A friend call me several days ago in a panic. The hot water supply line under her kitchen sink failed. She couldn't reach the valve, so I directed her to turn off the water to the entire house. We estimate that the water ran for approximately 8-10 minutes from first cutting loose to shut off.
The house is on a concrete slab with tile. By the time I got there (about 20 min) the floors were mostly dry. She said there was water in the kitchen and den area. There were signs water had run under the wall stud behind the sink as the slab was just a little moist outside. Also, water ran under the wall behind the kitchen cabinets and into the garage with a 2' by 1' pool.
I used my Shop Vac to remove the water in the garage. More appeared, but a much smaller amount. About the third of fourth time I vacuumed up the water we aimed a fan at the area and saw no more water appear, even after turning off the fans.
I pulled the dishwasher. There was a little water there, but not a huge amount. The edge of the cabinet next to the dishwasher had a slight amount of swelling along the bottom. Not visible, but it could be felt in an area of about 1" x 12".
By the time I fixed the plumbing, new supply lines and new angle stops, everything looked dry.
Here's my concern... She did not want me to remove the toe kicks on the cabinets. I'm worried about the moisture level under the sink base and the cabinets on both side of the range. I had her leave the cabinets open and there are three small fans blowing on the areas with question marks.
Did we do enough to prevent mold? She says everything is very dry now, but is three days enough to dry out the cavities under the cabinet boxes? She's a single divorced mom who obviously wants to hold on to as much of her money as possible and avoid a HO claim.
Thoughts? It's been super dry here in AZ this week.
