Wayne Kukucka got a rude awakening when his family returned to West Hartford after a holiday trip in New Orleans.
"We got in at around 3:30 in the morning, walked in the door and saw an entire wall of ice right over there in the corner," Kukucka said.
A frozen pipe leaking into the lower levels created an ice rink in the living room. The issue, Kukucka believes, started with an upstairs toilet.
"I was crossing my fingers that nothing bad happened to the house while we were gone and lady luck wasn’t with me this time," Kukucka said.
Just back from their vacation, Kukucka decided to send his wife and young daughter to a hotel nearby while he deals with the repair crews.
"They are telling me they are going to have to take out the entire ceiling, replace the entire floor of the bathroom," he said.
On Tuesday, his home was already drying out but repairing the split pipes was the priority. It sounds simple enough, but in this cold weather finding a free plumber is not as easy as it sounds.
Local
Wayne Peras works for Joe the Plumber in South Windsor. Amid several other customers on Tuesday, he found time to get the water running for the Kukucka's once again.
To avoid similar problems happening to other residents, Peras recommends leaving as many internal doors in your home open as possible. That includes bedroom doors, closets and cabinets to keep the warm air circulation.
"Turn your hot and cold on very little bit, just have a little drip," Peras said.
"That pipe will constantly be moving and hopefully, you won’t have a freeze up."
The Kukuckas are still gathering damage cost estimates.
