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One morning a week or so ago, I went out to pick up the paper and I noticed that the water hose on the front of the house was on. The hose had a nozzle on the end, which was closed, so I wasn’t losing water that way, but it was definitely “spewing” around where the hose was attached to the faucet. I knew my yard crew, which comes on Monday, used the hose, and as this was Saturday, I had no doubt been leaking water for at least a week. I was not happy. I don’t mind the guys using the hose, but they needed to turn off the water. To solve the problem, we removed the nozzle which would remind them to turn off the water when they were finished.
Then I got my water bill. It was $200 more than it had been the previous two months. It seemed inconceivable that the leaking water hose had used up that much water — even if it had been on all month. I fumed as I paid the bill. I talked to my husband about it. We did the calculations. That represented about 39,000 gallons of water. We had a leak.
That evening as I was walking across the living room, I noticed the floor was uneven. The floor was buckling. We found more damage in the dining room, the hallway, the front bedroom, and the kitchen. The next day we called the plumber. Couldn’t come on that day, Friday. It’s the Labor Day weekend. Got them scheduled for Tuesday after Labor Day.
The plumber found the leak but couldn’t get everything done on Tuesday. Husband had to leave town for business Wednesday morning. I took off work and met the plumber. More than $1,000 later, the leak is fixed.
The floors and subfloors in the front of the house are warped due to the water. Large portions, if not all, will need to be ripped out and replaced. This means we have to move out all the furniture, store it, fix the floors, then move everything back in. And I’m scheduled for shoulder surgery in three weeks, so guess how much help I’m going to be with all of this?
We’re also concerned about mold. We’re on a pier-and-beam foundation, so our subfloors sit on piers above the ground. There was a small lake under our house, so all the ground as well as the foundations and subfloors were wet, ranging from standing water to damp. The possibility of mold is pretty significant.
Sigh.
Husband won’t be home until the weekend, and since he’s an architect and knows about these things, I want him to meet with the insurance adjuster, so that won’t happen until next week sometime.
What a mess.
I hope that no leaks spring in your day. Thanks for checking in.
I’m sorry Carla. Those type of things can tip us over the edge. May you hold onto joy and humor in spite of the mess!
OK – that just sucks.
My post Isaac perspective makes me want to say “at least you have power” (6 days before Entergy got it together) but that might jinx you.
Perhaps the aggravation will erase those 5 lbs and you can go shopping?
Hang in there
Lisa: Thanks for the support (and the laugh!). I was talking to someone about my situation and said exactly the same thing you did. I’m a lot luckier than a lot of people right now. :-)
Wow. Just Wow. Oh, Carla, what a disaster! I appreciate that you want to get the floors redone as soon as possible, but maybe you can wait until you’ve recovered for a week or two from surgery before ripping everything up? It makes me cringe thinking you’d have to deal with that while recovering from invasive surgery.
I wonder if there’s a way to run fans beneath the house to help dry things out and hinder the mold from developing?
I’m so sorry. Sending calm and serenity your way. And a warm hug, too.
Oh Carla – how AWFUL! You do have my sympathy!
How terrible Carla! So sorry but glad the mystery is finally solved. And of course, RA with the upcoming surgery makes for poor timing. Hope you get some relief soon.
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