When staying at a friend’s house while they’re out of town, you always aim to leave their place as you found it. No broken cups, no big stains and most importantly, no serious damage.
But one couple in Wisconsin were stunned when a huge pole burst through the ceiling while staying at their friend’s home while they were away.
The steel drain, waste and vent (DWV) pipe came “crashing” through the rafters suddenly one evening, leaving the occupants of the house very shocked.
After the ordeal, the man shared the situation on Reddit under the handle u/culasthewiz where hundreds of commenters were amazed by the unusual occurence.
“It is an old abandoned DWV pipe,” culasthewiz—who wished to remain anonymous—told Newsweek. “Before the current owner purchased the house, someone must have capped this off but didn’t do anything to secure the pipe.”
u/culasthewiz/ Reddit
A DWV pipe is used in plumbing systems for draining wastewater, disposing of waste and ventilating a path for sewer gases and odors.
While they are a crucial part of any plumbing system to ensure efficient removal of waste and ventilation, they can become unused and unnecessary in homes.
One reason that a DWV pipe may become unused is due to renovations where the layout of plumbing changes, or because it was installed as a backup or alternative that was never used.
Abandoning or sealing off a section of plumbing is common during home construction and renovations, but when a pipe is no longer needed it is essential to address it properly.
Most commonly, pipes are capped or plugged to prevent any gas escaping into the living space. Others may decide to remove the section of pipe entirely and seal the opening.
“I believe normally it’d be strapped to the rafters or removed but it appears the abandoned pipe was only held in from caulking around the rubber boot on the roof you can see in the above imgur album,” said culasthewiz.
“It’s been very hot in Wisconsin for the past few days and I think the caulking finally gave way, allowing the pipe to free fall through a chase in the first floor down into the basement.”
u/culasthewiz/ Reddit
Thankfully nobody was in the house at the time and no one was injured by the falling pipe. But when the couple arrived home they were shocked and documented the unusual occurrence in pictures.
On Reddit, people were equally stunned by the pole and shared their reactions in a series of comments after pictures were shared on the site’s r/WTF subreddit.
“Next a team of firemen come sliding down,” joked one commenter, while another said: “Looks like you’ve got an infestation of attic strippers.”
“Are you lucky because it didn’t hit you or unlucky because there’s a pole through your roof?” asked another commenter.
“They’re good friends so my wife and I used a sawzall to cut the pipe, feed more pipe down, and cut it again until the full thing was removed,” he said. “We also added flashing to the roof where the hole was.”