Update 2: Unplanned water feature

Do you know what else shouldn’t be wet? Ceilings. It should not rain from the ceiling, unless of course you have one of those fantastic rain showerheads in your bathroom.

January 2015 - It got cold—cold enough to freeze the water in the fire suppression sprinkler system in the unconditioned space in the attic. The pipes popped above the hall bathroom which meant it was affected as well as the adjoining areas on the second floor (bedroom 4, hallway, master closet, laundry room, sitting area in master bedroom), the first floor (kitchen, dining room, and morning room), and the basement. Some new carpet padding, bits of drywall, and some paint took care of most of the ceiling and wall damage. The noise of all of the dehumidifiers and blowers made sleeping and conversations difficult. Fortunately, the little humans’ bedrooms were not affected and they could shut their doors. Sadly, the hardwood floors in the kitchen were not salvageable; practically the entire first floor flooring had to be replaced. We ended up laying wood-look tile and it was a fantastic choice because the temperatures dipped again...

Goodbye, beautiful red oak

Hello, pretty porcelain tile

January 2018 - The temperature dropped into the single digits and POP went the pipe again. This time, it popped over the laundry room. Fortunately, this means bedroom 4, dining room, and morning room weren’t affected. No one checked the wall between the laundry room and bathroom so who knows what’s behind the washer and dryer. I suppose we’ll find out soon. There was only a little bit of water in the basement but the tile in the kitchen definitely helped keep the water on the the second floor. This time, we will need to completely replace the drywall in the laundry, closet, and kitchen ceilings and in the shared laundry and closet walls. The subfloor in the hallway also needs to be replaced as does the carpet on the second floor. Lots and lots of painting because of continuous space.

Once was more than enough. Twice severely irritates me. I’m starting to not like the month of January—boo to winter! I spent a significant amount of time trying to see what extra things we can do to exceed the insulation requirements. There aren’t set standards and that shocks me. It also shocks me that the town’s ordinance office was not aware that this RH development has had a handful of houses with water pipe bursts at the same time as both of ours. Some houses had to be gutted (per the water recovery specialists). I think wind is playing a major part based on our roof and gable as the windward side (northwest) of the house is always cold. I’ve some ideas for better soffit baffles, insulated boxes, and additional insulation barriers. Relocating the pipes into the walls versus ceiling is allowable but it’ll be out-of-pocket and expensive.

2018 - cracked fire suppression pipes

Being is ‘to code’ doesn’t necessarily mean it was done well or in the most effective manner. Let’s focus on the unconditioned space on the windward side of house.

• Baffles are good. Having cheap baffles that lose their structural integrity so they can’t perform their function is not. Baffles are meant to redirect airflow toward the ridge (in my case) and not allow air to disturb the insulation or hit the knee wall.
• Insulation is good. Blown in insulation settles and well, gets blown around when the baffles are crap and so, are not as good. Older building requirements for lower R values, also not good. Settling or compression reduces insulation R values. Insufficient depth also reduces R value.
• Fire sprinkler systems are good. When contained in conditioned (i.e., warm) spaces to take advantage of ambient heat, this is also good. When placed within the height of the truss joist and adequately insulated (not wrapped but either boxed or tented), this is good. Running pipes along the top of truss joists with tented batt insulation is acceptable when temperatures "can remain above 40F; however, is horribly inefficient because those batts only insulate pipes in the spaces between the truss joists and leave the pipes completely exposed where they run across the truss joists. The 2015 breaks were at these points when temperatures dipped into the single digits. 

After the first incident, the temperature was going to dip again and I ramped the R value of the batts near the pipes, tented them, and ran more perpendicular batts across the top according to NFPA 13D recommendations. I made sure there weren’t any gaps to allow cold air in and the warm air out. So what happened in 2018? Recall that the affected pipes are on the windward side, which gets hit so hard at times that you can hear the house wrap flapping. I think our model is the only one with a finished attic in the RH side of our community and from having crawled around in the unfinished area, it’s pretty tight moving around in there.

I can only speculate that the suboptimal baffles allowed the super cold wind to enter the space and blow directly toward the pipes and blown-in insulation instead of along the roof toward the ridge line. This significantly reduced the temperature of the space and disturbed the blown-in insulation, causing a wind tunnel. We will need to call in some insulation specialists and will likely have to strip everything out and start from scratch. Perhaps additional construction is required. [insert sarcastic “Yay!” here]

USEFUL NUGGETS:

• In case you are wondering, plumbers cannot service the fire sprinkler system. You need to call a company that specializes in fire protection systems—a certified sprinkler technician. Some folks get testy if you call a sprinkler technician a plumber.
• Your fire suppression system is connected to your main water line. Know where your shut off valve is located!
• Wet/dry shop vacuums are fantastic. We bought one the morning of the first pipe burst.
• You will need at least two technician visits: one to replace and glue the pipes and the second to perform a pressure test and turn on the water.
• Insulation, once wet, is no longer effective, not even after it's been dried.
• Water recovery specialists can only remove the wet/affected insulation and they cannot replace it for you. 
• Unlike typical water pipes, the fire suppression/sprinkler systems should not be wrapped. They need the radiant heat from the conditioned space (in this case, need the ceiling heat from the rooms below). Tenting is recommended. See NFPA 13D (or 13R if you live in a townhouse).
• Building codes change. You’re fine unless you are repairing/renovating. Contact your local ordinance office.
• Insurance companies will only pay to return the house to it’s pre-existing state, unless it needs to meet new codes.
• Have an energy audit performed.

EDIT: We had an energy audit performed and an insulation specialist come out. We also learned our neighborhood would not be up to code had the houses been built after 2012. More to come in a future post.