Butch Cassidy and the Hole-in-the-Pipe Gang

Cheryl called from the cell phone while out shopping yesterday, and I took the call downstairs in the basement where my little excuse for a computer office is located. The phone is located on the back wall in the corner next to the power panel. While talking to Cheryl, I noticed that the corner of the floor (actually a sub-floor, since we haven’t finished the basement yet) was wet. Quite a bit wet, in fact.

The wet spot was not huge, nor puddling, but quite damp. Freshly damp, in fact. The concrete underneath was damp, but only in one particular spot. It didn’t seem to be spouting up from the concrete. It was more like someone had poured water onto the floor. In the corner.

I confess, my first inclination was that the cats had done something horrible in the corner. Ordinarily, I don’t allow the cats free rein to the basement. Cats belong upstairs where the house is complete, where there are vinyl floors in the kitchen and carpeted floors everywhere else, the type of floors which are somewhat resistant to cat-induced moisture content. The sub-floor, being composed of particle board suspended above the concrete by an egg-carton shaped vinyl backing, is highly susceptible to damage by moisture from above.

Especially non-aqueous liquids which carry a strong scent of cat.

I kneeled; I sniffed; I found nothing. Hmmm. Odd. So whence cometh the water?

Sometimes stupidity runs strong in my brain, which is one of the reasons I decided long ago not to brave this world alone, and endeavored to find someone smarter, more capable, and wiser than myself to help me along the way. I could not ascertain the source of the dampness. Cheryl came home some time later, I showed her the damp floor, and within moments she was pointing up to the drain pipe above my head and asked if perhaps it wasn’t coming from there. I looked up just in time to see a water drop forming below the pipe.

There’s little in life more exciting than observing water droplets forming on the bottom of a pipe which just happens to be hanging over the circuit breaker panel. One’s mind is filled with images of imminent disaster. Sparks, smoke, flame, etc.

Grabbing a towel, I wiped up the remnant of the moisture, then hooked up a blower fan and a heater to begin drying the affected area. Tracing the drain pipe upward, we discovered that it was routed through the mud room closet. In which we had hung additional wire shelves. Two months ago.

Hmmmm. Hanging wire shelves requires screws which go into walls. Was it possible that we had accidentally put a hole into the drain pipe while hanging the shelves? Possibly. But didn’t we put the screws into studs? The drain pipe was obviously not routed through a stud. Only one way to find out. We pulled the shelves off their mountings.

Lo and behold, there was a hole in between the studs. Evidently, someone had mistaken the false reading from the stud finder as a stud, and put a screw into it, then discovered that it wasn’t really a stud at all. And left the hole. Could this be the source of the problem?

Only one way to find out.

I cut a hole in the drywall around the hole, and pulled it out.



And there, in all its glory, was the drain pipe, with a nice, neat little hole drilled perfectly through the middle.

Looking at the backside of the drywall I’d cut out, it was obvious that this was the source of the leak. Above the hole, the paper was dry. At and below the hole, it was wet. All the way down.

Just to check, I went down to the bottom of the wall and cut out a section of drywall. Turning the section over, one could see the long, wet streak of water which had been cascading down the inside wall for the better part of two months.



Just below this floor is the basement. And the circuit breaker panel. And the damp sub-flooring.

I went on-line to research the proper methods for fixing these kinds of problems. There does not seem to be any consensus, even among the expert home builders and carpenters. Some advocate cutting the pipe and putting a metal/rubber clamping device around it, which is normally used to bring two pieces of PVC together. Others advocate using a torch to melt the holt closed. Others say that inserting a plastic screw laced with PVC cement will do the trick. Still others say that simple epoxy will solve the problem.

Either way, I’m going to need to pull the rest of the drywall off – or a least an eight-foot vertical section – and replace it. Can’t leave wet drywall back there. And I’ll need to make sure the heater/fan combo gets it all dry before I work on it.

I put some duct tape over the hole as a temporary measure, with a towel wrapped around the pipe just below the tape. When I go to the store to get the drywall, I’m going to ask the guys at Home Depot or Lowes for advice on fixing it and see what they say. That should be interesting!

I love home project. One day I hope to complete one.