The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

The recent cold weather pushed local thermometers deep into negative territory, bringing with it cars that wouldn't start, plumbing headaches, and strains on heating systems. The impact was particularly severe for two of Big Sandy's larger organizations. The High School and Big Sandy Activities experienced major issues during -40 lows in recent weeks. In both instances, frozen pipes burst, resulting in flooding and affecting daily operations.

Superintendent Dan Schrock explained the flooding at the high school: "I got the call from Charlie (Sipler), two days ago in the morning to come to the school, we had a problem. One of the pipes behind the gym, the coach's room, and the shower area had actually burst. We could hear the water running behind the wall, but we couldn't access it. The water leak originated in the coach's room which is on the backside of the gym. Directly below that area is the locker room. We had four inches of standing water in both locker rooms and a storage area that connects the two." The natural first response when dealing with a burst pipe is to shut off the water to stop the flooding. However, the superintendent explained that due to the age of the facility valves and shutoffs, they had reached the point of failure. "There's no shut off on that wing. The only way to shut the water off to that side of the school is shut the water off to the entire school. We didn't want to lose a day of instruction over this situation. So we brought Ray Courtnage in." Dan explained that Ray was able to work with the failed valve in the plumbing to limit the situation enough to allow the school day to go on despite the difficulties. "He was able to tighten it down as best as he could, but we're talking about a seventy year old valve that's failed and so there's only so much tightening he could do." The plumbing in the area continued to leak for a few days, but to a much smaller degree. Eventually a ball valve was installed, allowing the system to be turned off entirely in the event of any future problems. Dan expressed his great appreciation for Ray Courtnage's help in limiting the problem until it could be dealt with properly.

The damage caused by the flooding was extensive. Dan explained: "I knew it was going to be an insurance claim. So I contacted our insurance company and in turn, spoke to an adjuster." With the wheels moving on the insurance end of the process, Overcast Restoration was contacted to pump the water out of the locker rooms and storage areas, assess the damage, and begin the repairs. 12 schools in the area were similarly affected by cold weather related damage.

The school's athletic schedule had all away games, which gave them some breathing room for getting the facility back to a usable condition before it would be needed for sporting events again. Practices for several days were cancelled due to lack of appropriate sanitation facilities. Fortunately the damage did not affect the gym itself, only the downstairs parts of the facility. "We've got some some serious repairs to do with respect to that that area (the locker rooms and storage areas)."

At the same time as the High School was experiencing their plumbing issues, a few blocks away at Big Sandy Activities, a similar cold weather plumbing disaster was underway. The Executive Director of BSA, Heather Pleninger, explained that

at some point during the extreme cold weather "a section of our boiler quit and a vent that opens and closes also quit working." These failures in the boiler system resulted in "cold air blowing into the attic area of the Activity Center building." The vent fans pumped -38 degree air in and "that caused the pipes to freeze and burst." The plumbing was not part of a closed system, which resulted in gallons of water every minute pumping into the attic area of the building. Heather explained that the overall damage was limited because,"The water happened to fill our smoke alarm area, which made the wiring short out. The alarm company called me at 6:15 in the morning and that's how we found out that water was pouring from our ceiling."

Fortunately the flooding itself was contained in the hallway and the garage portions of the facility. "But from time of notification to getting it shut off was about 15 minutes. And then the heating company came down as well and isolated that area and shut the vent so that no more damage would be done. Heather explained that she contacted Overcast Restoration to deal with the flooding and damage. She went on to speak highly of the service provided by Overcast in dealing with the damages to the facility.

Heather explained that because the damage was limited to the garage and hallway portion of the facility, the Day Program was able to continue their operations. In addition, the damages and repairs will likely be covered by insurance.

Heather's husband is Scott Pleninger, who owns and operates Pleninger Plumbing in Big Sandy. I asked her about her husband's workload during the cold snap. She explained that it was largely frozen pipes. Out in the country more than a few households experienced issues with frozen sewer systems. The morning of the pipe burst, they got quite a few calls regarding frozen regulators for propane heating systems. She explained that they got a call from Mountain View Co-op instructing them regarding the problem. In instances where regulators freeze up, the affected households simply need