The definition of "SUCK"!!

[denny411]

I started the weekend with nieve optimism. The plan was to take the truck and trailer loaded with tools and parts to Ohio, stay the night and head back to Alabama the next morning. Sounds pretty simple...NOT!

 

To begin with I got a late start. I didn`t get out of here until 5:30pm ct, which put me in Ohio at 4:00am et. This was too late to unload so I would have to do it in the morning.(and it goes down hill fast from here)

I head to the house with the intentions of getting a hot shower and going to bed. I open the door and think to myself, Damn it`s cold in here. I check the thermostat. It`s set at 60, but the temp in the house is 40.

 

So I go to the basement to see whats up with the furnace. After fumbling around with it for awhile, I concluded that the igniter had failed. Frustrated and tired, I grab two thick blankets and roll up on the couch. Then I "TRY" to get some sleep. Not very easy when your freezing your A$$ OFF.

 

I gave up trying to sleep around 7:30am, and decided to track down a new igniter. Apparently our local plumbing and heating supply stores think people only have trouble on weekdays since none of the were open on weekends.

I ended up driving about 40mi round trip to get one in a neighboring town. When I got home I anxiously went to the basement to install he new part. All the while telling myself that I`ve still got time to unload shower and be back in Alabama by early evening. NOT!

 

In my haste to install the new igniter I bumped the tip of it and broke it. Not only have I driven 40mi for nothing, but I may as well have flushed 30.00 bucks down the toilet. I called the place and luckily they still have ONE in stock. I picked it up and gingerly installed it. Now I have heat again, But this is where my LUCK for the day ends.

 

Before heading south I had turned the water off. so before going upstairs I turned it back on. Thats funny, the sink must be running, but as I get to the top of the stairs I realized it was not the sink at all. I then rushed back to turn the water off.

 

When I got upstairs I was greeted by water pouring from 4 separte places in my kitchen and dining room ceilings. Apparently the pipes that feed the 2nd floor bathroom froze and broke while the furnace was down.

I quickly realized I would not be heading back south today.

 

After talking to my ins company i decided to "FIND" the leak/s. I first had to cut a hole in the bathroom wall. One crack there, but not large enough to cause all of that water. I then cut a hole in the nursery wall, No leaks there.

Now this is really going to SUCK. My only option then was to start knocking out sections of the downstairs ceiling. To sum up, I now have the water fixed, but I have a 4'x5' hole in my dining room ceiling, a 4'x2' one in the kitchen, and 2'x1' holes in the nursery and bathroom walls.

 

The only thing good about all of this is that I had the water turned off when the pipes broke. Who knows how much water would have run through the house if I hadn`t. We`ve been away for a few months.

 

what makes this so unbearable,is the 50k we spent remodeling the house 5 yrs ago. everything I had to tear out was almost new.

[Mudge]

Gee whiz, your day beat my day yesterday trying to do my brakes. I finished one and got 3 hours of sleep.

 

I guess I'm glad for quakes and not freezing temperatures

[pparaska]

Damn, that does suck. Glad nobody was hurt . Also glad you had the water shut off. So many people forget to do that. My sister went away for a week and they had to remodel 1/2 the house after that due to a burst pipe to the ancient dishwasher.

[Pop N Wood]

Water sucks. About a month ago we got 30 inches of snow. The next weekend a tropical storm comes in and dumps 2 inches of rain on top of the 30 inches of snow. My backyard quickly turned into a slurpee version of Lake Superior.

 

A few questions:

 

1) Guess where all the water decided to go?

 

2) Guess who got to stand in knee deep slush in the middle of a thunderstorm shoveling 3 back yards worth of snow to get the water away from my back door?

 

3) Guess what it takes to get over mild frostbite?

 

4) Guess what no insurance companies cover?

 

5) Guess what I had to pay some criminal carpet cleaner to half way suck 70 gallons of water out of my family room carpet which originally cost $800 installed?

 

6) Guess who had to move all of my funiture to pull up the wet carpet and dry it out, then put it all back down again?

 

7) Guess who gets to spend this evening rerouting the sump pump discharge to be further from the back door?

 

Answers:

 

1) In my back door.

 

2) Me and 2 neighbors.

 

3) A fifth of gin and a bottle of advils.

 

4) Surface water coming in your back door.

 

5) $1100.

 

6) Me.

 

7) Me, after I get done with my Chiropracter appointment for the back I threw out.

 

BTW. If you are truely out of the house that much, they sell water cut off valves that automaticaly shut down the house if the water runs continuously for an extened period of time.

[denny411]

I don`t plan to be gone that much in the future. I will be home for good in 10 days, and plan to stay around for awhile. The insurance adjuster hasn`t seen the damage yet, but my policy says I`m covered for the cost of reconstruction but NOT the faulty plumbing itself.