Oh No! Water Leaks!

Oh No! Water Leaks!

               About 12 days into the trip, while staying in Telluride CO, we heard that bad storms had passed through the St. Louis area.

Knowing that our basement has leaked a couple of times in the 14 years since we have lived there, Kari asked our neighbor if she would mind going over to check on things and make sure there wasn’t any water in the basement, when she had time.

That afternoon, I got a call that things were not ok.  In fact it was a “oh shit Sean things are bad.  Quickly, where is the water shutoff for the house?”

Hmm, I gave directions to the water shutoff and learned that a water line had broken in the kitchen at some point, warping all the hardwood flooring in the kitchen and dining area. In addition to that problem, the light fixtures along with a good part of the ceiling in the lower level had fallen, and the carpet was, in fact, very wet.

Good news – the storm had not caused any damage.

During the call she asked if we should facetime, so I could see all of the damage.  Oh, hell no, I do not even want to see any of that shit.

Being the awesome neighbors they are, she called a company that she had worked with in the past, and had them come and start the drying and demolition process to get out all of the wet carpet, drywall out, and try to dry out the hardwood floor.

Kari has this look on her face.  “Don’t you think we should go home?”  I attempt to explain that I am no carpenter, and all that going home is going to do is make us drive 18 hours to sit in a messed-up house while we wait for people to fix it.  The clean up company is going to come quicker than we’ll make it home.

Understanding the logistics.   At this point, the only real way for all of us to get home is to drive 18 hours.  Trying to go to Denver and fly home is still 7 Hours from Telluride, and last-minute flights for 4 will cost as much as the cleanup.  Plus, insurance won’t pay for plane tickets. I think we only fought about this for a day or so.

The good news is that we were in a town and had cell service on this day

Lucky to have great neighbors, we’ll keep on with the trip.  In a jacked-up way, we are pretty damn fortunate, all things considered.

I call the insurance company and get the claim process started.  It takes a little while, and there is always the concern of the damage not being covered for some reason, but it goes fine.  Proceed with clean up and they’ll get an adjuster out there next week.  Good deal.  It sucks, but we can move on.

Not even ten minutes later I get a few texts about water leaking and then a frantic call from the lady that is cleaning the lake house, before our first Airbnb guests arrive, “Where is your water shutoff for the house?”

In disbelief, I held the phone out in front of me to check the phone number that was calling.

Clearly there is no f’ing way that the lake house is also flooding from a broken pipe.

I tell her where the water shut off is, and then she puts her meth head helper on the phone to explain to me, well I have no clue what the hell she was trying to explain.  It was more of a play by play of how water was leaking out of the walls in the bathroom and bedroom.

Water is off, leak stops, and they think they can get it all dried up with towels, for an extra $20.00.

Good deal, someone was there, and the house isn’t ruined.  In two days, the Airbnb guests just won’t have water.

During this phone call Kari has this look on her face.  It doesn’t help anything.  The kids are worried about the stuff animals they left behind.

Luckily, we have great neighbors.  Living full-time at the lake, two doors down, is a retired plumber.  He comes over and knocks a hole in the bathroom wall where the leak is and fixes the broken pipe.  Luckily it is behind the bathroom mirror, so he rehangs the mirror and all is well.

He takes some grief from the mean cleaning lady for not fixing it quicker and is on his way.  Crisis contained, and none of the Airbnb guests ever knew there was a problem.

As noted earlier, in a jacked-up way, we are really damn fortunate, all things considered.

A month later when we got back home, it didn’t smell musty.  Win.

We stayed home for a day and then headed to the lake, which is where we were when we found out the flooring guys had an opening in their schedule to sand and re-finish the kitchen dining room and hallway floors and could start that Monday.  Otherwise it would be another month.

Rather than drive three hours home to pick a color, then turn around and drive back to the lake or get a hotel for three days while the floor was being done, we asked the neighbors if they could just pick a color for us.  They have better taste than we do anyway.

Luckily, we have great neighbors.  We should probably take them out for dinner or something.

Why didn’t we shut the water off before we left?

Lake – I usually do turn the water off, but since we had renters coming, I left it on rather than try to explain how to turn it and the hot water heater on.

Home – before we headed out from home I stood there looking at the shut off valve and considered turning it off.  Kari had some fancy plants on the front porch that would need watered often while we were gone, and if I shut the water off, the neighbors would have to carry water over every time.

The plants died not long after we got home, so we have fake plants on the porch now…

We turn off the water when we leave town now.