sheetrock, get out the joint compound and fiberglass tape and go to work. Lucky for me I have watched Marianne do this for years. It will be a little fun to try and match the existing orange peel texture on the repaired walls too.