We got a call yesterday from our celebrity customer asking us to come down because there was a water leak in the kitchen we built. It's a phone call you dread because you don't know if you caused it or another contractor. Luckily in this case it was a different contractor.
When we arrived we found out that leak was at the water line for the refrigerator.
Upon further investigation we found out that a nail had pierced the copper water line from the opposite side of the wall.
When the baseboards were replaced in the hallway opposite the kitchen the installers had the bad luck of hitting the water line. It was a 1 in a million chance that the installer's nail would hit the tiny 1/4" copper pipe inside the wall.
When the remediation crew came in they came to the conclusion that the nail had punctured the line 5 months ago. It had slowly leaked into the walls & our cabinets, then 2 nights ago the hole had expanded and the leak really started to flow. The owner then noticed that water was showing up on the herringbone floor and immediately called a plumber to find the leak.
This tiny leak is going to cost upwards of $30,000 or more to fix.
So today we are meeting with the remediation supervisor to go over what exactly has to be done to make sure no mold has grown or can grow. We think the entire refrigerator side of cabinets, including the pantry, will have to be torn out. Then 24.5" high of the drywall will need to be removed. The wall will need to be treated, then new drywall and new cabinets. In addition to this, the floor may have to be removed. It is an oak plywood on top of 3/4" subfloor plywood on the slab. If this is the case then costs will get up to $30,000, just because of a nail. Could have been worse though, could have hit a wire and burnt the house down. I've been on a job where that happened.
All of these cabinets in the pantry may need to be pulled out, basically destroyed.
Anyway, off to learn what our scope of work will be. Regardless we will be paid to do any demo and repair because it wasn't anything we were involved with.
Thanks for reading!
