Sorry about the lousy timing on your ice maker! Hope it didn't set back your TG plans too much. Having gone through a 7-week, $20,000 water damage clean-up and repair this summer, my first thought is making sure there's no chance of mold growing inside walls and the crawlspace.

Sorry to hear about your leak. I would definitely try to dry out the area the best that you can. Use a dehumidifier, if you have one or can rent one, and use some fans. I'd double check all of the water connections for the icemaker, as well as the water line itself. If the icemaker is turned off, I wouldn't think that you would get a water leak.

While not on turkey day, our fun the day before Thanksgiving was having to replace our hot water heater. Fortunately, DW noticed the water on the floor around the water heater, before it had spread far. We spent most of the day trying to get a new one in. We bought one from Lowes, got it home, unboxed it, only to find that it was dented. So, we took it back and got another one. Thank heavens that it didn't happen on Thanksgiving day. We wouldn't have had hot water until today.

When DW was at Lowes, returning the first water heater, there was a lady there trying desperately to find a new range, as hers had died. What is it about the holidays that appliances like to act up around?

This post was edited by gpraceman on Fri, Nov 29, 13 at 13:19

Just another anecdote, to help you feel better (although you sound like you're taking it in stride, and I too hooe it doesn't put a crimp in your TG plans) -- the compressor on our refrigerator went out ON Thanksgiving Day sometime between 1978 and 1985 (I know what house it was!). Not only that, the repairman came out and fixed it that day - he "didn't want our Thanksgiving to be reuined".

And then our furnace went out (different house) ON Christmas Day. No chance of getting that repaired immediately - we sat by the fire all day long!

My dad was just relating a time that one of their water lines BLEW in the wall on Christmas eve (it was old and...maybe an old iron connector? I forget). He said it was just lucky he and my mom hadn't gotten too far into the Xmas eve wine so they heard it! He got to the hardware store to find repair material about 10 minutes before it closed, otherwise it would have been a waterless Christmas!

I've heard so many stories like this. I even know someone who had to redo floor and a whole wall of cabinets. So when it came time to remodel my kitchen I bought a fridge with no water dispenser on the door that had an ice maker in the freezer and told the plumber not to connect the line. I have ice cube trays. Its plumbed under the sink in case I ever want it, but I never will. Too many horror stories.

Full disclaimer, I prefer most of my drinks not to be very cold.

Thanks for the posts. No it didn't effect our plans at all.

We are not concerned with mold but will keep an eye open for it. The floor under the fridge is hardwood but is very slanted at the rear. It appears that almost all of it drained into the crawlspace except the the water that made its way into the bathroom. The crawlspace is open to the basement which regularly has fresh air even in the winter. I know in some climates mold seems to grow quickly. Here we rarely see it. Its very dry here right now.

Appears it all happened quickly. So the water wasn't there for more than 30 minutes.

We don't have water in the fridge just ice. We use a lot of ice so I don't know why it got turned off. Its just a lever inside the freezer to turn it on and off. That doesn't turn the water off. If we ever go on vacation we will have to find another way to turn it off. Maybe just turn the water to the whole house off.

I don't know why but things do seem to go wrong at the worst times.

Yep, turn the house water off when you'll be gone. Ours was a clothes washer level switch that failed and it only ran 20 minutes, but it's on the second floor. We heard so many horror stories from the restoration company and insurance adjuster. Someone flushed a toilet on the way out the door to go on vacation and it clogged and flooded the entire first floor.

I don't think the amount of natural air matters in drying it out. Time is of the essence. From what we were told, if drywall, flooring, etc. isn't dry within 48 hours, it's classified as gray water and everything wet or damp needs to be pulled. It took four days of heavy duty fans and dehumidifiers running 24 hours to dry our plywood flooring and the wall and ceiling studs. Sheetrock was all pulled out. Even though it may not look damp, the moisture monitors will register dampness. I would have someone check. Mold is such a health hazard.

@magsnj - Anytime you have a water source, you have the potential for a flood. It's not like you can do without water in a kitchen. We've had hookup lines rupture, a valve stem shoot out of the valve body, and dishwasher leaks. Unfortunately, that's the risk we take with plumbing. Anyways, I will not give up my ice maker, as I like cold drinks too much.

My TG tale of woe -- really not too bad-- discovered that my new oven's thermostat seems to be off, so the oven was slow. Took a long time to roast those veggies and finish the turkey! It had just been installed on Monday so I really hadn't used anything except the burners.

My crew advised me to coat the cabinet sides, flooring and wall around the dishwasher with something to give some water resistance in case of a leak. I used that new product called neverwet, but considered the spray vinyl and/or spray rubberized coatings. I decided to run a water line to the frig at the last minute since it has an icemaker; maybe I should pull it out to give the same treatment to the floor and lower wall there. Right now the line is turned off. I rarely use ice.