Over Winter Break, I took some time to think about my blog and some changes I'd like to make. There are so many things I'd like to blog about, but don't. Something I love about Facebook is when friends post about stuff they love or good experiences they have. I decided to add that to my blog and call it Friday Faves. Sometimes I spotlight a charity, share a funny story, or talk about products I love. Lots of random favorites. My hope is that we'll share ideas and discover new faves together.
Today, some of my favorite things are plumbers and running water.
Late last night, my hubby discovered our basement had flooded. So. Not. Fun. A plumber came out, snaked the line, ran a camera when that didn't work and discovered a break in our water line. A really nasty break. So there's no water for food, cleaning, or hygiene. YIKES! It's going to be about a week before our plumber can get everything arranged and fixed, but man, I'm so glad there are experts out there to help when emergencies like this occur.
It's so true that you don't appreciate something until it's gone. I never realized just how much water we use and how dependent our lifestyle is on the ability to access it. It makes me grateful for where I live and also much more empathetic to those who live without the conveniences my family has.
My question for you today: What experiences have you had with plumbers, floods, or water disasters - and what did you learn? Did you laugh your way through the stress (like I'm trying to)? What advice do you have for me as I wait out this craziness?
Plumbers & Water
Would you like to comment?
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Steph said...
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I learned everything I ever wanted to learn about plumbing from my dad. There are 3 basic rules...
1 - Payday is on Friday
2 - Crap flows downhill
3 - don't chew your fingernails!
This summer in the midst of a trying pregnancy, I had all my major appliances go out at the same time - Water Heater, Dryer, Washer, broken pipes trying to get the water heater in and out, shower in one bathroom broke. The only advice I can give is to breathe and take it one day at a time!
We bought some 5 gallon water containers similar to gas cans, filled them at work and used them for basically everything. While the plumbers (my Visiting Teacher's husband, his dad and my dad) were in and out of the house, we "moved" into my mom's house and camped there. GOOD LUCK!!! -
Jan 6, 2012, 2:45:00 PM
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Tapper said...
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I learned it will happen. Don't think you'll get through life without some standing water. Have a good cry. Get through the mess and realize that in a year you will forget 90% of the stress. Hmm... Now that I put it that way, it sounds a little like childbirth, doesn't it?
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Jan 6, 2012, 2:51:00 PM
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Christine said...
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Call me, girlfriend. I'm the "go without water" expert around here. We had a water heater burst while we were GONE. Hours went by and we came home to an enormous flood. We don't have a basement, so it was in our laundry room, kitchen, dining room and even seeped under the wall into our walk-in closet. What a mess. When you walked on the floor, it seeped up through the seems in the laminate flooring.
We called the experts, they gutted 1/2 our house, replaced 8 inches of drywall all around, the sub floor in those rooms and all the flooring. It took 3 weeks and we were without water for a big chunk of that while they disconnected stuff to replace flooring, etc.
1) Go buy lots of bottled water for drinking and cooking, not just the little bottles, but the jugs.
2) Go to a restaurant and see if they have 5 gallon buckets you can have, then go to the neighbors or family and fill them up with water. Use that water to flush your toilets and take sponge baths in.
3) Let your ward family, friends, etc. help you out by bringing in some convenient meals with NO DISHES TO CLEAN. Seriously. You have enough to deal with.
4) And just for fun, set up the tent in the living room and pretend that you're on an extended camping trip. That means no lights too. Or make it a PIONEER week and use it to teach the kids what to be thankful for.
5) BREATHE - This too shall pass.
6) When it's all over, write it into a book. ROFL!!!
((((HUGS)))) -
Jan 6, 2012, 2:54:00 PM
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Jane Isfeld Still said...
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YOU HAD TO ASK! How about I just mention the most recent but hardly the worst. The people that set our granite countertops and hung out kitchen sink only used glue so mid Christmas week our basement started flooding along with our kitchen because the sink fell an inch and knocked out the pipes under the sink. Of course the dishwasher had to be running at the time. It does make you realize all the water you use. We found that the plastic juice gallons were perfect for a toilet flush. We have 150 stored. Came in handy 2 Christmas's ago when a pipe froze. Good luck. :)
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Jan 6, 2012, 3:08:00 PM
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Marta O. Smith said...
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Oh, dear! Not fun. I hope everything gets fixed quickly.
