Let me take you back to Sunday morning about 9 am.....Vince leaves for morning meetings as usual and I start the kids' baths. (We don't have church until 1pm) At about 10am I hear some trickling water, but dismiss it thinking 'It is just Kaylee playing in the bathtub' so I go on my merry way, but all the while hearing the mysterious trickle. At 11am I need to go downstairs for something and to my horror, I find water seeping into our computer area from the main living room sink. (We have a kitchenette in our basement living room) I walk in to the living room to see the water running on full, the sink plugged and the water spilling over the counter, down the cabinets and all over our carpet! It had spread to about half of the living room, half of the computer area and started going into the stair landing. Needless to say, while I was treading in about an inch of water, I turned off the faucet, called Vince in the middle of one of his meetings and made him come home. While Vince was coming home, I asked the boys if they were playing in the water that morning and Daniel said "Kind of, but not really!" Of course Matthew was more than happy to tell me that Daniel had turned the water on and was playing in it, but forgot to turn it off!
I guess I can be greatful for Vince's Sunday morning meetings because the bishop knew he had to go and why, so about 10 minutes after Vince got home 7 men came over with 4 shop vacs and they were all helping clean up our little flood. And so, by 12:30--1 1/2 hours later--the water was sucked up, the carpets that needed to be pulled were pulled and we were able to get the rest of our things ready for church, but not before two of the men doubled back with a couple of box fans from their homes. We got there a few minutes early so I could tune my violin for the musical number Vince and I had been asked to perform that day!
The violin/piano duet went well, we survived church without a complete diaper bag--I realized this when the nursery leader came to me and said that Kaylee went to the bathroom during nursery, but put her diaper in the toilet when she was done! After church we followed one of the guys to an old neighbor's home to borrow an industrial fan to dry out the ripped up carpet. With the two box fans in the window and the carpet elevated on various objects, (we were told to dry the carpet from underneath) we were able to dry out the carpet in 1 1/2 days!
Here are some pictures of the aftermath, while the carpets were being dried. It is actually the current state of the living room, but Vince worked some extra hours this past week and will be taking it off this week so we can fix everything back to normal--hopefully!
Everything too heavy to move to antoher room was put on the dry part of the carpet.
You can see the culprit sink in the back, the dishwasher removed, carpet elevated and being dried--the industrial fan was a huge help, its the blue thing sticking out by the cabinets.
Here is our stair landing into our basement, this was actually the only part that had padding! I am not quite sure why the piece of duct tape is there.
Here is the computer area, which we were lucky to have only a rug in at the time, but some things from the other room as well as the futon in the connecting hallway that you can't see!
It has been said that you should always turn bad things into good things, or at least learn from your experiences so here is what I have learned:
1. The Lord really does bless those who are trying--now some of you may think 'how is this a blessing?' But really--what a blessing that the only carpet that had padding was about 1 foot square, and that Vince was in the middle of a meeting with so many people who were willing and able to help in a crisis, and that our day was not effected except I couldn't check my friends blogs! Plus, no one was hurt, and it could have been in one of the upstairs sinks and therefore damaged walls, etc. We won't even have to call the insurance company!
2. I need to reinforce the rule about turning the water off when your done with it.
3. Always get ready for church way early because you never know what is going to happen!
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4 comments:
Oh my goodess. You are right on this one. Luckily Carter has only flooded a bathroom not an entire basement. I am glad you had the help you needed so quickly! I can't wait to come see your house!
Looking back at your previous posts it almost looks like Daniel was practicing and planning to flood the house starting with the dixi cup in the toilet. Dont leave that kid alone with the hose. anyway let us know if you need help putting things back together.
Every parent needs a good flood story! We have ours! But you only need one, so hopefully this won't happen again!
no, don't say that, marion! we haven't had any major floods yet (knock on wood)! actually, i'm sure it's just a matter of time...but i hope it's a long time from now...many moons.
dano, i think kirk would be proud.
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