Saturday, October 29, 2022

The Flood

I am a hot shower kind of girl. I pulled back the shower curtain and stepped into the steamy bathroom and grabbed my towel. I heard a strange noise, turned to look at the clawfoot tub and was horrified to see a tiny tsunami of rushing water ~HOT water~ across the bathroom floor. In an instant, the rugs were saturated. I threw my towel on the floor and began grabbing towels from beneath the vanity and dropping them on the floor while shouting for Tim. 

He had been on the verge of walking out the door to go someplace but he headed down the hall, a little impatient at the interruption only to be met by the water overflowing the sill and washing across the hardwood floors in the hall. 

"Hand me a towel!" he shouted, and I threw him the last three bathtowels while still trying to sop up the water on the bathroom floor.  (Did I mention that it was hot? Because I feel like I might have not stressed that. This was hot water...) By then, my bathrobe and my flannel nightgown were both off the back of the door and on the floor being used, having run out of towels. 




Tim rushed downstairs to the shutoff valve and turned the water off to the house. A pipe had burst. 

He came upstairs and helped me pick up steamy, sopping towels, rugs and nightclothes from the floor and drop them into the bathtub. 

Just the previous day, he had complained, "I don't know what you used when you mopped the bathroom floor, but it feels like it left a residue. I do not like it." 

Naked as the day I was born, hair still dripping, I looked at him, and said, "Honey, I rinsed the residue off the bathroom floor for you."

We started the day with a bit of agenda. We had things to do. Instead, I  hauled heavy wet things to the washer. Tim did some plumbing.

Late Edit: I want to make really clear that this was not an actual tsunami. It was a lot of water, and it was everywhere, but it was immediately caught, the water shut off right away, and no one was standing underwater in our house, even for a second. Feeble attempt at a humorous portrayal of actual events. 


32 comments:

  1. Oh MY GOSH! That is just awful! Wooow! I hope you weren't scalded. I hope it all got totally, completely forever fixed.

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    1. Nope. It was not quite THAT hot, but it was definitely hot water.

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  2. What a disaster. Hot water temperature is limited here. Stored must be at least 60C/140F, at the tap no more than 50/120 and in schools nursing homes etc no more than 45/110. The temperatures are low enough to prevent serious scalds, and that was an interesting bit of knowledge I gained from your post. It sounds like you water might be a bit hotter than that. From my childhood I can remember hot water being close to boiling point.

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    1. We live in a single family dwelling. We can adjust the water to whatever temperature I want. Because I had just taken my hot shower the separated pipe was bringing the water directly from the hot water heater.

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    2. Water temperature here is regulated too, but if you want it hotter (or cooler) there is a "key" you can adjust the temperature with. Most tenants don't have one, but I do, the installer plumber gave me one after we had a long conversation about gas hot water heaters and how my dad used to install them along with gas stoves etc. So I have adjusted my heater a little hotter.

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    3. As a landlord, we do keep our hot water tanks regulated in rentals (although we do have a tenant who simply goes down to the basement and turns it back up). However, this is a private home, and we can set it to our own comfort.

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  3. Thank goodness Tim had not yet left the house. If it had happened to me and I was home alone I'm not sure how well I would have coped.

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    1. I have thunk that very thought multiple times.

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  4. Elvis song:: "Did you ever get one of those days?" comes to mind.

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  5. I would have guessed copper piping being an older house. Has it been replumbed in PVC? I've never seen a copper pipe rupture like that before. Spring a leak from a pinhole yes, but never rupture unless frozen. I'm curious as to what caused the rupture.

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    1. It separated at a place where two pipes were together, going to the tub itself, up through holes bored in the floor. I am think that when the joint began to give, water pressure finished the job quickly. Water was bubbling up through the basement pipe like a little fountain. The pipe itself was fine. The pipes vibrate while you are getting the shower adjusted. They always have. That is our guess. Tim has a close eye on the situation and the piping will be replaced if needed.

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  6. I'm tempted to say something jokey, but this isn't funny--my God Debby, I'm so sorry! I sure hope the damage isn't costly! What a lousy way to start the weekend... :^(

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    1. Oh heavens, Doug. 'Ain't nuthin' but a thang!' As the old saying goes. The leak was discovered immediately, shut off within a 3 or 4 minutes, and the water sopped up. This is what we do for a living. There was no damage, just a mess that took a morning to set right again. laugh away!

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  7. Sorry to hear! I hate when catastrophes happen - especially if I am naked! Glad you two got it cleaned up quickly!

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    1. An emergency always seems much more emergencial when you're naked doesn't it? You have an accident with a running chain saw, that's an emergency. You have an accident with a running chainsaw while you're naked, much bigger deal. Take any emergency you can think of, consider it happening while you're clothed, or unclothed. Always a much bigger deal when you're naked. I wonder why that is?

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  8. Water leaks in the house are not fun. You seemed to have a sense of humor about the disaster.

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    1. It wasn't really a leak. Those cause a lot of damage because it is a long term thing. I was very funny...after the fact.

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  9. Plumbing issues put the f u in fun. Hope the day got better.

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    1. Oh it did. The cleanup took longer than the actual repair.

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  10. Oh no! That sounds terrible! Was it easily fixable? Do you have to repair walls and floors?

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    1. It really was nothing. The water didn't even cover my feet and we have old chestnut 6 inch baseboards. 'The tsunami' was a bit of dramatic license. It was a lot of water, but it wasn't deep water. It was just flowing everywhere.

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  11. You guys sure know how to have a real hot time together.

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  12. Someone should invent a product that absorbs water quickly and efficiently for just these events. Towels just don't do it. Like a fire extinguisher but for water.

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    1. That idea is worth thinking about...it REALLY sucks.

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  13. Shame about all that wasted water though. Had you already showered? If not, you could have soaped up and had Tim rinse you off by wringing out the towels over your head.

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    1. Yep. My shower was done. That's why the water was so hot. The heater had kicked on to heat the new water that flowed in to replace the water that I'd used for my shower.

      You're right. Such a waste. The mental images made me laugh.

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  14. Good to see the humourous side of a situation!
    We are away from home for a few days..last night we had a phone call from a neighbour...just outside the village where we stay was a 40 foot waterspout...the main water supply pipe had burst...no water at home for four days they think...good thing that's when we are away!!

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  15. TIming is everything isn't it? PS: I have long believed that it is better to laugh than cry!

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