Burst pipes in Salem homes

Cold air pooling in the Willamette Valley can hold temperatures below freezing for several days. Freezing rain can follow, coating trees and power lines with ice. When the power goes out, houses lose heat, and pipes freeze even indoors. Most Salem homes were plumbed for a mild climate, with supply lines in vented crawlspaces and exterior walls.

The pipe splits while frozen, but the ice holds the water back. When the house warms or the weather breaks, the ice melts and water pours out, often under the floor where nobody sees it. Our main burst pipe water damage page explains the mechanics.

In Salem, the most common burst points are crawlspace supply runs, kitchen and bathroom lines on exterior walls, garage water heater connections and hose bibs left with a hose attached.

Salem's older neighbourhoods include early twentieth-century houses with plaster walls, original wood floors and plumbing updated over the decades. Some have basements. A pipe that splits inside a plaster wall soaks the lath and framing before the wall shows it, and plaster dries slowly. Before walls are opened, ask about lead paint and asbestos in a pre-1978 house.

See the Salem area page for more on Salem's housing and weather.

A burst under the floor usually leaves the vapor barrier flooded, insulation soaked and the underside of the subfloor wet. Pumping comes first, then wet insulation is removed and the floor system is dried from below and above. In winter, crawlspace drying often uses desiccant dehumidifiers because the space is cold.

Readings decide when it is done. Insulation goes back only when the joists and subfloor match dry wood.

Check the contractor's Oregon license through the Construction Contractors Board's online search. Sudden pipe bursts are commonly covered by homeowners policies, while slow leaks and neglect commonly are not. Keep photos, the plumber's invoice and the drying records; the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation takes questions about insurers.

Salem's mature trees make ice storms especially disruptive. Ice-laden limbs fall onto power lines and roofs, and outages can last days in some neighbourhoods. A house without heat in freezing weather cools steadily, and pipes in crawlspaces and exterior walls freeze first. A falling limb that punctures a roof adds rain to the problem.

When an ice storm is forecast, fill a few containers with drinking water, know how to shut off and drain your plumbing and keep a flashlight by the crawlspace hatch. If the outage drags on below freezing, draining the lines is safer than hoping the house stays warm enough.

If you hear running water with every tap closed, or the water meter keeps moving, a pipe is leaking somewhere. In a Salem crawlspace home, look from the hatch first for water on the vapor barrier. Inside, feel floors near exterior walls for soft spots and watch ceilings below bathrooms for stains. A contractor uses moisture meters and thermal imaging to trace the water before opening anything.

Once the plumber has fixed the split, ask whether other exposed lines should be insulated or rerouted. A pipe that froze once in an exterior wall or crawlspace will be in the same cold spot next winter.

West Salem sits across the river in Polk County, with a mix of older homes near the bridges and newer subdivisions on the hills. Hillside homes there see colder air settle in low spots on still winter nights, and garages built into slopes can be colder than expected. Insulating garage and crawlspace lines on that side of the river is worth the effort.