Personal cost of the deep freeze

[Miss Tequila]

The water line to my fridge burst today so the cost of having my contractor come out to fix it. Luckily daughter was home and shut off water so no damagw

[teen persuasion]

I just paid the bill for the oil company coming out to fix out heat from the power outage with the previous cold snap. Wasn't something they could fix, the water line in one zone froze. We were lucky, it thawed without bursting.

School was preemptively cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday, which closed my employer. When the announcement was made on Tuesday evening, my boss called to say I could stay home that evening as the snow was ramping up just as I was to come in. So I definitely lost a half day of pay for opting to skip Tuesday night, and it's not clear if I'll get paid for Wednesday and Thursday. We are always closed Friday, but I popped in to empty the book drop, sort 3 days of mail, process 3 days of newspapers and 3 days of magazines, clear out the building email, update the social media a bit. I'm not scheduled to work Saturday, but I have a feeling pent up demand from being closed since Tuesday will make Saturday busy/nuts, so I wanted to take the edge off the other clerk as much as possible.

On the way home (DH drove me - his car has snow tires, mine doesn't), someone rear ended us. Nobody hurt, we all decided the damage was cosmetic and nobody would file, so we went our ways.

The chicken's water dispenser keeps freezing, so we've been emptying it and refilling with hot water several times a day, but getting it open when frozen is challenging. DH managed to break a tab loose, which means it has a inch wide hole at the top (you unscrew the base, flip the bucket to fill it, then screw the base back on and flip it again). We've put gorilla tape on it for now, but we will need to replace it. At least none of the chickens have frozen!

Otherwise, lots of water (dripping faucets to prevent freezing, running hot water on chicken water dispenser to thaw it and fill it), lots of oil to keep house bearable, lots of propane because home cooking more than usual and for warmth.

[Lizard Queen]

I lost 4 days' wages less the could of before and after school daycare. 2 days of daycare time in excess of h before and after school. Additional gas required to heat home during days home and in excess of normal temperature differential. Additionally has required to drive van in crappy weather and traffic.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

Feb 1, 2019 9:16:38 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

It is almost 100 degrees warmer here than in the midwest. So, unless they start charging me for mean posts on the internet rubbing that in, nothing.

$10 right there.

I'll pm the payment info.....

[Nazgul Girl]

  Let's see - my DH is having some real health problems now, and in order to keep him comfortable with his heart and circulation issues, he wanted the thermostat up to 79 - 80.   He'd just suffer if it got much colder for him, so we will have a healthy-sized gas bill.   We did some extra shopping in case our daughter and granddaughter ( 2 y.o.) lost power and had to stay with us, so that was about $ 100 extra.   We had also gotten some more food that we could eat cold in case our generator didn't turn on like it should have, so we had a little more in groceries because of that, also.   We spent $ 9 to buy a movie that we like for our Firestick collection.   That's about it.   Oh, and I lost my good hat when we went to the dr. on Tuesday morning.   I loved that hat.   Of course, they couldn't find it the office, so I don't know where it went.  $ 15 to replace my good Isotoner hat.   Ugh.

[busymom]

One of my relatives has missed 2 days of work, because they just can't keep their car running in this cold snap.  

[weltschmerz]

::sigh::

My hot water pipe to the bath has frozen again.

[countrygirl2]

I know we spent at least an extra $100 for heat, looked at the electric meter.

Expense for repair on the furnace at the rent house, so far these are our only extras.

[Nazgul Girl]

   Arrrg.   Our roof has sprung a leak, dripping down through the access to our attic.   It's probably due to an ice dam.   We've never had one of those before.   Two roofers are coming out this afternoon to see about repairs.   Does anyone have experience dealing with leaks from ice dams, or small roof leaks ?   We are kind of in shock.   The roof is about  15 years old, and was checked last summer and was deemed ok.   However, that was before the Great Polar Freeze.   We don't know if we can submit the costs to our insurance or not, and what the repairs might run.  Thanks for any insights.

