One photo, every hour, for 10 hours
Our morning started off very typical. The family all awake but only Phil was showered and ready for the day. He was leaving early to go study before his shift in the emergency room that evening.
And then it all went downhill from there. The kids and I were meeting friends later in the morning and I was getting ready for the day. I was in my bathroom putting on make-up with the kids running in and out as they do. I heard a loud bump and then the sound of increasing water pressure. I had started a load of laundry earlier and didn't really give this new sound much thought, other than that the washer must be rinsing and one of the kids used the potty at the same time, thus the increase in water pressure. I went about my business and a few minutes later left my room in the back of the house.
I rounded the corner into the hallway and all hell broke loose. There was over an inch of water making it's way down the hall. I ran down the hall and into the laundry room where I was confronted with heavy spray of water pumping out of the back of the washer. It was steadily making it's into both kids' bedrooms, into the hall closets, the hall bathroom and beyond. I freaked out, rushed to the washer and found that I couldn't do anything there to stop it. I screamed aloud in frustration all the while I had three kids on my heels peppering me with questions.
I ran out to the front yard to turn off the water main. Um, yeah. I wasn't quite sure where the water main to the house was. I ran to the end of the driveway and lifted up the city grate where the water meter is kept and found nothing. I yelled out in frustration/near tears again and sprinted over to Kendra's house, my neighbor. Luckily she was home and I pounded on her door. She answered, I breathlessly asked where the water main was and she enlightened me. Bless her heart! She also followed me home and went into super girl mode and helped me. I turned off the water. (Right by the front door, dummy!)
With the water finally turned off I was able to survey the damage.
This occurred on Monday, June 10th. The night before Phil and I had moved the washer to capture a gross cockroach that had snuck in. For the past year I have had a 2x4 board set atop the washer and dryer. It was my intention to paint and mount it with brackets above the washer and dryer to create more storage. I had gotten as far as buying the supplies... Ahem.
So, this board has been sitting on top just fine, holding soap and whatnot. Well when we moved the washer we didn't put it back in the same position where it was stable. The next morning when I started a load of laundry I thought nothing of our move the night before. When the washer went into the spin cycle the momentum and movement caused the board to fall back and shear off the water inlet valve, where the hose connects to the washer. Thus the great flood occurred. And it was all our fault. (Or my fault if you ask Phil).
The thing is, I was getting ready to leave the house for several hours. What if I had just started the washer as I was walking out the door? What if the kids weren't interrupting me constantly as I readied for the day and we were able to leave a few minutes earlier? At the rate that water was pumping out of the hose then we surely would have been financially ruined. I would have returned to an entire house full of standing water. The water would have reached our computer and back up drives that house the pictorial lives of our children.
Standing water in both kids' bedrooms, steadily creeping further into their rooms.
Water poured out of the laundry room door and crept along the length of the outer wall of the house.
Kendra and I grabbed every towel in the house and mopped up the water best we could. I called several neighbors and ward members to locate a shop vac. While I picked that up Kendra continued to mop up the mess. And watch my kids. She is amazing.
I called Phil to tell him the grim news. At this point we had no idea how bad the water damage was and when I told him what had happened the poor man pretty much started hyperventilating on the phone. I could hear his voice break and the stress and worry. He hurried home and sprang into action. As he walked throughout the back of the house we quietly talked and expressed our worst fears that this was going to break us financially. I quickly called the home owner's insurance company and tried to ascertain what type of coverage we actually had. When I read our policy all I could find was 3 pages of what they do NOT cover with water damage. It was all Greek to me!
I called 3 or 4 times and left a message for an agent to call me back. They did and I was relieved to hear that they did cover the damage after our $1000 deductible. The agent told me to survey the damage, save receipts and see if the actual damage was more than our deductible. We were hopeful that we were only going to need to replace the carpet, that we had caught the water before it was able to soak into the walls.
Phil got right to work ripping the soaked carpet and pad out of both bedrooms.
Our beloved Saint Kendra corralled the kids while I was on the phone with the insurance, shopped for carpet, etc. She was amazing that day. So selfless when she had work to do and a life. They love her more than me anyway. :)
Our house was a wreck, it smelled musty, the kids were displaced and Phil and I were stressed and grumpy.
I shopped for carpet and a new washer part.
I fund an ad on Craigslist for cheap carpet. We wanted something affordable but didn't want crap that wouldn't stand up to the kids and our potential living here for another 5 years if we land residency here. I hit the jackpot because the guy I called was an actual flooring company, he was selling remnants. I headed down to the store and looked at the inventory. Granted the selection was small but I was able to score a fabulous piece of carpet for $1/sq. foot! He showed me this same carpet in his showroom and it was selling for over $7/sq. foot. Or yard, whatever. Either way it was really great carpet. I walked out of there with enough carpet for the 2 rooms and the highest level of pad for just over $300. We had a guy in our ward install the carpet for us and for a total $500 we were well below our insurance deductible.
Two days later, I went to work at 6:45am leaving my house still in crap mode. Phil stayed home to study aka work on the house and when I came home at 5:30 I walked into a put together home, freshly vacuumed beautiful carpet and some happy kids. They love their new "rug" and now that the carpet fumes have dissipated we are actually rather happy with the way this all turned out.
At the end of that day, when Phil and I had a moment away from the children, he expressed that he had started the day feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. He left the house incredibly stressed with school and then when I called him I only dumped more upon him. But now he said "I feel incredibly blessed."
