Blair's Blog

Well, not a full recovery – not yet.

Remember, in the previous post, how I was looking forward to spring?  Well, last Thursday (April 26), we finally had an evening warm enough to barbecue some burgers and sit outside on the back deck to enjoy a nice warm spring evening.  All that was needed was to hose the winter’s grime off of the patio table and chairs…

So that’s what I did.  I attached the hose to the rear faucet, hooked up the pressure washer and, with much satisfaction, started cleaning chairs. After a couple of minutes, though, one of kids comes flying out the back door hollering that, “the basement is full of water!” As quick as I can, I shut off the outdoor faucet and head for the basement.

Water is cascading out of the ceiling through the recessed light fixtures and ceiling speakers. The carpet is drenched. The furniture is soaked.  It’s dark since turning the lights on seems like a bad idea.  I shut off the water for the entire house and we gather every garbage can or bucket we can to catch the flood.  It’s been less than 10 minutes since I started cleaning outside and the entire family room is soaked.  

This is  a problem that won’t be solved easily – Brenda calls our insurance company immediately while the kids and I empty buckets and move what hasn’t been drenched out of the way.  I start sucking water out of the carpet with our steam cleaner.

The insurance company responds with amazing speed – within 2 hours (and before the dripping had stopped), there is a restoration crew in the basement pulling up the carpet, removing the underlay and setting up a dehumidifier and blowers.  By midnight, the situation was essentially under control.

All things being equal, it could have been worse.  It seems that the faucet had frozen and split in the winter – but had done so in a way that the leak ran well into the house before coming through the ceiling.  The built-in entertainment cabinetry was splashed, but not soaked and appears undamaged.  The restoration crew mentioned that most people wait hours or days even before the call the insurance company and end up with far more damage. 

… we never did get our burgers.

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We seem to have had more snow since Christmas than I can remember for quite a few years.  Lots of snow storms and lots of snow each time. 

Mark had been hired be the neighbours beside us (the corner lot!) to shovel their walks for the winter.  Back in October it seemed like a good idea.  As  January turned to February and then to March and it just kept snowing, he began to feel like he should have asked for more money.

Finally, as May is just around the corner, it seems like spring is here.

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