Indoor Flooding

On Tuesday September 18^th a little $11 piece of rubber caused some extra work and grief in my life that I really didn’t need.  We are still dealing with the aftermath!

Broken piece on the bottom of our washer

Our washer and dryer are in our master bathroom upstairs.  They sit just outside of our shower.  After getting out of the shower on Tuesday morning I started the second load of laundry for the day.  I felt so on top of things!  Vince was the only kid awake and the two of us went downstairs to have breakfast.  As I walked under the doorway from the living room to the kitchen (about where the upstairs bathroom upstairs) I had water dripping on me.  So I laid a towel on the ground downstairs and quickly went to check the upstairs bathrooms to see where the water was coming from.  I assumed that maybe the boys left water on in their bathroom.

There was water running under the washer and down onto the floor (our washer and dryer sit on a platform that is about 18” tall) and down behind the hampers.  The hampers were full of laundry and the clothes soaked up a lot of water.  I turned off the washer and started cleaning up the mess.  At this point Joel was awake and he was happily watching a movie while Vince helped me clean up the water.   

Vincent showing off the hole in the ceiling

I would yell for towels and Vince would go grab them for me.  We used about half the towels in our house.  I was pretty sure we had most of the water soaked up.  I climbed up on the washer and turned off the hookups for the washer and dryer, but there was dust there so I didn’t think that was the problem.

When all this happened I tried to call Brad to tell him what was going on and he couldn’t talk and said he would call later (which means in a couple hours).  I never had a chance to tell him what was going on.  I didn't worry very much because I had things under control, he was two hours away and clearly really busy.  Then I posted something about it on facebook and it sent Brad an alert and he suddenly called me.   

Brad and Vincent trying to diagnose the problem

I was very proud of myself and told Brad about the problem and how I had it all cleaned up and a fan running upstairs to help dry things up.  Brad said “I hope it doesn’t come down thru the ceiling.”  I told him it would be fine don’t worry.  I even said "I am looking at the ceiling right now and it looks fine."

The kids and I went about our normal morning routine.  About 10am Cecilia went down for a nap and the rest of us went upstairs to get the boys dressed so we could go outside.  That is when I heard a “whoosh!”  My first thought was that the dishwasher I just started must have broke and was spitting water all over the kitchen (Because that of course was the most likely thing.  I don’t know what I was thinking).  As I ran downstairs and into the living room I realized that the dishwasher wasn’t the problem.  The hole in my ceiling and water all over the living room and into the kitchen and dining room was the issue.  Brad was right!  For a couple seconds I was in shock.  

Cecilia "helping" by attacking Daddy's feet

Where did I start?! The rug was soaked, toys were wet, the couch was wet, the water was slowly going towards my laptop and I was pretty sure I didn’t have enough towels to clean up this mess!  Vince was right behind me and couldn’t believe what happened!  I told him to run and start getting me towels.  I used a blanket or two off the couch and Cecilia’s blanket to start on the clean up.  Then I joined Vince in retrieving towels.  The last towel Vince could find (or reach) was a bath mat!  When all was said and done we literally had 3 dry towels left in our house.

While I was cleaning up Vince kept saying “We have to tell Daddy!”  I finally told Vince to call Daddy and tell him all about it.  The side of the conversation I heard went like this “Daddy there is a flood in our house.  It came through the ceiling!  There is water everywhere!  You have to see this!  No Daddy!  You HAVE to come home and see this!”  By the time I got on the phone I couldn’t stop laughing.  What else was I going to do.  I couldn’t change anything.  Crying wasn’t going to help.  Of course this happened to me the day after Brad left to go down south, while I had several loads of laundry to wash.

Making cookies while we wait for laundry at Grandma's

 

When Brad was home a couple weekends ago he was able to find out that there was a piece of rubber under the washer that had a hole in it.  An $11 part!  Apparently these washers are known for having a problem with this part.  I had Brad order several new ones, so we can just preemptively replace the part every 2 years.  I am not having this problem again!  We had to tear out 1/3 of our living room ceiling and ½ of one wall.  Then last weekend Brad was able to replace the part.  It is so nice to have a functioning washing machine.  For the last 2 weeks I have been trying to conserve laundry as much as possible.  I have been doing laundry at my inlaws' and my friend’s house.  It has been a bit inconvenient but without them I would have spent a lot of time in a laundry mat with 3 children which would have been awful.

Joel and Vincent making cookies with Grandma Diane while we wait for laundry

I have yet to get angry about any of this, but the dust from repairing the drywall will probably be enough to drive me crazy.  Something to look forward to.

The new exposed look in our living room