Disaster

I'm sick! I feel like crying but I won't because there's a huge mess to clean up and to be honest, I've no idea where to even start.

Well - that's not true - I do know.

What happened?

I was merrily sewing away this morning. It's time to go upstairs for breakfast. Just as I reached the stairs, I glanced down and this is what I saw.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Yes - that is water between the floorboards.  OH MY GOD - the last time that happened - well, it was a huge mess.

Survival instinct or whatever you want to call it kicked it. Where is the water coming from? A quick search revealed that it was coming from the storage room which is underneath the bathroom and laundry room.

I shoved the worktables aside so I could get in that door. No - it wasn't the one that was locked. That's another story.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO   - there is water everywhere. I can hear the water. What to do? what to do???   Run upstairs to grab some towels.

Back downstairs. No taps are running, no toilet running.

Calm down!  Calm down! and find the source of the water. Ah - there's a wee plastic pipe that's snapped clean in half. It's probably deteriorated? No idea.  But there were bags of projects stored in that room.

Thank god for those big blue IKEA bags. Some stuff looks to be intact and dry. Others - well, I don't know.

You can see in the picture below those cloth bags which were sitting on the floor are SATURATED with water. Some projects were in plastic bags, but maybe not sealed.

Saturated bags

Some of it I've transported up to the kitchen to see what can be salvaged. What a way to downsize!!!

Threw stuff in the kitchen sink

One box had a purple T-shirt in it and the purple ran. It shouldn't affect the project much. But the fabric in the box is soaked and there was water in the bottom of the plastic container.

ACK - purple water in a container

Instructions - toast!

Instructions soaking wet

I'm still shaking. I've got a bucket under the leak and I'm paranoid about it going over. It's not that fast of a leak but it's fast enough. I'm not sure how to turn the water off for just that pipe. I don't think I can. But I'm checking often to make sure it doesn't get full.

I think every towel in the house has been called into service. The plumber has been called. Do I call the insurance company??  Oh god - I know there is water under a great part of that floor downstairs and that means mold. I checked and the water ran into the furnace room.

I don't even want to imagine the job ahead of me. It's going to be a nightmare. Last time we had a water issue in the basement, it took months to get things cleaned up. And nothing got damaged or wet. That was a fluke. This time, I'm not getting off so easy.

I don't know what else to say this morning.  Oh - I do know what to say. Thank god this didn't happen next week when I'm away. DH would not have seen it - no one would have until the leak or the damage was severe.  I think the pipe snapped overnight or sometime yesterday. It would have taken a wee bit of time for the water to seep to the staircase.

Breath deep. Breath deep. Better call the insurance company as well. They are going to freak out when they see the situation.

Waiting for DH to get up so I can move more boxes and clean up more water. I figure at this point, I've contained the leak, cleaned up most of the water. There's nothing else to do but wait for the plumber. And now to tackle those projects bags and boxes to see what stays and what goes.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!