"I have walked the edge of the abyss. I have seen your future. And I have learned." - Cortana
It was a quiet night. The kids were in bed. A load of laundry was in the washer, and we sat on the couch to enjoy a cup of herbal tea and watch a bit of a movie.
The sounds from the laundry room shifted, and suddenly the sound of splashing came echoing from the bathroom/laundry room. "That doesn't sound right, does it?", my wife asked. I jumped up from the couch, and ran to the bathroom.
"It's the toilet! Flood!", I dove across the rising water onto a stepstool in the middle of the room, close enough to the toilet so I could reach the valve without actually stepping on the floor. Anne scrambled for towels, as many as she could get from under the sink without stepping into the murky, dark, water.I managed to turn the valve and get the water stopped. How odd. Neither of us had used the toilet in the last hour, and it had just been sitting there. However, I turned the valve the wrong way, and when I used the plunger on the toilet and flushed, I heard the running water. Not the sound I wanted to hear. The flood was about to get worse.
EEEEK!!!!!! Gallons and gallons and gallons of water started flowing from the toilet, even after getting the valve turned the right way. We had fully been invaded by "The Flood".
The carpet in the hallway was soaked through. Anne started mopping with the towels. I started pulling up carpet to get to the padding to stop the damage from getting too far. Spot heaters, fans, towels. I had to cut the carpet at the entrance to the family room to pull it up enough to get in there.
I have a plumber/septic tank guy coming on Friday. **SIGH** Not what I needed. However, we got "The Flood" stopped.
Master Chief would have been proud.
8 comments:
Ugh. I'm so sorry Brad.
Awhile back we had an *incident* where the washing machine *forgot* to stop filling, and I wasn't home at the time, of course. We had to replace the flooring in the entire lower level.
Hope things are cleaning up OK.
I snaked out the drains as best I could, and tried a "test" run with the washer late this afternoon. Shortly before I posted to the blog. Well, then we ran a small load of towels....and it backed up again....flooding the bathroom again, but THIS TIME, we were kind of prepared. I'm renting a drain augur tomorrow if I can. Otherwise, I'll wait until Friday for the Septic Tank Pump Guy to deal with it.
**SIGH**
You forgot to say that we flooded it twice last night. After using all the towels in the house, and not realizing that the washing machine was doing it, we put the towels into the washer, and then had another flood with only washcloths and hand towels to hold it at bay. The flood today was from the load of those washcloths and hand towels. I guess I'm not doing any laundry until at least Friday night.
stepping into the murky, dark, water.
this was my favorite, icky part.
you told the story with great action and enthusiasm. :-)
yuk, yuk, yuk. toilet repairs are the worst. we came home from a camping trip once to find our entire bathroom flooded, the water having seeped through the rafters to the basement. luckily it's a tiled bathroom floor, and the lip of it to the door was high enough to keep the water contained. but ick.
Evidently, it's not just the washer. Arwen took a bath upstairs and now we have raw sewage out in the living room. We can't use any drains in our house and the honey bucket should be here by noon. Eww! After I finish mopping what I can get up, I'm going to the store for paper plates and such.
Nope. Not just the washer. It's a clog between the house and the septic tank, the toilet is just the "lowest" appliance, so it gets the vote for "path of least resistance". I will validate the comment, though.....eeeew.
I'm starting the ball rolling on getting new flooring. **SIGH** Not what I wanted to do.
I should start a savings account and call it the "Brad Shantz Flood Relief Fund"....if you'd like to donate, let me know!!!!
oh, the joys of home ownership!
my heart goes out to you guys. these are major repairs you are facing. my sister had to redo an entire bathroom because a leaky water heater had rotted out their walls, unbeknowst to them. Months of dealing with it. (but now she has a really, really nice downstairs bathroom) Hope your repairs go smoothly for you! Have fun floor shopping...:-)
The kids and I spent the day yesterday sojourning at various places with toilets and babysitting. Since we homeschool our 8-year-old, I needed places where our toddler could be entertained and my daughter and I could work. First Fred Meyer, then the library, then the YMCA. Today we can use our bathrooms again!! YAY! Using the honey bucket at 2 in the morning when it's 18 degrees out is an adventure.
Post a Comment