Thursday, June 14, 2012

Water....Water Everywhere...and.....Meh

Pitiful times at the ranch. A couple of nights ago, we had a clogged sink so we put some stuff in it to clear it. The good news was that the next morning, the sink drain was clear. Three cheers! The bad news came in to play yesterday morning when we got up to find that water was coming out from under our living room, foyer and kitchen walls and the hardwood floors that we had put down recently had been water damaged overnight.

Whee! Apparently, whatever was blocking the bathroom sink moved on down the line but didn't leave the house. It just kinda set up residence somewhere else in the pipes and made any water that we were using go another route which happened to be the AC unit overflow pipe inside of our wall. We didn't realize it but all water was coming up that pipe and inside of our walls where it didn't become apparent until yesterday morning. You never want to wake up with your spouse saying, "Um...honey...I think you'd better come in here....I think that something horrible has happened." I should have known that he was too calm for it to be a cat emergency.

So now, we've got a couple of holes in our walls and a bunch of fans set up trying to get as much of the  moisture out as possible. And I won't even talk about our poor hardwood floors which are going to have to be replaced in spots. Those babies were so new and well....new.  And our hardwood guys were complete monsters that we swore we'd never let back into our house. You may or may not remember that one of them pooped his pants while laying our floors. Oh yes, church. He did indeed. And they were all chauvinistic boars. Chauvinistic boars who seemed to be the only hardwood installers in town who knew how to work with our concrete subfloors. The thought of them coming back into my house makes me just want to move away instead.

Now the house is completely upside down. The things that were in the closet are now in a huge pile in the Den. The kitchen is piled high with relocated stuff and we can't even use it because we can't get to any cabinets. We've got fans roaring and windows open and well, the house smells like a dank, hot cave. My lungs are screaming for mercy and I woke up this morning with Barry White's voice.

Yesterday while the plumber was trying to get our pipes working again, I found the Mister at the end of the hall, all alone. He was quietly painting more color splotches onto the wall. It was so poignant and sad. Chaos swirled all around us and he was still trying to find the perfect paint color for our foyer which now had floorboards like a wacky fun house. Poor guy. He'd gone to his safe place. I remember once when we had electricians crawling all over our house and the estimate for their work was going higher and higher by the minute. They had the power turned off and I found him at the end of that same hall, painting in the dark with a flashlight in his mouth. Quietly edging the hall with a sunshine yellow paint.

Home ownership is not for the faint of heart.

Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha


32 comments:

What Remains Now said...

My heart is breaking for you guys. This just sucks, and I'm so sorry. I think you have a real winner in your husband...I imagine you already knew this.

Tasha said...

Oh NO!! That sounds terrible. We had so many crazy fluke water issues in our condo that it make me want to move to the desert. I never did really care for our engineered bamboo floors but they were flooded on at least 3 times without showing it. Ugh.

{hugs} I hope it gets resolved without needing the old flooring jerks.

catherine said...

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! That's too awful to comprehend. I wish I was there to bring you sweet tea and vintage handkerchiefs to blot your sweated brow. You poor thing. What ugh. Definitely not for the faint of heart, which of course, you know, that you and the Mister are made of stronger stuff. Soon, truly, it will all be put to rights and never in your lifetime will you have this issue again.

Stiff upper lip, as my dad would say. Hugs.
catherine

http://thewreathwitch.blogspot.com/ said...

oh crap ---- what a bummer
I like your mister would carry on too...
when we had the fire it was water damage that was the big mess - and they brought in a giant fan drying machine - perhaps renting a couple of de-humidifiers will help avoid a lot of mold . sending good vibes your way .

Mr. Tiny said...

I can't imagine the aggravation - and I have a pretty good imagination!!! Sorry to hear about the flooding, but even more sorry that you might have to invite an adult pants-pooper back into your home!!!!! Really??? He #2'd his pants???!!!! Unbelievable!!! Good luck!

Rae - Say It Aint So said...

oh NO! i'm hurting for you! good lord i was happy to see the end of our contractor, and he wasn't that bad, i can't imagine having to call back some idiots. that is such a cryin shame. the idea of your husband still painting color swatches is pretty dang adorable though.

Jamie@OwlReally.com said...

oh my goodness, i am SO sorry to hear about your house woes!! hoping that things start to look up SOON.

Atomic Auntie said...

What a disaster! I'm SO sorry you're going through this. Owning a home is both the best and the worst thing I've ever done in my life. I feel your pain. Hang in there.

Rita@thissortaoldlife said...

That is just awful. I hope you have a happy place, too--and get there pronto. I know how crappy the rest of it is right now. I had a similar magnitude issue some years ago. Mold, everywhere. It's the things you can't hear or see that just wallop you. We had drying machines going 24/7 for something like 6 weeks. (Right at the same time my then 2nd-graders teachers went on a month-long strike. Oh, such good times!) All I can offer is what someone told me when my life went ass-end up: You don't have to figure out everything that needs doing to fix it. Just figure out the one next right thing you need to do. One thing at a time. Will be thinking of you.

Pam Kueber said...

Oh my word. Water is such enemy #1 when it comes to houses. Eartha K, how is it that you still made this sound comic??? Bear hug.

chutti said...

This is NOT the good kind of adventure, so I'm sorry you're going through it. Although painting will likely make both of you feel better, at least until you have to let ol poopy pants back in.

My condolences. But you do have a great story, there.

cheshirecat666 said...