This past spring we had our bathroom shower re-tiled. The contracts were . . . inept. We were without water for so long that I gave up on the sponge baths and got a room at the local motel. Luckily, this was just before tourist season, so I got the lower off-season rate. It made a great personal writing retreat, too. -
Jan 6, 2012, 3:19:00 PM
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Donna K. Weaver said...
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That's one thing I'm grateful for after all our floods--they were easy fixes and we kept running water. *hugs*
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Jan 6, 2012, 3:37:00 PM
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kbrebes said...
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Mine won't be as drastic a story as others, but...my husband and son worked out in our front yard digging and digging and digging night after night following the black pipe line the contractor put in and hooked up to the old clay pipe. Finally after about 26 feet they found the connection. The clay pipe was busted on two ends because the contractor didn't pack the dirt under the black pipe, so when it sunk it pulled the clay pipe down thereby breaking it.
All week long as my husband worked his job and then came home at night to dig, he kept thinking about his sacrament meeting talk. Nothing EVER came to him until the Sunday morning of the talk when he looked out the window and saw the big hole. Then it came to him that we sometimes struggle with prayer the way we struggle with problems like plumbing. He used the hole/digging as a metaphor and gave one of the best talks I've ever heard him give! More importantly, he felt that that was how the Lord wanted him to give that talk. <3 Good luck with your plumbing, Danyelle. I feel for you! -
Jan 6, 2012, 6:44:00 PM
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Canda said...
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We've had 5 flood in the basement in the past 3 years. Once from the upstairs toilet breaking, once from the downstairs shower's water supply breaking and 3 times from the sprinklers breaking and draining down the basement wall.
Grrrrr.
Daughter's boyfriend is a plumber.
:) -
Jan 6, 2012, 8:26:00 PM
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rebecca h jamison said...
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Our only tub had to be replaced about six years ago. The contractors took days and days to do it. The whole time, I was feeling lazy and kind of sick, but it didn't really hit until after they left. That's when I found out that I'd gotten Hepatitis A (the food poisoning kind.) All the contractors had to go get big huge gamma globulin shots.
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Jan 6, 2012, 10:50:00 PM
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Cathy said...
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We had our sewer back up once and I learned that you should never store anything precious on the floor. I lost most of my art foundations portfolio. it was so sad. Luckily our basement was unfinished, so the rest of the damage was minimal.
Hope things get fixed up uber fast. -
Jan 7, 2012, 10:36:00 AM
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Melissa Cunningham said...
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I'm married to a plumber so I have lots of stories that include our own projects never getting done! But beware. Not all plumbers are created equal. We know the best, most honest, most fair, most reasonably priced, etc... So call us for references if you live down further south. My hubby mostly stays up in the northern area. Glad you got it covered though! Those things are nightmares! LOL
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Jan 7, 2012, 11:51:00 AM
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Unknown said...
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No good stories from me today.
Water is life so I wish you the best this week. Sounds like you are keeping chipper and grateful for that silver lining. That's commendable. -
Jan 7, 2012, 5:50:00 PM
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Danyelle Ferguson said...
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Thank you, everyone! I needed the laughs, empathy, and advice. We're surviving. My sister and her hubby were here visiting from out of state, so we ended up spending a lot of time at her hotel. And some awesome friends let us take over their laundry room for the weekend so we could take care of everything that got soaked. Thank goodness it was all water from the kids showers, instead of the yucky nasty stuff it could have been. If that had been the case, we would have ditched all the clothes and went on a shopping spree. =)
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Jan 8, 2012, 11:44:00 AM
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Cami Checketts said...
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So sorry about the trouble! Last time our well had trouble my cute boys had the best time inventing water systems in our kitchen. I still laugh thinking about it.
Good luck! -
Jan 9, 2012, 2:10:00 PM
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plumbers in Bristol said...
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Its a good thing that you solved your problem at once, you definitely need to have your pipes checked every once and a while. Thanks.
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Mar 26, 2012, 10:07:00 PM
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daniellaprice30 said...
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Your story is so funny but I could relate because we've experienced it too. It was three o'clock in the morning when we discovered that our kitchen is flooded already. We called ourLong Island plumbers that morning and promised ourselves to always have monthly plumbing system maintenance.
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Apr 23, 2012, 3:37:00 AM
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Linda said...
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I was so lucky we had the number of a great 24 hour plumber Perth. I never knew it was so difficult to run into plumbing problems deep in the night!
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Jul 29, 2012, 9:52:00 PM
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