[nittanycheme]

I assume that my gas usage will go up since that is what powers my boiler.  My electric will go up because I have a birdbath outside that I have one of those tank heaters in and I also have a long strip of the "heat "tape, that runs through my gutter on the back of the house, so I'm pretty sure they've been working over time.  I have the heat tape fished through the downspout, the drainage part of the downspout and through about 15' of the gutter on the house.    I had been considering getting a longer strip as there is about 10' of gutter not "heated", but I just never got around to it.  That part of the gutter drains the back side of the house, and is on the edge of a flat roof.  It had frozen a few years ago - didn't cause any damage since it was for a short time (that is the shadiest side of the house), but I didn't want to take a chance again.  I had the shorter length from what that section used to have two downspouts; the second downspout ran across a high traffic area in the back yard, so I had them redo the gutter to increase the size and remove the one downspout when I had the flat roof redone.  I guess I'll see how it goes with the drainage.  And probably get a longer one this summer no matter what happens.  We aren't as cold as some of the northern US, but if we keep doing this, I want to be prepared at the back of the house, and probably repurpose the other one to one of the gutters.  While they haven't froze in the past, I'd rather be prepared.

And hearing all of these well stories, I am very happy that my well is located in my basement!  My neighbor's shower drain froze this week.  The shower is on an outside wall, and the drain is near the wall.  Apparently, he started getting a shower, and it started to fill up.  He had to wait to finish his shower until it started to melt!  Fortunately, it doesn't seem as though it cracked. 

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

It was cold here in Massachusetts, but not unreasonably so. Still, we’re churning through oil at a steady clip and the kickspace heater under my kitchen sink on an exterior wall is running steadily. Some water in the basement (that was previously dry until the tree crushed our house) after the heavy rains the other day, but it stayed in an unused area and evaporated quickly thanks to the heat from the furnace. Both cars started every day. Just need to get the pup out for some good walks over the next few days (going to be 60 on Monday) because he wisely self-limited his time outside during the coldest days.

Wishing all of you with frozen stuff an uneventful thaw...

[TheOtherMe]

I have not had frozen pipes or any leaks from the roof so far.  My car started.  It's in a garage and I did have a new battery put in it in the fall because it was the original battery for a 2012 car.

My costs have been to the neighbor for keeping the drive plowed, the extra heat due to the cold, extra water due to not wanting pipes to freeze.  I can live with these.  

So far, nothing major.  

[Anne_in_VA]

We didn’t have any extra cost due to the cold snap other than almost $2k to get my car fixed twice when squirrels chewed through wiring.  I used to park in the driveway, but I am now parking on the street and will open the hood at night.  I’ll have to ask DH if someone could steal my car if it’s like that.  If so, we’ll have to figure out a way to disable it.

[ken a.k.a OMK]

squirrels chewed through wiring. 

They have chewed through the gas lines of my car and two neighbors cars. One had a $1000 bill. I fixed mine the first time but the second time it was part of the gas tank recovery system and cost $600.

Last summer I found an old nest on the exhaust manifold under the hood. Don't drive the car much but started to smell something burning. I was told to open the hood occasionally during the winter.

[finnime]

I spent $85 on a winter jacket when the zipper on my old one broke, plus $60 on boots for snow wear. I consider this well spent. We're in for a thaw but more bitter cold and snow is coming over the next few weeks. The polar vortex pushes air in waves.

[Deleted]

Feb 2, 2019 12:14:54 GMT -5 Anne_in_VA said:

We didn’t have any extra cost due to the cold snap other than almost $2k to get my car fixed twice when squirrels chewed through wiring.  I used to park in the driveway, but I am now parking on the street and will open the hood at night.  I’ll have to ask DH if someone could steal my car if it’s like that.  If so, we’ll have to figure out a way to disable it.

What does opening the hood do?

[CCL]

Feb 2, 2019 18:49:19 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Feb 2, 2019 12:14:54 GMT -5 Anne_in_VA said:

We didn’t have any extra cost due to the cold snap other than almost $2k to get my car fixed twice when squirrels chewed through wiring.  I used to park in the driveway, but I am now parking on the street and will open the hood at night.  I’ll have to ask DH if someone could steal my car if it’s like that.  If so, we’ll have to figure out a way to disable it.

What does opening the hood do?

I was gonna ask the same thing, never heard of it before.

[geenamercile]

We are going to have a higher gas bill, but I think that is it.  Maybe a bit more restocking the snack cabinets from everyone home, but over all nothing to much.  Knock on wood. 

[Anne_in_VA]

According to the online experts, opening the hood keeps them from nesting in the engine compartment and chewing on anything.  We’ll see if it works.

[Deleted]

Feb 2, 2019 20:26:25 GMT -5 Anne_in_VA said:

According to the online experts, opening the hood keeps them from nesting in the engine compartment and chewing on anything.  We’ll see if it works.

That's interesting. Thanks for answering!

[Deleted]

Well, the January electric bill sucked.  $192.   

