As I was enjoying my Diet Coke this morning (no I haven’t given it up yet!) my son told me that the water wasn’t getting hot for his shower. I wandered into the basement to find about a fourth of it flooded around the water heater. So, I spent the morning mopping up while my husband called some plumbers. I’m just glad the water didn’t seep into the finished part of the basement. Not the most fun way to start the day!
On a side note my daughter saw me coming out of the basement with my camera and asked me if I was taking pictures for insurance purposes. Seriously, she should have known better at this point in my project.
Edited to add the apparently the finished side of the basement was actually water soaked so now we have a basement full of plumbers and restoration people trying to fix things. And I will not have hot water until tomorrow.
What a crummy way to start the day, but at least you could turn it into a good shot and story for your project :) The galvanized bucket and wood mop really make it an interesting shot.
A true 365er. And to think your daughter doesn't realize it yet. :-) But why were you mopping and your husband calling the plumber? Not sure that would be the way it was in our house. But it could have been worse too. You could have been away or your hot water heater could have been on the main floor like some other houses. Hope by the time you read this the plumber has come, installed and new one and you have had another coke.
@chamrick@peggysirk@digitalrn@robinwarner@rayswrld@wjw1741@jodimuli Thanks for your comments. Yes, lots and lots of caffeine required today after wearing myself out mopping! Husband took a suspiciously long time finding a plumber. On the positive side, we can get a bigger water heater. Since my teenage son started caring about grooming, the last one to take a shower each morning usually only has luke warm water at best.
@lisjam1 haha, how old is your son?? MY preteen (11) still has to be dragged into the shower like a dog on bath day, its unreal. How much longer do I have to wait before I run out of hot water, lol?
@wjw1741 I remember those days! I believe it was around age 13 that my son suddenly become obsessive about personal hygiene. Now I on his case about taking too many showers instead of not enough!
Ok, so, uh, basement flood aside...uhhh, so you really own one of those industrial circa 1924 mops at home? Where do you buy these anyway, Lisa? Please, please, don't say Wal Mart!
@moncooga I have no idea where my husband got it. After I mopped for a little bit, I asked him why in the heck we weren’t using the wet/dry vac. His answer? Well, it would get full of water and we’d have to empty it. Huh?
You can buy, for under $20.00 US Dollars a little thing that sets on cement near a water heater and if it gets wet it emits a shrill whistle or warning. We got our's at Lowe's.
@kerristephens@swrws@schoolnsuch Thanks for your comments. I think we’ll be back in business this afternoon! @honestabe I didn’t know there was an alarm. I’ll have to go check it out. Thanks for the tip!
There are also large plastic trays that can be placed under the water heater which act like a drip pan. If the heater should leak it catches the water and keeps it from going all over the place. Well, you earn the 365 star of committment for being more interested in taking a photo for 365 than breaking down over a messy cellar. I hope by now you're water's back on and all's well.
@olivetreeann Believe it or not we have a metal pan under ours and we had pvc piping attached so it would drain into the sump. We had had to get a new furnace and a/c last fall (we've had a great year!) and the pvc had become detached without our knowledge. So today our THIRD water heater in ten years was installed, and all safeguards have been installed and double checked! Hopefully third time is a charm! Thank you for your comment.
This image is the precise example of why I designed my house (oops, my ex house now) to have that stuff out in the garage, insulated.
@honestabe I didn’t know there was an alarm. I’ll have to go check it out. Thanks for the tip!