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Friday, March 8, 2013

The day our apartment flooded

On January 11th, a few days after we got back from our epic Christmas vacation in Utah, I woke up around 5:30 to the sound of water dripping. At first I thought it was a massive storm outside, but upon closer inspection it was not coming from the window, but rather the bathroom.

The bathroom! I hurriedly woke up David, he turned on the light and low and behold we see this (minus the sopping towel):



 Turns out the bathroom main in the apartment above us broke.  It soon becomes quite evident how serious the situation is and we break down and call 911. Because no one was home upstairs the firemen had to break down the door and shut off the water main.



Meanwhile we take out EVERYTHING that is on the right side of our closet and make our bedroom and living room a mess. I had no idea we could fit that many boxes, clothes, towels, ect in our closet. As you can see in the pictures above merely stepping on the carpet reveled how much water was collecting on the ground.

We could hear the water coming down the insides of the walls and seeping into the carpet as well as out of every vent/light fixture near the bathroom.



Yes, water was coming out of the smoke detector. I was plagued the rest of the day by it's cry of death (it had short-cirtcuited).


Can you see the water coming out of the vent? This is in the bathroom by the bathtub.


 For second time David and I were thankful for all of our towels (the first being when David's family stayed at our apartment for several days). You know how each couple manages to get an exceptional number of one particular gift? Ours were towels. Tons of them. My parent's was popcorn makers.

Here is what the sidewalk by our front door looked like. Our bathroom and closet are on the other side of the wall. I can't believe you can actually see water ON the wall, not just the floor.


The last picture I snapped was of the light fixture in our closet. Incredible.



Unfortunately we did not get new carpet. We did, however, get new padding under the carpet that got wet. We also had to endure loud industrial fans and a dehumidifier for 3 days. Boo.

Also, just for the record, it was this day that David fell off his bike on his way to school and had to get five stitches.

6 comments:

Julie said...

What a miserable experience. I'm still impressed with how well you handled it all. Ugh.

Unknown said...

Misery!!!!!!! Hope it gets better!!!

landbeck said...

You're right that every adult has a story like this, but it's a sign of great maturity and modernity that you remembered to take pictures of it while it was happening! You are now a decorated veteran.

Unknown said...

Hi there, Rachel. It seemed like that day was remarkably awful. Well, that could also bring us learning. Padding is nearly impossible to clean, so it should really be replaced. For the time being, you could let the floor totally dry out. Or, in the long run, save for tiles or materials for floor covering since having these can mean less hassle if you experience flooding again. But I hope you won’t. Allen Hoffman

Unknown said...

I feel sorry for all the inconveniences you endured that day. I can only imagine how stressed you were, Rachel! I hope that the plumbing system was fixed, so that you'll no longer experience such hassles again. Another event like this might cause greater damage to your properties. By the way, how's David now?

--Emely Carmichael

Darryl Iorio said...

I feel sorry that it was too late when you discovered the leak in the main bathroom! From the looks of it, it surely did a number on your property. I hope you were able to clean your house properly so that no other problems, like molds, will follow.

-Milani