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Burst water pipes cause water damage and force evacuations around the region, as well as keep restoration companies busy
Published Jan 15, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 3 minute read
Noah Taboada prepares to deal with frozen pipes in a building in downtown Vancouver on Monday. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG
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Pipes have been bursting in homes and buildings across the Vancouver region in recent days as freezing temperatures cause water to expand and push through or create cracks.
There have been mini-floods and scenes of cascading water near airport gates, on a ferry, in seniors’ homes, and in a hospital emergency room.
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“It’s been way more than usual,” said Keyosha Waugh, who works with the operations manager at Incredible Restorations, a Vancouver-based water damage repair company.
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It received between 60 to 70 calls over the weekend. On Monday, the count was almost 20 new floods, including in condo buildings, amenity buildings, and private homes.
There is all kinds of advice on how to prevent and what to do in the aftermath of burst pipes, but Waugh thinks there is also a bigger picture to consider.
“We definitely need to think about how homes and buildings are built here. In many, pipes are not properly insulated. There’s no insulation around them between the interior and exterior wall.”
Cam McLeod, a vice-president at Burnaby-based Paul Davis Greater Vancouver Restoration, agreed that homes that are older — “where the insulation isn’t the best” — have been more prone to burst pipes.
He estimated to being five to six times busier with calls this past weekend.
“We always get a significant increase in the number of claims whenever there is a deep freeze where temperatures are at minus-6 degrees or lower and stay there over three to four days,” said McLeod.
He suggested insulated hose bib covers to protect outdoor faucets. These trap heat from indoor plumbing and help the spigot from freezing and leading to a burst pipe.
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There are also insulation sleeves for pipes that are made of styrofoam, said Rob de Pruis, national director of consumer and industry relations at the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Claims can be called in at any time, “even in the wee hours. It’s 24/7, if you have water damage, you can start the process right away with an adjuster. And even after you make a claim, you should do what you can to reduce or mitigate more damage,” said de Pruis.
At Vancouver International Airport on Friday, a water pipe malfunctioned causing a leak near one of the gates in the domestic terminal. The operations and maintenance teams secured the area, which had a pooling of water, and repaired the pipe.
There are hundreds of kilometres of active piping at YVR, said Vancouver Airport Authority spokesperson Emad Agahi.
“Our maintenance staff continue to assess the effects of cold temperatures on our infrastructure to ensure continued safety and operational resiliency.”
On Saturday, over a dozen residents at a Surrey seniors’ home moved after cold weather caused pipes to burst and led to extensive water damage.
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Mission Memorial Hospital had to close its emergency department after burst pipes flooded the unit. Fraser Health said the ER would be shut indefinitely as the damage is assessed. The rest of the hospital continued to operate.
B.C. Ferries had some “contained issues” with burst pipes over the weekend, particularly due to cold temperatures that worsened with wind chill as vessels moved through the water, according to spokesperson Jeff Groot.
Some passengers posted social media photos of water from a burst pipe showering over vehicles on a ferry’s lower car deck.
The wind chill caused by the speed of the vessel moving through water meant that the temperature in certain situations for the pipes was in the minus-20 degrees C range.
Groot explained that newer vessels all have trace heating around the piping, inside the insulation, which helps prevent any issues.
But on some of the other vessels, B.C. Ferries is taking immediate action to improve insulation and add heat tracing, especially around its critical sections.
— with file from Joseph Ruttle
jlee-young@postmedia.com
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