Chicago (WLS) — A burst water main caused water to flow out the front door of a North Side restaurant business on Chicago’s North Side Thursday — and they’re not the only ones dealing with broken pipes during this winter’s freeze and thaw.
Crews are working frantically to complete all the repairs and get back to business as usual at the shopping center near Peterson and Western near Arcadia Terrace.
It briefly closed several businesses, including the Balkan Taste restaurant, when the pipe burst over the busy holiday weekend.
“We have about 50 gallons on the floor,” says Balkan Taste’s Bojan Bojanovic. “I had to put up a sign, ‘Closed due to frozen pipes.'”
For the last week or so, crews at Restrepo Construction have been busy fixing broken water pipes. The problem here is that the heat dissipates and the water in the pipes freezes, causing the pipes to burst.
“Here the heater failed and the pipes on both sides of the unit were frozen,” Miguel Restrepo said.
The Whiskey Business, a Wicker Park pub, is now closed for the foreseeable future as they clean up and repair damage from a burst water main. From antique record stores to downtown’s main post office, it’s just the latest of many businesses affected by the pipeline freeze.
In Elgin, Butera Motors has only been open for a few months, but they’re now cleaning up water from a burst pipe on the bathroom wall.
“The cold just got to the pipes. The insulation wasn’t the best,” said Alex Schatsick of Butera Motors. “We grabbed some squeegee scrapers and pushed it out the door. I brought a fan and tried to dry it out as much as possible.”
With above-average temperatures forecast for the next five days or so, experts say the pipe freezing issue should be over…at least for now.
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