The $800,000 New Home Pipe Freeze

Poor design is poor design - regardless if your home just cost you $800,000. Yep, HZG went to a brand new home (the client lived in it 1 month) and the pipes froze - no water. Luckily, they didn't burst - but you can imagine the owners' thoughts. "We just spent $800,000 on a home and the pipes freeze. Expletive, expletive..."

This was truly a beautiful, 6-bedroom home with many roof line cantilevers. In two of the cantilevers, the builder contracted a reputable insulation installer. Unfortunately, the design predicated the need for air sealing and additional insulation due to the way the water pipes run. However, this did not happen.

Upon investigation, I pulled back some of the fiberglass (not encapsulated) behind the wall of one of the water issues. "What ho! Daylight!" Yep, I could see into the bathroom through one of the water drain penetrations. They ran the pipe through a non-conditioned space, did not seal off the hole, did not fit the fiberglass in the cavity, and lastly, did not put enough insulation in the area to protect the piping. There is also a good chance that the floors underneath were not stuffed properly, allowing the cold air to effect another shower.

This is an easy fix, however a brand new home should not need easy fixes. It needs better design.