In December of 1991 our house flooded. It was a Sunday morning and we were just getting back from Church, and it was two days before Christmas. I was 12 years old. I clearly remember pulling into the garage and seeing water coming out of the walls and flowing into the garage. You had to walk up 4 steps to get into the house because the house had a full basement. I remember the total surprise and wonder about what I was seeing. I tried to logically come up with an answer; we had a plant by the back door, maybe someone watered it too much? No that couldn’t be it. I remember like it was yesterday opening the door to the house and see the ceiling collapsed on top of the counter and water running everywhere. Our pipes had frozen during the night and then burst after we left for church. There was so much damage that we had to move out while the house was repaired.
Today, we went out to the car to leave for school. The kids piled in and I hoped in and started the car. Except it was dead.
Gratefully, Paul was actually home so we jumped into his car and took off for school.
15 minutes later, I returned home and pulled into the driveway. I hit the garage door opener and as the garage door started to open, I gasped out loud. Water was dripping off the door as it opened. Water began rolling down the drive way and I could see puddles inside the garage. I had a momentary flashback to when I was 12 years old. However, I could tell it wasn’t the same degree of water and I knew that just 15 minutes ago things had been fine.
I stopped the car at the bottom of the driveway and ran inside. I got Paul and we went to investigate. We found the source….the hot water heater. I’ve always heard people say that their hot water heater burst and I’ve imagined it actually blowing up. Well the heater was still in tack but it was making an awful sound and water was gushing out of the top of it. I don’t know if that means it burst or not but it was definitely broken.
Paul turned off the emergency shut off button and I began moving everything that was wet in the garage. We contacted a few plumbing companies and quickly learned that this was not going to be cheap. We found a company that could come out in less than an hour to fix the problem.
Next we had to deal with the van. We pushed it out of the garage and got Paul’s car to jump the battery.
Once we were able to move the van, we had to drain the water heater.
This all proved to be very exciting for Coop and Cass.
They found some sponge paint brushes and so they had a blast ‘painting the driveway’.
The plumbing company showed up and got rid of the water heater and the extra water.
4 hours after the water works began, we were all done and we are now the owners of a brand new 50 gallon water heater.
I must say it was a very interesting morning. From the car not starting to a water heater that ‘burst’, I did not suspect any of this today.
But, I am so grateful for several things today.
The car was dead but-
1. Paul was here. And not just in-town, but actually home. It would have been a lot more complicated to track someone down and jump the car. And Allie has piano before school on Mondays. She was waiting at piano to be picked up to go to school. Right off the bat-really grateful that Paul was here.
Water was coming out of the garage-
1. Paul was here. Simple enough.
2. It was a beautiful weather day. So grateful it was not cold outside. Coop and Cass could be out there playing and having fun. And my hands were a bit cold because of the water so I can only imagine if it had been cold out.
3. Grateful that I came right home after dropping the kids off at school. Often times we head to the store or some other errand or maybe even a friend’s house before coming home. We estimate that the water only ran for 30 ish minutes.
4. So grateful that it happened on a day when we were available to take care of it and notice it right away. We went out of town 2 weeks ago. That would have been really awful had that gone on for the 4 days we were gone.
5. Grateful that the company came out right away. I was going about my day in the house and several times turned on the hot water with out realizing it. We were only without it for 4 hours.
6. Grateful that nothing was damaged in the garage. Most of the things that got wet were in plastic or it is something that can be dried out. There is some damage to the drywall around the water heater area, but we think it is fairly minor.
I am sure there are a few things that I am forgetting. But even though this was a more expensive day than I had planned, it really could have been so much worse.
And hey, I didn’t do laundry because I ‘couldn’t’ do it, so that’s an extra bonus too!
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