Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Water!

I was doing Hannah's hair for school and suddenly it sounded like a shower or something got turned on full blast. I got up and ran around the bathrooms, kitchen, and outside faucets trying to determine what was on. Nothing was. Not good.

I came back in and listened more carefully and followed the sound. To the basement. Uh oh.

The sight that met me was kind of scary. There was water blowing out of the cubby where the water heater and furnace live. Luckily, the basement is not finished. An old piece of carpet on the floor, mostly just concrete and wood, and a little bit of drywall. Unluckily, the drywall was right where the water was blowing.

It took a second to determine the source of the water. I had to run and shut off the main valve first. (Even though it sounds like a long time, it was only seconds from when I went in the basement until I turned the water off.) I could follow the slower stream of water to the source now. The problem was the line between the cooler and the water heater had come off. Since it was such a small opening that the water was blowing out with strong enough force to hit the drywall and bounce back out. There is even a hole that the water bored almost all the way though the drywall. (We'll have to patch that...)

Darwin came home for a few minutes and determined the water was turned on too high, so he turned down the force of the water and reattached the hose again. I got out the steam cleaner and sucked up quite a lot of water. Luckily, the only "stuff" from the basement hit by the water was junk, so it was easy to toss. It also mostly went down the drain, since the drain is right there too. So I think it should clean up well. In terms of a "basement flood", it was really mild.

Ok, so...enough excitement for one day, eh? And it isn't even noon.

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