# do you turn the water off before you cut into drywall?



## huggytree (Nov 3, 2013)

Had a horrible day today

had to cut the back out of the cabinet to repipe the drains and hit a water line...lucky for me the kitchen under the bath was gutted, so all it did was wet the plywood floor a bit....also nothing in the basement

homeowner was crying though...she was a bit odd and didn't seem to be able to handle life

turns out the waters were on the outside of the 2x4s...so they were touching the back of the cabinet

I never turn the water off before these types of projects....im always careful.....well from now on I WILL turn it off first just in case


the bad news for me is the job was part of a fire/water restoration job...so she called the restoration guys in to handle the water....basically im stuck paying $500-$1000 for guys to come over and tell her what I told her...'its no big deal' and then set some fans up

if this had been a normal job I probably wouldn't have had to do anything....it was only a $800 job, so at best I may get my materials paid for.....what a sh*tty day


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

You spill some water on a floor, you wipe it uo and dry it out. I don't get it, does she call Servpro every time she mops a floor?


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## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

I don't see any benefit in shutting off the water. If you cut a line it is still cut and will leak regardless. I'd rather find out about it (or hopefully discover it myself) while I was in the house rather than get a frantic call at 4 am.

I've hit a few and so have most of us. Stuff happens.


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

But if the water was off and you finished the repair, you'd have even more work to do undoing it all and STILL be left with the water guy issue and bill...


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

I learned my lesson about cutting wrecklessly. Now I use a multimaster and go slow.


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## Kiwidan (Jan 10, 2014)

I never shut the water off when cuttings hole in the wall... I usually use a gib saw to a couple of inspection holes to see then if not then I'll go for gold


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## mikeswoods (Oct 11, 2008)

Unfortunately some people are just plain nuts---

Be glad you were only doing a small service call and not the poor sucker that is doing the restoration work----


Good luck to you----talk to the servpro people on the side if you can---those people ---well,I better shut up---Mike----


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

I don't shut it off either. But I do locate the shutoff before a large demo job.


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## TimelessQuality (Sep 23, 2007)




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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Same here. Leave water on but locate shutoff and make sure it works. Sometimes on larger jobs I will price in changing out the shutoff for a qtr turn to make life easy. 

Was at one job where a sparky drilled through a top plate and hit a 3/4 main. Water poring through the can lights in the new kitchen for 30mins as no one knew where the shut off was. It was under a cabinet and you could only just about get your arm under it to turn it off. 

Woman was crying her eyes out but a day later it all dried out.


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## Patrick (Apr 12, 2006)

Be careful we had a similar incident a few years ago while replacing a roof. There was already a national fire water co there doing work. We got a monster storm kick up out of no where during the job and a few drops came in around the chimney. Come back next day everything is moved out of the attic and a few fans. Two weeks later a bill for 5 grand for moving boxes and. Fans and dehumidifiers. After months of telling them to screw they got the hint.


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## rrk (Apr 22, 2012)

What did you do the cutting with That you did not feel the pipe there?
You are lucky it wasn't a wire like a dryer line or a range line.
You're having a bad week, first replacing the faucet now this.

Servpro=$$$$$$

I have seen them remove drywall on ceilings and in a garage because the floor was wet. They always seem to scare the homeowner with the "What If's "


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Yeah servepro are a bunch of scammers. Heard a lot of stories in this area of mind boggling charges for stupid stuff. I don't get how they get away with it. My plumber told me about one only a few weeks ago where a shower had a bad joint on the waste line. It leaked for a few days and the ceiling got stained below and a few drips at the drywall joint appeared. Servepro come out there and pulled the ceilings down and wanted to pull the hardwoods for less than a cup of water. I think he said they ended up billing the insurance $6k for that work. Less than 2 days work and a few fans sitting around.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

If I'm being real careful, I'll use a drywall router and set the depth so it almost goes through. Usually I'm concerned about not getting electrocuted. Other than that, I'll use a jab saw. Multimasters are for situations where the other two don't work well, especially plaster, flush cuts, etc.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Use guys use a jab saw to cut out the back of a cabinet?


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

I use the multi master with wood blade then swap to drywall blade. Drywall blade won't cut into copper as easy as the wood blade.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

BCConstruction said:


> I don't get how they get away with it.


You just have to know how to scare the HOs and work the insurance. Lots of tricks like spray Kilz Original and charge for BIN, and much bigger tricks to get the most tear out.

I did see them not initially tear out a ceiling that was wet - I showed them with a thermal imager, they got a moisture meter to confirm. Insulated between floors - the insulation was wet in places, but the drywall looked fine and you wouldn't have expected that ceiling to be wet based on the water upstairs.


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## rrk (Apr 22, 2012)

I put a pc of blue tape 3/8" from edge of MM blade and just cut to the tape. Just cuts the back and not through to the drywall, then cut with a drywall saw.


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## rrk (Apr 22, 2012)

$1000 a day for a super dehumidifier.

A couple of years ago. Pipe in bath froze and burst, water ran after it got warmer for 2 days down and outside through the garage. They removed all drywall, all ducts, wiring, pipes,all floors, all subfloors everything including 8 to 10 joists. Sprayed white stuff on all that remained. 

Billed ins co for over $100k


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

hdavis said:


> You just have to know how to scare the HOs and work the insurance. Lots of tricks like spray Kilz Original and charge for BIN, and much bigger tricks to get the most tear out. I did see them not initially tear out a ceiling that was wet - I showed them with a thermal imager, they got a moisture meter to confirm. Insulated between floors - the insulation was wet in places, but the drywall looked fine and you wouldn't have expected that ceiling to be wet based on the water upstairs.


The part I don't understand is why the insurance company's pay it. There's smaller local flood restoration company's around here who charge 1/10th what servepro do. 

I was doing a bathroom last summer. Basement had flooded and i was working upstairs and the drywall had been pulled out about 20" above the basement floor. Carpet all pulled out and some clouted spray on the studs. Asked the HO what happened and a pipe burst. $16k to pull that drywall out and move carpets and apply spray. They left dehumidifier and fans running for 2 weeks. She said they also pulled out asbestos with zero containment or wetting down. the crew were there for 4 hours doing that job $16k lol


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