We've had some sort of mystery leak in the kids' bathroom this year, but last Thursday night, we had a flood there. And, unfortunately, it was man-made. Elliot and Jack started taking their showers and baths on their own this year. On Thursday, Elliot opted for bath, so I got him set up, turned on the water, and left the room. That's our usual routine. I go back and check on them a few minutes later to see if they've gotten around to cleaning any part of themselves, (which they never have.) But, before my first check, I heard Elliot calling for help... When I opened the bathroom door, I saw water pouring out over the side of the tub and onto the floor. There was almost an inch of water on the floor already, and the faucet was still all the way on, spewing out more by the second. I turned off the water and screamed for Ted (which is always the first thing I do in a crisis, and Ted's least favorite part of my personality,) threw all of our bath towels onto the floor, and ran downstairs. The boys' bathroom is on the 5th floor of our house. There are three more bathrooms stacked below theirs, and then the basement. I ran into our bathroom, which is the next one down. Water was pouring down through the ceiling. It looked like it was raining indoors. I threw more towels down on that floor, and continued downward. As I got to the landing of the stairs on our floor, I heard our doorbell buzzer. I cringed, because I knew instinctively that it must be our tenant from downstairs. I ran down to find water leaking into his apartment as well, mostly on the floor of his bedroom and on his bed. Disaster. Times three stories. Once we shut the water off, we were actually able to soak up the water on the floors pretty quickly. And it never did make it all the way down to the bottom bathroom or the basement. Almost as quickly as it started, the flood was over. Everything dried out, and we're just left with a few water stains on the bathroom ceilings. Oh, and 4 gigantic loads of wet towels, our tenant's dry-clean-only bedding, and the next day we realized that the water dripping through the walls had shorted out our other tenants' refrigerator. I asked Elliot what happened, and why he didn't turn the water off once the bath filled up. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I didn't notice."
Tuesday, December 15
The Flood
We've had some sort of mystery leak in the kids' bathroom this year, but last Thursday night, we had a flood there. And, unfortunately, it was man-made. Elliot and Jack started taking their showers and baths on their own this year. On Thursday, Elliot opted for bath, so I got him set up, turned on the water, and left the room. That's our usual routine. I go back and check on them a few minutes later to see if they've gotten around to cleaning any part of themselves, (which they never have.) But, before my first check, I heard Elliot calling for help... When I opened the bathroom door, I saw water pouring out over the side of the tub and onto the floor. There was almost an inch of water on the floor already, and the faucet was still all the way on, spewing out more by the second. I turned off the water and screamed for Ted (which is always the first thing I do in a crisis, and Ted's least favorite part of my personality,) threw all of our bath towels onto the floor, and ran downstairs. The boys' bathroom is on the 5th floor of our house. There are three more bathrooms stacked below theirs, and then the basement. I ran into our bathroom, which is the next one down. Water was pouring down through the ceiling. It looked like it was raining indoors. I threw more towels down on that floor, and continued downward. As I got to the landing of the stairs on our floor, I heard our doorbell buzzer. I cringed, because I knew instinctively that it must be our tenant from downstairs. I ran down to find water leaking into his apartment as well, mostly on the floor of his bedroom and on his bed. Disaster. Times three stories. Once we shut the water off, we were actually able to soak up the water on the floors pretty quickly. And it never did make it all the way down to the bottom bathroom or the basement. Almost as quickly as it started, the flood was over. Everything dried out, and we're just left with a few water stains on the bathroom ceilings. Oh, and 4 gigantic loads of wet towels, our tenant's dry-clean-only bedding, and the next day we realized that the water dripping through the walls had shorted out our other tenants' refrigerator. I asked Elliot what happened, and why he didn't turn the water off once the bath filled up. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I didn't notice."
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