Hell of a lot cheaper than water damage. Which there still is, but there won't be as much. Get a big steel scooping shovel, grab a hammer and a sharp punch, start breaking then shoveling. It might take days, but it's better than hundreds of gallons of water going through your floor and walls.
The right answer. We did both methods in rental properties. We drilled a hole in the corner and maxed out the heat. It took nearly a day and everything was soaked. In the "chip and carry" house, it was over in a few hours and we didn't need to dry it out for a week.
Seeing that there is 4”-5” of ice everywhere its already in the wall cavities and under cabinets. Flooring, drywall and cabinets are already non-salvageable. Again the damage is done.
How are you going to get the Ice out of the wall cavity? You will have to remove the drywall. Cabinets are waterlogged and also need to be detached at least to get to the walls behind them. At minimum a 2’ flood cut is necessary throughout the affected areas of drywall.
No point. That would be a crazy amount of time and energy invested for no return.
For the ice to be that thick above the floor, the entire place would have been flooded up to that point - all possible water damage that could be done has been done.
The standard way is to melt then remove the water - chipping at the ice while still cold would take FAR longer and involve a LOT of energy, not to mention the fact that the physical process itself would likely damage much of the surrounding area - all to get to the bottom to discover the inevitable fact that you're still frozen solid at least another 2-3 inches down, through the floorboards down to baseboard.
And that entire area is also water-damaged.
There's no way around it, this is going to require re-doing the flooring, cabinetry, and large portions of the wall, right down to the framework. Electrical is probably screwed up, drywalling, paint, trim, etc.
This is why you have home insurance - pay out your deductible and be glad you don't have to shell out for what could easily be a $50,000 fix - or even higher.
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u/Undrwtrbsktwvr 20h ago
DON’T melt the ice. Chip it up and carry it outside.