The Flood

This post is not really about pregnancy but it gives you a perfect glimpse into our lives…

Sam and I decided that we wanted to get hardwood floors put into our den. Currently our entire house has wood floors with the exception of our foyer, den, bathrooms and kitchen. Yesterday (Monday) we got a call from our friend that is doing the work telling us that they were going to start early and that the guys would be there on Tuesday to start. Not a big deal, we just needed to get the furniture out of our den so the guys could come in on Tuesday to pull up the carpet (installed over a brick-like surface) and start laying the wood down. I decided to come home from work a little early so I could clear some spaces and organize everything so it could be moved in an orderly fashion.

When I walked in the front door, I was greeted by our dog. I thought it was a little odd because normally she does not greet us at the door. Then I heard what sounded like water running. As I walked through the den into the kitchen I quickly discovered the source of the noise. Water was pouring out from under the refrigerator and was flooding the dinning room, kitchen and den! I panicked and immediately called Sam – I had no idea how to stop the water. After a few minutes of frantic yelling, I finally located the pipe to the refrigerator and turned off the water. I took all of our doggie towels and laid them in the dinning room to stop the flow of water into that room since it was the only room with hardwood. The entire time Lilly dog was splashing through the puddles. I think she thought this was a real treat!

Sam made it home fairly quickly and we started sucking up the water in the kitchen with a shop vacuum. We called our neighbor and friend (and huge lifesaver) Don over to help move the furniture. Since the carpet was coming out anyway, we decided it was easier to pull the carpet out now and just vacuum up the remaining water. Thank heavens we had a shop vacuum and a friend we could call. There was no way we would have been able to handle this problem without them!

Five hours later the den was cleared, the house was dry (totally in chaos but dry), and Sam and I could sit down and laugh at the series of events that had occurred!

It appears that the leak was caused by the refrigerator water filter that filters the water before going to the ice maker and water dispenser. We had not changed the filter in a while (ironically we had purchased a new filter the day before but hadn’t gotten around to changing it out) and it appears to have busted. I guess the refrigerator was the only fatality of the day since the filter broke in half still attached and far too deep to be removed. We have a service person coming out to try to remove the other half of the filter. Luckily, the fridge is still under warranty.

While we wanted to scream, we are terribly thankful that the events happened like they did. If this had occurred a few days later our brand new floors would have been ruined. I am also thankful that my body didn’t decide to go into labor (something we joked about the entire time we were cleaning up the mess!). Hopefully I can make it another week until the house can be put back to normal!!!