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SALT LAKE CITY — What if someone or something took cold water and poured it over all that optimism for the New Year? It was the plight of a couple condo owners and a real estate business Thursday, after a frozen pipe burst and left water damage on three floors of a building in Sugar House.
Salt Lake City Fire Department spokesman Jasen Asay said the problem was discovered around 2:30 p.m. on the third floor of the building, located at 1988 South and 1100 East.
Asay said water from the broken pipe damaged the apartment on the third floor, then the apartment directly below it on the second floor, then Eightline Real Estate on the ground level.
When Eightline owner Kelly Hannah arrived, firefighters were working quickly to sop up the water, which was a couple inches deep in his office.
“[The water] was pouring out in a few different spots – over the desk, going on the computers back in the server room,” Hannah said.
Hannah said the damage was significant enough to shut down his office for the time being, though he would continue to work away from it. He said he believed preliminarily the restoration work might take a month or two.
On the second floor, condo owner Lori Hewlett said her insurance company was putting her up in a hotel.
Her ceiling bulged in spots after the water mishap, seemingly around the pipes that led to water sprinklers. Her floor was soaked. She was putting her valuables into bags Thursday evening.
“It could be worse,” Hewlett said. “I’m just grateful it’s not worse.”
Hewlett wasn’t home at the time of the pipe break, and she thanked firefighters for trying to keep as many of her possessions away from the water as possible.
She also predicted significant repairs.
“I think most of the sheet rock is going to have to come down,” Hewlett said. “I don’t know what the floors are going to be like.”
Hannah, though emotional over the damage to his office, also spoke optimistically about the unexpected event.
“I think it’s a good reminder of what’s important and that really it’s a bummer, but all this stuff can be replaced,” Hannah said. “Nice, nice reflection, I think, kicking off 2015 to say, ‘Hey, keep your priorities straight.’”
