Posted on 12/14/2017 11:37:08 PM PST by nickcarraway
A plumber died Thursday after he was trapped beneath a home where he was working in Flower Mound.
Enco Plumbing identified the worker as Christopher Corbet in a statement Thursday evening.
Corbet had tunneled under a home in the 6300 block of Eagle Creek Drive to try to fix a leak. Neighbors say the soil collapsed, trapping him.
Another plumber ran for help, but neighbors say there was nothing they could do.
"It was helpless to go in after to get him," said neighbor Matt Lane.
The couple who owns the home was inside at the time. Lane said they are in shock.
Rescue crews worked for an hour to reach Corbet but say he was deceased when they found him.
Enco president and owner Eric Neal said in a statement that Corbet, "was a very good employee and a leader. He spoke a lot of his children and his wife. He always looked forward to completing his tasks and getting home to see them."
Neal's entire statement, in its entirety, reads:
"Today Enco plumbing and its men and women, lost an employee, much more than an employee he was a good family man, a good co-worker and like a son to me. He was an upbeat young man that was very much into his work, very professional and had been practicing plumbing and was licensed by the state of Texas as a Journeyman plumber. His skill set in plumbing was very high and he was very knowledgeable. He was a very good employee and a leader. He spoke a lot of his children and his wife. He always looked forward to completing his tasks and getting home to see them. We have lost so much today I would not know where to start. Not only is this the saddest day of Enco plumbing but it’s the saddest day of my life. The world has lost a very good human being. May all the prayers help with this loss."
Let me guess...they did not want to saw or jackhammer because of post-tension cable in the slab? Post tension cable is very common in Texas.
How awful!
May God comfort his loved ones.
That sounds like quite a large tunnel or hole if it collapsed on him completely. Is it SOP for plumbers to do excavation work too?
Could have been a old peer and beam foundation. I worked under some of them in Arkansas that were built so close to the ground you would have to dig a tunnel to get where you were going.
I can tell you, it is no fun!
I highly doubt it was pier and beam in Flowermound, Tx. but the soil is that crappy expansive clay muck that causes problems with home foundations will too little or too much moisture content. This can also create plumbing leaks.
Flower Mound? Most probably post tensioner and no cut.
What a shame.
Tunneling for under slab leaks is common in the newer areas of DFW. The leaks are also common. Inadequate construction codes coupled with poor workmanship mean that the slab built houses are probably going to fall into one of two categories - those that have had foundation work or those that will need foundation work (or sometimes, both categories).
Of course, the same thing that happens to the sewer and water pipes sometimes also happens to the gas lines, leading to spectacular and usually fatal explosions.
You don’t “tunnel” or even squeeze in to a “crawl space”. You tear open the floor from above. Don’t like that? Get someone else. I’m still alive.
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