05 March 2008

When It Rains...

Okay, it didn't rain here. But it still poured. On Saturday, I watched the kids ALL DAY LONG while Abe and Tim finished up some of the plumbing for the addition. They pressure-tested it and everything, so things were looking peachy. We went to church on Sunday morning confident that we would return to a house that looked pretty much as we had left it. How naive of us.

When we returned home, I opened the door and, with the keen eye of an expert, deduced that something was amiss. Of course, the large puddle in the new bathroom and the three inches of water in the basement were clues. "Abe, there's something leaking!" I hollered. It turns out that the cap on one of the pipes wasn't soldered on. It had held for something like twelve hours before it decided to blow, but then it apparently gave up the fight. Abe quickly shut off the valve, but the damage was done. We had a swimming pool in our basement.

We have a sump pump for just such an emergency, so we hoped that it would quickly drain the basement once the water supply was turned off. I suggested that we clean up the construction detritus all over the floor, lest it be swept down the drain and clog something. We did the best we could, working feverishly while the kids were down for a (yeah, right) nap. Even so, something clogged the pipe, and clogged it in a location that could not be reached by exterior means. So, in the ensuing days, between much sweeping and shop-vac sucking up of the water and placement of fans for drying, Abe had to replace the pipes in that general area. Which wouldn't have been so bad, if they hadn't been the pipes that carry drain water from the washing machine and kitchen sink to the sewer. So, until late yesterday afternoon, I was unable to do any dishes or cook anything that might have necessitated the draining of water, and unable to do any laundry, even the stuff that had gotten soaked in the flood. I am now caught up on all of the dishes, but still working my way through the laundry. And I've got a transcript I need to finish up today, and choir practice tonight! And a meeting tomorrow morning!

And then, assuming we don't have another water-related catastrophe, I will attempt to nap.

Until Saturday.

4 comments:

NLY said...

Ugh, Cori, that sounds awful! I thought we had it rough when our garage flooded this week. Then it froze over and we just literally chizzled it out. I hope there was no serious damage in your basement.

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry to hear about this casualty of construction. Better you found it now than after you had carpeted the basement addition, or heaven forbid, while you were doing laundry and/or dishes. Congratulations on your quick recovery (3 days is pretty good for something of that magnatude!). Sorry it meant extra time and expense for the addition. It's never easy, is it? I am proud of you!

Anonymous said...

magnitude. Yeah, I can spell

Blaza said...

Oh Cori...that just stinks...plain and simple! I am sorry for all of the frustration but happy it is resolved. I am eager for you to get that nap (though certainly not as eager as you, my friend).