To say 2015 has been a year filled with change and challenge would be the understatement of the year as far as my life has been concerned. After an extremely busy winter and a major blog migration and site overhaul in the spring, I was hoping for smooth sailing and a string of posts to follow. But things didn’t exactly go as I had planned.
After a winter full of household projects, I assured my hubby that things would go back to “normal” as soon as our current project was completed and we would take off for the summer and fall. I promised we wouldn’t start any new projects until next winter. He didn’t believe me. #heknowsmetoowell
And then April arrived.
Just when we were wrapping up our last project, our first set of out of town guests arrived. We were due to have company from April 25th – May 30th minus five days in the middle. Plus, two more out of town guests were coming in June. Thankfully, the first guests were my hubby’s parents. We had just completed putting a few finishing touches on the basement guest room and were excited to show it off. But just as we were hoping for “normal” to arrive, exactly the opposite happened.
Three days after my in-laws arrived, we were awakened at 6 am by a knock on our bedroom door. Having four children, we are used to knocks on the door at all times of night or early morning, but I knew instantly that something was wrong when I opened my eyes to see my mother-in-law come into our room and say, “There’s water. Water is EVERYWHERE!”
What?!?! What a way to wake up! I was not prepared for what I was about to see when I went to the basement, nor did I realize at the time how it was going to turn our lives upside down for several months to come. Sometime in the early morning hours, a pipe had broken in the laundry room. By the time my mother-in-law woke up, it had already flooded the laundry room, part of the playroom, and had seeped under the wall into the guest room. When she put her feet down to get out of bed, she was startled to find her feet were in a lake!
Thankfully, it was discovered before it caused major damage, but it was amazing to me how quickly water could destroy things. We have a floor drain in the laundry room, so once the cover was removed, the water rushed into it. We “only” had 4-6″ of water in the laundry room, but it was enough to ruin floors and walls and anything not in a plastic storage bin. I am so grateful that my in-laws were here and that my mother-in-law is an early riser or the damage might have been much, much worse.
I’m also grateful they were here because they took the kids out for the whole day so my hubby and I could deal with all the details of starting the clean-up and insurance processes. #yayforawesomeinlaws
(shop-vac-ing the remaining water after the floor drain was opened)
Talk about being totally overwhelmed! I found myself standing in the playroom feeling completely dazed as the water damage restoration company moved everything into the center of the room and started pulling up the carpets and drilling holes through the walls. It was a total mess!!
I hardly knew which way to turn or what to do. People were everywhere. Insurance adjusters, restoration employees, supervisors, and they were carrying everything out of my basement and depositing it all over the first floor of the house and outside onto the back patio.
My hubby told me later that in 19 years, he had never seen me so out of it. He said, “You seriously did not know what to do. You never don’t know what to do”. Wait. Was that his nice way of saying I’m usually bossy? Ha! Seriously, I was completely overwhelmed. And so was my house.
Just days before, we had painted the guest room bathroom and now the restoration company was taking off all the moulding and baseboards and drilling holes in the walls. The carpet was torn out and the vanity and toilet were removed so the bathroom floor could be disposed of. And we still had house guests for the next month. #bestillmyrestlessheart
The guest room bed and mattress spent the next three weeks in the living room. Remember how I had planned “no more projects until next winter”? Yeah, well, so much for that! Our dining room table got shoved into the corner of the room and was piled high with “stuff” from the basement. In fact, so was the floor, and every available flat surface in the living room and dining room.
My in-laws were transplanted into my son’s room and he spent the next several weeks sleeping on his sisters’ floor.
So, if you’re wondering where I’ve been since April…I’ve been home, digging out, tossing out, reorganizing, and reconstructing the entire first floor of my home. Do I have some posts coming about what’s going on down there? Uh, yeah! I’ll keep you posted. And that story isn’t even the end of what happened. Stay tuned…
If you’re wondering about 2016 calendars and planners, they’re on their way to my shop very soon.
the same thing happen to us the day after thanksgiving 2013 the kitchen flooded and so did our basement at 3am to stop it we had to turn off the water to the whole house and we had out of town guest also i feel for you girl i was having flash backs while reading your story
Thinking of you! What a traumatic time. Hope things settle down soon. I have missed your posts. I still refer to your kitchen organization posts which have helped me a lot.
While I’m thankful to hear an update, I’m sorry to hear what happened. I singlehandedly flooded ⅔ of the ground floor of my home several years back while the entire rest of my (big) family was vacationing. We don’t have carpeting but do have large wool rugs that are almost impossible for me to move when they’re dry. Overwhelmed is a perfect word. Praying all is fully restored now.
I know this story all too well. We bought a new house in December but weren’t moving in until January because our baby was due right around theclosing date. Despite having a plumbing inspection we found out the day after our child was born that the whole house had flooded due to a burst pipe. Most of the inside had to be gutted and reconstructed. With the new baby it was overwhelming. Recently I have been dealing with some flooding at one of my other properties due to a broken furnace. And it wasn’t covered by insurance because the property is vacant. I am the water damage queen! The good news is that the restoration company will do all the physical work for you. But sorry to hear of the inconvenience! What a mess
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My husband just said to me last night, “When it rains it pours.” My reply, “It’s a good thing God has a big umbrella.”
Hi Ginny,
I’m sorry that happened to you – I feel for you being overwhelmed but it sounds like you did very well in the circumstances. Doesn’t it literally feel as if you are drowning.
I thank you for your site and what you stand for. All the very best.
Kind regards
Lee Cannons
We’ve had pipe leaks in our house 3 times and they are definitely very overwhelming. I’m so sorry this happened to you.
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I can so empathize with your challenge. when my MIL left for another son’s
out of state summer visit she always threw a mealy rodent poison under her home. well, as the insurance rep. informed us this is what drives the rodents to seek out a source of water and they chewed through her ice maker water source. we ckd on the home at minimum of once a week and on this visit we were there 3 days after she left and were greeted by a slow stream of water coming out the back door onto the patio. my first thought was that the power had gone off and the freezer on the back service area had flooded over. no such luck the entire home was flooded and I managed to oversee workmen and all the paperwork that only you who have gone through this can appreciate. How do the main offices that make all the important decisions manage to be located in an office on the other side of the country ?? at the time we did not have a fax machine and the folks at staples got to know us really well. Just got it done in time for her to arrive home and except for the more organized situation she could barely tell any difference. I even found the same carpet that she liked so much.
Oh, you poor thing!
What a nightmare! Thank God for insurance and in-law help.
Bless you with no more stress and healing for your arthritis. I had rheumatoid arthritis, but I am healed now. I changed my diet and ate better — no more bleached foods, hydrogenated things and lots of water.
You’ll find answers as you seek.
Love, me
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Aww Ginny I’m so sorry this happened. I know exactly what you mean by overwhelmed and not in control… we had a fire in our basement several years ago, and not long after everything was finally back to “normal” after all the restoration and insurance stuff, we then had a flood. My hubby said the same thing to me as yours did. I felt completely not like my usual self and it was paralyzing. Eventually I was able to deal with things again and I know you will too. Hang in there and I’m glad you had all the help from your inlaws that you did!
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