Belly insulation wet & now frozen plz help

[Haggs]

Hello all,

To make a long story short, my sewer froze and backed up and overflowed the toilet and ran down into the insulation. I cut the belly as soon as it happened to try to drain some liquid out however with it being -45 degrees celsius at the time alot of it froze. Now on the whole end of my mobile (1/4 of the length) the belly is hanging down considerably and all the liquid is frozen.

Here is my problem, it is still in the -20 to -30 degree celsius range and it is far to cold for the tuck tape to stick on the belly (I tried cutting open a section of the belly and the tape wouldn't stick to seal it back up) so I cannot replace the insulation. I think probably about the bottom 2 inches of the insulation is frozen over the whole area.

Is there anything I can do before the spring? Or do I just leave it as is (a gigantic frozen mess).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Andrwe

[Greg]

Hi & welcome, you have a mess on your hands, but I am sure we can come up with a few ideas.
The first thing that comes to my mind is to try proping it up. Take a sheet of thin plywood and prop the whole sheet up against the underbelly with blocks the plywood will support the insulation enough to get you through to warmer weather. Greg

[Haggs]

Thanks Greg for the help, that is a great idea until the weather turns in about 6 weeks.

[Yanita]

Hi,

Well that is one option, not one I would do, but I am a woman and would have issues with leaving sewage trapped under my floors, froze or otherwise.

I would think that removing it froze could be a benefit, less to spill around and of course the smell.

Personally if it was my home it would come out, all damaged areas, and then replace the insulation, I would worry about the underbelly material once it warmed up. Since the insulation got wet it is virtually useless at this time.

JMO,

Yanita

[JD]

I like Yanita's idea of pulling the mess out while frozen. I would think it would be easier to remove and better than letting the thawing mess permeate the house. You could probably wait till it warms up to 28 degree highs, but I sure that is still pretty cold to be down there working. But if you take 2-3 of those $20 halogen lights down there with you, that could warm up your area. If you are still up to it, you could replace the insulation when it is cold like that, but I can't think of an adhesive for the underbelly material that would work in that kind of cold. There might be, I just don't know of one.

JD

[Greg]

Good point about working with frozen "stuff". That is why I said others would have more ideas. Greg

[Dirty White Boy]

We deal with alot of things at my job, and sewage is one of them. It HAS to come out. Better while it is frozen. Warm up some bleach (to stop it from freezing) and apply it EVERYWHERE the septic has touched. If you have a way to get sporicide or microbahn, even better...

[Haggs]

| agree that it needs to come out, but I need to be able to seal the belly up again somehow. It is such a large area that I will need to cut several large holes to get it all out and back in. If i can't seal the belly bcak up the insultation will proabably just fall out won't it?

Thanks for all the help to guys.

[Yanita]

Hi,

If you use faced insulation then there are paper edges you can staple to the joist. The under belly material can be replaced in the spring when it is warm enough to be able to use adhesives. The under material is impregnated with a chemical that helps prevent bug infestation, rotting of the material and helping keep the insulation in place. but as I said this can be replaced in the spring.

Yanita

[Dean2]

Hey Haggs,,I think Yanita and Dirty White Boy got a damn good plan for Ya there! It's the kinda thing I might say if I was;nt drinkin so much beer today!

The paper faced insulation is treated(paper)so it also serves as a bit of a vapor barrier,,now if Greg is correct and it needs to breathe then maybe peel the paper off later when the "breathable" belly material goes on,,it will peel away from the fiberglass wich should also be friction-fit(15" wide in 14 1/2" joist cavities) and stay in place long enuff till covered.. Just a thought.

Dean

[Haggs]

Wow great ideas guys, thanks for the help. I will be getting some face insulation and tackling the job next weekend.

Great forum.

[Yanita]

HI,

Your welcome and please post back to this thread and let us know how it goes. Make sure to spray any areas with a bleach solution. It will help to kill the bacteria from the sewage.

Also do not forget eye protection well your under there.

Yanita

[Dean2]

The white formedahyde-free stuff is much better to work with than either yellow or pink,,less itchy..You need the right thickness as well as width to fit the joists of course but here's a link that show the *general* stuff..

http://menards.inserts2online.com/custo ... emailid=7A

It's a long link but hopefully comes thru ok..

Dean

[YKX]

For the belly bag, you can use typar wrap (house wrap) Tuck (red) tape, VERY sticky. We live in the -40s cel. and had to do the same thing last year. TAKE IT ALL OFF and out the door, better frozen than wet, trust us, you wont get wet. Take the day, get a friend, box of brew and get er done! This way once it is done, you can forget dabout it!

YKX