jhawk92 Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 Well, Happy F'in' New Year! We were out of town for Xmas and got back home last night. Heard water running somewhere, and headed for the basement and were greeted with 4+ inches of water down there. Plumber came today and found a frozen pipe that must have just thawed out a few hours before we got home, so we were lucky there. On the HT front, all the electronics seem to be ok, as they were up on Flexy racks with 2" casters (and were on the high end of the basement!) They may have a bit of condensation, so I'll let things dry out first. The speakers fared a bit worse, but at least the water damage was confined to the risers and didn't get into the speaker enclosures. New HT furniture got wet as well. So, I spent New Year's Eve hauling speakers, and other stuff up out of the basement to minimize damage. Called the plumber today and fixed the pipe, and also had a water restoral company out and pulled out the carpet and started the heavy duty drying process; 10 big fans and 3 huge dehumidifiers. Needless to say, this sucks, as we had just refinished the basement in early summer. Pics/descriptions of the remodel can be seen here. http://www.snoozingdogs.com/Basementremodel.html Insurance adjuster should be here Monday, and I'll have them look at the speaker risers, but I think they'll be ok. Maybe just a bit of swelling there that might dry out with time. My main question deals with cables. I had cables running to the sub and the four main speakers, L/R main and L/R surround. All are Audioquest and they got soaked. Are these safe to use once they dry out? If not, should I write these off and get the insurance to pony up for new ones? I would think that with water getting in could lead to a pretty serious case of oxidation? Any advice here would be most appreciated. I know this probably belongs in the HT or General forum, but there's more knowledge here in 2-ch than the others. Thanks much. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Rob, Sorry to hear about the water leak. What a B!TCH! Good luck with the insurance company and all the frikin contractors you'll be dealing with over the next few months! We went through a chimney fire incident so I know what a PITA it can be. It's how I found this money sucking forum though. Better safe then sorry. Get new cables. BTW - I sent you a package Friday. Look for it next week. - Gary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Rob, That totally sucks. You took such pride in the remodel, too! Having the great documentation should make the adjuster's job easy. Hopefully, you'll be able to get the HT back in shape soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Too bad Rob. "I feel your pain". The interconnects are probably ruined. They don't like water inside and may short. Speaker wires aren't as critical but you never know, claim them. Been there, done that thirty years ago. At least you got home to stop any further damage like the furnace the washer and dryer, etc. Can you say "three feet"? How about "no insurance"? We had just moved into our first house, half our stuff was still in boxes in the finished basement including all my LPs and our books. The A-hole I bought the house from took the sump pump and didn't tell us. Of course we got about a foot of rain! Like you at least my Klipschorns didn't get damaged, they were upstairs. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 ---------------- On 1/1/2005 11:57:37 PM jhawk92 wrote: Insurance adjuster should be here Monday, and I'll have them look at the speaker risers, but I think they'll be ok. Maybe just a bit of swelling there that might dry out with time. Rob ---------------- I'd be wary about the speaker risers. If any moisture had contact with any part of the speaker cabinets, maybe there's more damage there than you thought. Also I wonder about condensation being absorbed by the speaker cones, moving parts and surrounds etc. I would think very carefully about making a claim for your damaged speakers. It's not not you can go back later for a further claim. Not impossible, but very difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Rob, so sorry to hear about your flooded basement. I can sympathize with you, eventhough the minor flooding I had in my bedroom from Hurricane Jeanne was a drop in the bucket compared to your situation. An update...I still have no flooring put down since the carpet was completely pulled up; my homeowners insurance won't cover my claim due to the fact that I do not have flood insurance (we're on high ground and never had the rains 3 back-to-back hurricanes produced in all the 20+ years our family's lived here), and our hurricane coverage only covers damage due to a torn roof or collapsed wall(s) caused by the storms. My bedroom's floor is actually 8" below ground level (poor planning on the contractor's part when the house was built), and due to all the heavy rainfall we received, large standing puddles of water formed where we never had any puddles before. The sandy ground was totally oversaturated; normally water would just soak into the ground, but since it couldn't because it had no where else to go, little "ponds" formed all over the yard, especially near my bedroom wall. Small cracks in the porous mortar between the cement blocks of the wall and the foundation (which is underground) was the passageway for all the ground water to seep itself into my bedroom. My budget won't allow new flooring be put down of anykind since the insurance won't cover it, so I'm stuck standing on a cold concrete floor. A flooded home sucks anyway you look at it, whether it's from a soaked carpet or a flooded basement. Good luck to you regarding repairs...thank goodness your audio gear made it safe (at least cables and risers can be replaced if need be). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhawk92 Posted January 2, 2005 Author Share Posted January 2, 2005 Gary- Yeah, I'm sure it will be a thrill dealing with all the work that will be needed. I'm just glad that we had updated the homeowners policy for the finished basement. Will let you know when the package arrives. Thanks. Fini- Yep, I'll be bringing out all the pics of the remodel when the adjusters arrive. Looks like the HT will be down for the better part of a month. Too bad as the football playoffs are coming. Rick- Thanks for the feedback on cables. I think all the ICs between the receiver and amps are ok, but the sub one was definitely soaked. I'll ping AQ early in the week to see what they say as well. Fortunately, all my albums were up off the floor. Not that I have many, but it would have been a pain to replace them. And, yes, I'm so glad the K-horns were upstairs. Would have been VERY hard to replace those! Ed- Good idea to double check the risers as well as the speaker "guts." I'll certainly have them easily accessible when the adjuster comes. Better safe then sorry. On a related note, does anyone still have an email addy for Mike Klementovich, who was one of the authors of the PWK biography? I got to meet him at the book signing in Hope and he gave me a very nice Klipsch item that was damaged in the water and I want to get in touch with him. Thanks. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leok Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Rob, Sorry about the water leak. At least it's clean water and whatever dries gracefully will remain useable (like, hopefully, the speaker risers. I'd replace wires that got soaked. In addition to leakage between conductors, corrosion is likely and the wires just won't be doing the system justice. Leo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Rob - So sorry to hear about that!!! Were you gone during the deep freeze sub-zero we had here before Christmas? 'Cuz it's been fairly mild here the last week or so. I'm grateful we have an engineered floor in our basement with a sump pump beneath it - any leakage would drain into the crawl space under the basement before too much harm could be done. Hope it all works out OK for you. If you need to unload those ruined speakers, I'm just down the road!! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
