House flooded by leaking washer

Q. Last week, I started a load of laundry and walked out of the room, not realizing there was a leak inside my washing machine. Instead of filling the wash tub, water ran onto the floor for the next hour, into the hallway and living room, and through the downstairs ceiling. We now have a devastated mess, not to mention the mold. Meanwhile, we are living in a motel until our home is restored. The general contractor who is doing the work advised us to install an overflow pan under our washer to prevent this from happening ever again.

That seems like a sensible idea, and we're wondering why a pan wasn't installed when our house was built and why our home inspector didn't suggest a pan when we bought the property. Doesn't the building code require an overflow pan for an interior laundry?

A. If practicality and common sense were the prevailing standards for home construction, overflow pans would be installed in all interior laundries. The standard, as most people know, is the building code. Unfortunately, the code provides no requirement for pans under washing machines. To understand this oversight, we must review the declared intent of the code.

The International Building Code (IBC) specifically defines itself as "a model code that provides minimum standards," and this has been the case with other codes that preceded the creation of the IBC. The key word here is "minimum." The building code is commonly presumed to be a set of high standards. As applied to structural and safety-related issues, the standards are often high. However, in many other aspects of construction, the code tends to be minimal and often overlooks significant issues entirely.

In many respects, building a home to code is not a measure of high quality. A better determination of high quality might be the degree to which a home exceeds the building code.

The omission of a laundry overflow pan is a perfect case in point. Fortunately, there are some homebuilders who install laundry pans, even though they are not required, but most builders do not. Each time an interior laundry is constructed without a pan, the builder is essentially making three unstated assumptions:

• There is no possibility that a washing machine will ever leak.

• If a washing machine were ever to leak, it is highly unlikely that significant water damage would occur.

• Even if significant water damage were to result from a leaking washer, the cost of a drain pan is too high to warrant a home against needless flood damage.

To most people and to some builders, these assumptions are at odds with common sense and basic economics. A simple metal or plastic pan with a drainpipe to the outside of the building offers low cost protection against major interior damage and loss. Those builders who take this small step beyond the confines of minimum code compliance are to be commended. Municipal building officials and the authors of the building code would better serve the public interest by correcting this oversight in basic home construction standards.

• To write to Barry Stone, visit him on the web at www.housedetective.com, or write AMG, 1776 Jami Lee Court, Suite 218, San Luis Obispo, CA 94301.

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