EverCurious
Gold Member
If you missed the news there was a 7.0 earthquake in Alaska on 11/30. My house is basically at ground zero, literally due east 10 miles from epicenter. The house held up well, but there was a bunch of drywall damage and shit thrown on the floor. One of the biggest spots of "cosmetic" damage was here:
So there is a 6000 pound 4 foot wide by 7 foot tall commercial fridge on the opposite side of that wall that's tied into the studs. The vertical crack you see in the wall is the handiwork of the main sewer stack from upstairs being punched through the drywall. We know this is going to be a continuous issue due to the fridge wall's alignment and our location in relation to the newly activated fault (aka these "new" quakes are hitting the house dead on back to front, everything on our east/west aligned walls got rocked, which is the exact opposite of "typical" quakes up here which hit us north/south [aka they originate from the Pacific.] My entire house is arranged to deal with north/south rolling quakes specifically so shit doesn't hit the floor all the time, this new breech due east makes a real mess of my "preventive feng shui" >.<)
Anyway, I'm wondering if there is a way to prevent this pipe from getting knocked through the wall again? Not much room, but maybe some kind of really thin foam absorption padding? Maybe some extra bracing/cross members behind the fridge? Cement board? Looking for suggestions and advice.
We haven't opened the wall up as we're waiting until after xmas, but the pipe is sweating and rusty which makes me think it's an iron(? metal) pipe rather than modern PVC. (House was built in 1978... no asbestos but we do have solid copper wiring we're slowly replacing.) We are going to open that entire wall to double check the headers/plates didn't crack and I really wouldn't mind replacing that ancient pipe, but would PVC be "better" or worse in this situation? On the one hand I assume PVC has a bit more flex plus it doesn't sweat as much, right? But is the flex necessarily a good thing in this case with the fridge hitting it in quakes because it might crack/shatter, yeah? (We have full access to both upstairs bathroom's through the drop down kitchen ceiling so replacing the pipe isn't that much of a problem.)
Also, as an aside, any advice for the pipe sweat thing? Is there a fucking wrap or something cause it's absolutely gross to have all that moisture in there with the studs and plates/ledgers above and below. There is zero air movement in this wall and its the main structural wall of the house, pretty much dead center of the house too. The drywall on the game room side of the pipe shows clear evidence of water damage. My instincts are screaming that this moisture in the wall cavity is seriously bad. Could we stick a fan on it or something? (I can easily wire up a small fan to blow up the pipe through the basement if that would be "enough.")
Back to the "crack prevention" question. I believe from what I can see it's a 4" pipe which makes any possible padding or bracing in wall a bit problematic, but we do have a good amount of room behind the fridge for structure. We have some "alignment" framing to bring the fridge flush with the counter-top back there already and I wouldn't mind pulling the fridge out from the wall a little more so the french doors opened a full 90 degrees.) Or maybe would it be better to replace the cracked drywall with cement backer board to "take the hit" so to speak?
So there is a 6000 pound 4 foot wide by 7 foot tall commercial fridge on the opposite side of that wall that's tied into the studs. The vertical crack you see in the wall is the handiwork of the main sewer stack from upstairs being punched through the drywall. We know this is going to be a continuous issue due to the fridge wall's alignment and our location in relation to the newly activated fault (aka these "new" quakes are hitting the house dead on back to front, everything on our east/west aligned walls got rocked, which is the exact opposite of "typical" quakes up here which hit us north/south [aka they originate from the Pacific.] My entire house is arranged to deal with north/south rolling quakes specifically so shit doesn't hit the floor all the time, this new breech due east makes a real mess of my "preventive feng shui" >.<)
Anyway, I'm wondering if there is a way to prevent this pipe from getting knocked through the wall again? Not much room, but maybe some kind of really thin foam absorption padding? Maybe some extra bracing/cross members behind the fridge? Cement board? Looking for suggestions and advice.
We haven't opened the wall up as we're waiting until after xmas, but the pipe is sweating and rusty which makes me think it's an iron(? metal) pipe rather than modern PVC. (House was built in 1978... no asbestos but we do have solid copper wiring we're slowly replacing.) We are going to open that entire wall to double check the headers/plates didn't crack and I really wouldn't mind replacing that ancient pipe, but would PVC be "better" or worse in this situation? On the one hand I assume PVC has a bit more flex plus it doesn't sweat as much, right? But is the flex necessarily a good thing in this case with the fridge hitting it in quakes because it might crack/shatter, yeah? (We have full access to both upstairs bathroom's through the drop down kitchen ceiling so replacing the pipe isn't that much of a problem.)
Also, as an aside, any advice for the pipe sweat thing? Is there a fucking wrap or something cause it's absolutely gross to have all that moisture in there with the studs and plates/ledgers above and below. There is zero air movement in this wall and its the main structural wall of the house, pretty much dead center of the house too. The drywall on the game room side of the pipe shows clear evidence of water damage. My instincts are screaming that this moisture in the wall cavity is seriously bad. Could we stick a fan on it or something? (I can easily wire up a small fan to blow up the pipe through the basement if that would be "enough.")
Back to the "crack prevention" question. I believe from what I can see it's a 4" pipe which makes any possible padding or bracing in wall a bit problematic, but we do have a good amount of room behind the fridge for structure. We have some "alignment" framing to bring the fridge flush with the counter-top back there already and I wouldn't mind pulling the fridge out from the wall a little more so the french doors opened a full 90 degrees.) Or maybe would it be better to replace the cracked drywall with cement backer board to "take the hit" so to speak?