middlecreekguy Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 I lost my childhood collection of baseball cards last year in a flood Rob. I feel your pain. Things could have been much worse is the best way to think of it. Hopefully your insurance will cover the replacement of your $4000 dollar cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott0527 Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 How did your pipes freeze? Did your power go out? We lost power for 3 days with temps between 5-15 degrees and luckily the house still didn't go below 40 on the inside. Good luck with the insurance and contractors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 ---------------- On a related note, does anyone still have an email addy for Mike Klementovich, who was one of the authors of the PWK biography? Thanks. Rob ---------------- Rob, it's: prettypugsley@enter.net Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 That is one heck of a bummer. As you say, it could have been worse and glad got home when you did. Hope all goes well with the insurance adjustor and getting things back in order. BTW, snoozingdogs looks good. Carlin is precious and understandably the boss of the house, including the dogs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arfz28 Posted January 2, 2005 Share Posted January 2, 2005 Man that really sucks, heck you have insurance and have too use it so get all you can out of everything that has any damage at all, new speaker wire and cables if they got wet, water and electricity dont mix. Id be woried about the speakers did any water get above the risers for sure? Heck they might replace your speakers it dont hurt to ask. Really anything that got wet I would try and replace it they worst they can say is no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhawk92 Posted January 3, 2005 Author Share Posted January 3, 2005 Leo- Yeah, clean water is certainly better than a sewer backup. That would have been really bad. I spoke with my local AQ dealer and he agrees on replacing the cables. He's seen a couple of water damaged situations and the cables did corrode. Time to start making a list of all the damaged things. Doug- We were home during the deep freeze, and I think that's when the pipe froze, most likely a draft following the hose spigot. It was in a location where we had put insulation around bathroom walls, and so with the draft and insulation, it stayed cold until the past "heat spell" warmed it enough to thaw out. I'm glad it held off until just before we got back, otherwise, we'd be in much worse shape. We also had a sump, but it didn't do much for some reason. Something to look into. Thanks for the offer to take the speakers off my hands. Very kind of you! Greg- Yeah, wouldn't it be nice if they were that much, as I have replacement coverage on the personal property. The other big issue I'm having is with my coin collection. Most made it through ok, but a number of my older US Mint Proof sets got soaked. Not sure if they can be restored, or if they will get replaced. Scott- See answer above to Doug. Now that we have a few holes in the drywall, we'll put in some access vents which will allow for better air circulation around this specific pipe. We just sealed it off too good with the basement remodel. Larry- Thanks much. Do you also have Maureen's? Dee- Yeah, certainly not the way we wanted to start out the new year. We didn't have as much damage as we could have, and that's certainly a blessing. Thanks for the kind words about Carlin. She's a cutie and was very good these past couple of days when she wasn't the center of attention as she normally is. Alan- I'll certainly keep everything in mind. I think I'll pop the hood on all the electronics once things are back together to make sure there aren't any obvious signs of damage. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodger Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 I am also sorry to hear of your problem. Before you accept any check, go back to your audio dealer and ask if the dact that the cables are damaged be put in writing and have a couple of copies mage. Make sure your dealer notes the MSRP on the list. The contacts on your Components may oxide prematurely due to high humidity. Also, if you have wood swelling, as Edwin noted, that warrants a further look. Also as the finish may be damged due to water contact, you will have to restore them. What about power cords, surge protectors? Verify with your audio dealer that all are mentioned in his written staement. Also do a Google search regarding humidity and Components, plus water on cables. Print them out. Document as much as possible. Also what about any damage to your furnace, hot water tank, laundry appliances. Don't overlook anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 ---------------- On 1/3/2005 12:58:25 AM jhawk92 wrote: Do you also have Maureen's? ---------------- I think it's Maureen Barrett@aol.com. You should be able to reach her through Mike. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 Man sorry about the damage back east. There seems to be a couple of you that have had damage. We don't have many frozen pipes here and I know I wouldn't even know where to start to protect against that! I hope it all works out for you guys for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 Rob: My deepest sympathy, man. That's like the worst nightmare! Good luck with the insurance-thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhawk92 Posted January 3, 2005 Author Share Posted January 3, 2005 Dodger- Yep, we are just starting this process, so we'll be going over everything with a fine-tooth comb. We have up to 60 days to file the personal property claim, so that should give us enough time to check everything out. I plan on checking out all the IC's, power cords, etc tonight, even the ones that don't seem to have been in the water. My surge supressor was on a rack, so no damage there. The speakers have been in a dimly-lit room, so I can't really tell about swelling on the risers, but quick looks show little to no damage, but again, we'll be checking closely in the coming days. We haven't tried the washer/dryer yet as all the fans/dehumidifiers downstairs pretty much maxes out the various circuits down there, and I'm sure if we fire up the dryer, we'll trip all kinds of circuits. Hot water and furnace are all ok, as the water didn't get inside them. Whew. Larry- Thanks much. Cable/Picky- Yeah, this is certainly not what I wanted to do right now. I really wanted to spend some time enjoying the system this month as work will pick up in Feb and probably limit the movie time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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