I went back to compare to last January and lo and behold, it was exactly the same!  $192.  Last January was more "normal" though.  This year we had 40's and 50's for some of it then the deep freeze. 

[jkapp]

I'm surprised my gas bill wasn't higher this month, but it may not have included the super -50 below zero days we had over the past few weeks.  But it was only about 2-3 days, so it may not add up to much, either.  I did have to use extra water, though, when I was flushing hot water down my sump pump hole to make sure the line didn't freeze (a part of the discharge pipe comes out the front of the house before dipping underground).  But that shouldn't add up to much either. 

[tskeeter]

Feb 2, 2019 12:14:54 GMT -5 Anne_in_VA said:

We didn’t have any extra cost due to the cold snap other than almost $2k to get my car fixed twice when squirrels chewed through wiring.  I used to park in the driveway, but I am now parking on the street and will open the hood at night.  I’ll have to ask DH if someone could steal my car if it’s like that.  If so, we’ll have to figure out a way to disable it.

More likely than steal your car is to steal your battery.  Especially if the battery is new.  This used to be a problem in the old days when the car hood could be opened from outside the car.

[tskeeter]

Feb 2, 2019 10:16:36 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

   Arrrg.   Our roof has sprung a leak, dripping down through the access to our attic.   It's probably due to an ice dam.   We've never had one of those before.   Two roofers are coming out this afternoon to see about repairs.   Does anyone have experience dealing with leaks from ice dams, or small roof leaks ?   We are kind of in shock.   The roof is about  15 years old, and was checked last summer and was deemed ok.   However, that was before the Great Polar Freeze.   We don't know if we can submit the costs to our insurance or not, and what the repairs might run.  Thanks for any insights.

Had ice dam on one house.  When I took the roof off in the spring, I found shingles directly on the plywood roof deck.  And the roof deck on that part of the house was a bunch of scrap pieces of plywood.  So lots of joints for water to run through.  Replaced the scraps with a couple of complete sheets of plywood.  Six pieces of wood to two.  Then I covered the new deck with ice and water barrier to shed water before it gets to the joints in the plywood.  Since the ice and water barrier is sticky on one side, each new course of barrier sticks to the preceding course where they overlap (roofing paper just lays on the course below where the courses overlap, letting water back up between the layers).  No problems after that.

[Nazgul Girl]

Feb 9, 2019 0:40:07 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

Feb 2, 2019 10:16:36 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

   Arrrg.   Our roof has sprung a leak, dripping down through the access to our attic.   It's probably due to an ice dam.   We've never had one of those before.   Two roofers are coming out this afternoon to see about repairs.   Does anyone have experience dealing with leaks from ice dams, or small roof leaks ?   We are kind of in shock.   The roof is about  15 years old, and was checked last summer and was deemed ok.   However, that was before the Great Polar Freeze.   We don't know if we can submit the costs to our insurance or not, and what the repairs might run.  Thanks for any insights.

Had ice dam on one house.  When I took the roof off in the spring, I found shingles directly on the plywood roof deck.  And the roof deck on that part of the house was a bunch of scrap pieces of plywood.  So lots of joints for water to run through.  Replaced the scraps with a couple of complete sheets of plywood.  Six pieces of wood to two.  Then I covered the new deck with ice and water barrier to shed water before it gets to the joints in the plywood.  Since the ice and water barrier is sticky on one side, each new course of barrier sticks to the preceding course where they overlap (roofing paper just lays on the course below where the courses overlap, letting water back up between the layers).  No problems after that.

   Thank you for the information, tskeeter.    We had some roofing companies come out and look at our leak.   Something similar to your roof situation is going on with ours as well.   Our roof is about 18 years old ( older than I had remembered, but we looked up the year it was replaced ) and it had gotten a decent leak above where the water barrier had stopped.   They also found a lot of mold in the attic.   Shoot !   

   We bit the bullet and are having a very fine roof, with the best shingles and a complete wrap of water barrier covering all the roof ( not the paper stuff ) put on the house.   It should last until we both croak off.   The shingles are guaranteed 30 years.   They are doing a correction of the venting in the soffits to prevent the mold again, plus all new plywood sheets over the moldy part.   To top it all off, we are getting another layer of insulation sprayed in while the roof is off.   We should be high and tight ( Marine's term for a fresh haircut ) in mid-March.   Oh yeah, and Gutter Guards ( off brand - but they work the same ).   We can't get up on ladders anymore.

   This will be pretty expensive, but honestly, we'd rather be dry than worried.