What a crappy day

[Pa Jayhawk]

Woke up this morning, put a load of laundry in, hopped in the shower. Got out of the shower to find the washer never stopped filling and flooded our utility room, Dining area, Bathroom, Part of the kitchen and part of the basement. Water was going under the frickin' walls and through the floor. Had to put boards down to pull the water out of the carpet pads as it kept coming back.

Never heard of a washer doing something like this before, heard of hoses bursting, but not anything like this. Fortunately it doesn't seem like there will be a ton of damage, and hopefully I won't have to do to much of drywall in the basement. Seems like it ran out through the Light holes and speaker wire holes.

Guess I should be thankful I have been lazy and never completed the job or we would likely be replacing carpet, furniture, electronics and such. Looks like we will be picking up a new Washer and Dryer when we get back from picking up our car in NC.

Early drinking day to say the least. Makes me really feel for the guys that get flooded by Hurricanes and such and makes me feel like we got off easy. Darn Shopvac died when I tried to drain the Washer with the shop vac and had to have my wife pick up a new one on the way home.

Fans are everywhere right now.

Time for another drink.

 

[MCDavis]

Sorry, my friend.

Drink an extra one for me!

 

[Clugnut]

Wow, bummer.

You got it right about water damage in hurricane areas. I spent a week in Mississippi after Katrina helping to rebuild. What a mess.

 

[slickpitt]

Man that sucks! I feel for ya. When I was a kid we had a water line to the hot water heater bust and flood the house. Talk about a mess!

 

[ClairefromClare]

Floods are the worst! Keep the number of your local Serv-Pro outfit handy.

 

[JEFF4i]

I'll drink one for ya boss!

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Talked to a friend of mine who is a carpenter about the downstairs drywall and upstairs. Kinda funny that he said this has happened to him about 4 times. Said it was funny because they build pretty nice homes and just today installed a Washer shut-off valve in a home and was planning on picking one up for his house. I guess it is a little tray that sits under the Washer, then there are shut off valves that go between each of the hoses and the connectors. When it detects water it shuts them down.

I will be buying one for my new washer, he said they were fairly cheap.

After talking to him about what happened, I feel pretty confident this is not going to be much of an issue. At worst may have to do some minor patch work.

Still just happy I did this before hopping in the shower and not prior to leaving for a few hours. He even said the first time it happened it really made him think twice about ever leaving the washer on prior to leaving. We have a Propane dryer, so while I thought of it in never having it on when we were gone, I never really gave much about the washer.

edit 1 - I think this freaked our dog out, between moving furniture around for Christmas Tree, and then this I think he thought we were moving as he got sick. Poor guy. :laugh)

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Man that sucks! I feel for ya. When I was a kid we had a water line to the hot water heater bust and flood the house. Talk about a mess!

Had a Hot water heater give way in our last home, fortunately we had no basement and I caught it fairly soon. There was a step up from the utility room to a back family room, so it just drained into our garage and then to the yard.

Also noticed they have little alarms that go off for water that I planned on buying a few years back. I guess it may be time to stop procrastinating on getting one for our boiler.

 

[crabby]

I know what you are going thru Pa Jayhawk. I once had a supply line on a toilet break once when I was at work. I don't know how long the water was running I was gone from the house for 11-12 hours. When I got home I thought that the carpet in my hallway looked a little odd because it looked thick. That was because it was floating in water and the basement had about 2 inches of water. Long story short the only thing that was ruined was a electronic board in my furance shorted out luckly it was summer at the time but, at least the basement got a good cleaning from it.

 

[limpalong]

I will be buying one for my new washer...

NEW washer!!????? I'd think a mechanical ghuru, like you, would just buy a new water valve and fix the old washer. You could probably save enough to replace those TEE's with "real" clubs!!

Water damage is a bummer. Just be really sure you get everything dried out... especially behind the sheetrock, inside the walls. Mold growth can trigger allergies you've never seen before.

Sorry for your misfortune. Hope the rest of the week goes much better!!!!

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

NEW washer!!????? I'd think a mechanical ghuru, like you, would just buy a new water valve and fix the old washer. You could probably save enough to replace those TEE's with "real" clubs!!

Water damage is a bummer. Just be really sure you get everything dried out... especially behind the sheetrock, inside the walls. Mold growth can trigger allergies you've never seen before.

Sorry for your misfortune. Hope the rest of the week goes much better!!!!

Naw, we bought the washer when we moved into our old house about 13-14 years ago. I would think about replacing the valve, only it also would no longer drain, so I think the water maybe burned some things out. So I think it may be just best to bury the thing.

Besides, I still have my old Ping G2 FW's sitting up in the attic collecting dust should my TEE's become old and lethargic the way of my Pings. If that is what you meant by real clubs.

Also fortunately I don't think much water got behind the wall as it drained out of the sophet in the light areas, but I do have a turbo fan set up by the ceiling and blowing back, and have been moving it around. Plan on leaving that on it for a while. Also most of the water came down through the center, and we didn't have a drop ceiling in yet. When I did the bottom of the wall, I used pressure treated lumber. So assuming there isn't much in the insulation, it should hopefully be O.K. And if I notice any moisture in the wall I will be replacing it. What you mention was actually my biggest concern.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

When I got home I thought that the carpet in my hallway looked a little odd because it looked thick. That was because it was floating in water and the basement had about 2 inches of water.

That was one of the things that happened here as well. I actually got out of the shower and set down by the computer, which is right by the utility room door. When I first came in I didn't notice it. When the computer was booting, I thought it seemed strange the water was still running, and it was not spinning. I was only a few feet from the water in the carpet and didn't even notice it at first. Then I looked and thought, WOW the carpet is a little darker. Then it was just sheer and utter panic when I realized 2 and 2 equaled 4.