Self-inflicted Wound!

Today I found out what happens when an absolute idiot (me) mismanages a rental property with the outside air temperature near zero. Here's the story:

My plan for today was to pay a few bills; go to the post office; go to the bank; sign the lease with a new tenant; and then finish the laminate floor I've been working on. I estimated that this would take about 4 hours. Everything was going as planned. Since it was very cold today, I didn't go to work until about noon. After accomplishing everything on my list, I was getting ready to go home. That's when things started going downhill.

I received a call from one of my tenants who said that her water had frozen. She lives in one of my 3-unit buildings and obviously if she was out of water, the entire building was without water. I drove right over to the building and met with the tenant. Just as she said, the water was frozen. After looking carefully at the situation, it became obvious what the problem was. I WAS THE PROBLEM!

You see, the back apartment in this building is vacant. I didn't realize that the water line heat tape for the main water line that runs under that apartment was run from the electrical service of that apartment. Since the unit was vacant, I allowed the electric to be shut off and therefore the waterline became frozen.

Unfortunately, my stupidity and ignorance wasn't the end of the story. Once I got the water line unfrozen, there was a virtual rain storm in the back apartment due to the multiple ruptures in the copper water line caused by the freezing. I carry most of the parts in my pickup truck to fix almost any problem. I had several quick-connect Sharkbite connectors and some pieces of PEX waterline. Unfortunately, there were so many leaks that I didn't have enough connectors to finish repairing all the leaks, even after going to my storeroom and getting all the parts I had there. The only good news was that after cutting numerous holes in the walls and ceiling, I was able to repair the supply line that provides water to the two occupied apartments. So, tomorrow, I will still need to repair the remaining waterlines in the back apartment.

When all was said and done, my 4 hour work day turned into a 10 hour workday, and all because I failed to ensure that the electric was on at the back apartment. You can bet that this is a lesson that I won't soon forget! Who said that the rental business isn't fun? UGH!