GAWD...big hug,Boo. We've been there. Before we got our new HE A/C last summer (which involved having NO A/C for 2 days in the 100 degree Texas Summer) we had the same thing. We still have the big bubble wall at the top of our boys bathroom

I can picture the Mister "serenity now,serenity now"

I love you girl,I pray for a quick SANE recovery. Please make sure the dudes have gone poopies before they come over

SUZY8-TRACK said...

So sorry to hear about your problems! That totally sucks!! But seriously...who poops in their pants? Unless you are a baby or a senior...that is inexcusable!!

JohnnyBerry said...

My goodness. In 2005, we had those three hurricanes in a row, and the wind did nothing to us -- it was the rain.

Now, I lie awake at night whenever it rains wondering if the sunroom is flooding, if we have a roof leak, or if it is penetrating the walls.

Whenever the tub drains slow, I get nervous.

I feel your pain. I dislike contractors in the house, or anywhere on property. I stare at the guy that sprays the yard through the blinds, but won't answer the door because I just feel that he will try to sell me something additional.

Hope it works out and you all get some peace and quiet so you all can enjoy the rest of the summer.

Kitsch and Curious said...

Oh my goodness! You poor things! Every problem we ever had in our old house was down to water - it's a nightmare. This sounds like the mother of all overflows, though. And kinda ironic after your last post about the flooded airport. Perhaps you could turn your ruins into a work of art? Not helpful? Sorry.

Sending you good thoughts. I hope it gets sorted without too much trauma. xx

Barbara said...

This is why I hate owning a house. If you need hot air to dry your walls, I can be there this weekend.

Just think of the water in your walls as just a really good cleaning.

I'm sorry!

Peace said...

Gah, stupid Murphy's law got you!! Only can get better from this point, right? At least the cat's okay! xo

erin said...

wait a second, did you really just say that a stranger came into your house and pooped his pants????? can you dedicate one whole blog post to explaining this one?? :D

Laura said...

Oh, sweetie. If you could come on over I'd give you a dehumidifier, an antihistamine, and a cookie. In reverse order actually. That's all just terrible. I hope things are going better soon.

Karen/Small Earth Vintage said...

"Home ownership is not for the faint of heart." Truer words never spoken. I'm so sorry, Eartha! I definitely feel for you. Having survived a carpenter ant infestation that made me believe I was living in the Amityville Horror, I can only tell you this: it will get better! I'm glad the mister has found his happy place, and I hope you can find yours until everything dries out and get fixed!

lilynymph said...

ack. I'm sorry to hear about your water pipes. I agree that I would like a post dedicated to how one dirties oneself while working. as in, drops a load off in their pants. Perhaps it will make you feel better to write it out. I'm sending virtual water drying powers your way right now.

Stacy @ Stacyverb said...

Oh, lady! The poor ranch just can't catch a break. I'm thinking good thoughts for you. Hope all this will be resolved soon and you'll get a chance to have some much-deserved F-U-N.

Sara In AZ said...

I wish I could make it all better with a twitch of my nose. : ) I'm so sorry to hear of your plumbing, and now flooriing issues. Sending good house vibes your way for all the repairs to go smoothly.

And what is it with those flooring contractors....they are all so, shall we say, different. :D

Andria Crowjoy said...

Oh no! I wish we lived nearer and you could have my awesome wife work on your floors instead of those gross men.

Be very very gentle with each other while you deal with this, yeah?

Jen said...

Oh my goodness. I am so sorry.

Wish we were nearby, at least I could swing by with baked goodies and cocktails. Or just invite you over to the tiki bar for a break!

Jodi said...

Ugh, this is horrible. I know the feeling, my upstairs bathroom leaked into my downstairs bathroom walls like 5 or 6 years ago and I still haven't gotten the walls fixed. Good thoughts sent to you.

art deco dame said...

Oh no!This is terrible!I hate homeownership sometimes.I joke that my house is the mini money pit sometimes.Always a series of small disasters but thankfully nothing as bad as you just got it :(

Little Rosy Runabout said...

Oh, Lord, child, I am sorry about this! My heart is breaking for you over the whole thing!

Lisa said...

I've been catching up on your blog posts for the week after being out on vacation and LANDSAKES. I'm so sorry to hear about your floors! It's so frustrating when tiny things like that become MAJOR issues. I'm also sorry to hear about your hooligan floor layers and hope that they're nicer (or can keep their BM's to their golddang selves while on a paid job, oh my GOD) if and when you choose to let them back into your house. There has to be some way better karma coming your way soon! Hang in there! If you need a therapeutic Cherry Limeade, both Sonic and I are just around the corner.

Lakota [Faith Hope and Charity Shopping] said...

Oh NO. What an absolute nightmare. If I was your neighbour I'd be completely useless with lending you anything practical but I would come over and feed you wine until things looked better. x

Betty Crafter said...

Oh Eartha - I'm so so sorry. Sucks isn't a strong enough word. To make you feel better I would like to tell you about the time we had our house on the market trying to sell it and I walked into the back yard to see (and smell) actual turds and toilet paper bubbling up out of my garden. Yes, we had bust a sewer pipe.
Also, I must hear the whole story about the floor dude pooping his pants. I admit I looked for it in your past posts and couldn't find it. Sounds like a good one.
Thinking of you and sending you a virtual mojito...

RetroRuth said...

Ugh! What a horrible thing to go through! I hear you in so many ways: The flooring guys, the happy place, the love/hate relationship with your house! Also, I totally know that feeling when your husband wakes you up to tell you something is wrong. It's the worst! Lots of hugs from Michigan!