Sunday night I got home after playing Rock Band with my pastor Ben, his wife Mary, and another friend of ours named Jen to find that the heat wasn't working. The breaker had been getting tripped every 30 minutes or so. Sunday night, for those of you who don't live in the area, was literally 1 degree outside! Yikes! We piled on the blankets, turned on a few faucets, and off to bed we went.
My dad came up at around 5 in the morning to check things out. He turned on the rest of the faucets (Mom had told me the night before only a few needed to be on, so we hadn't turned them all on). The shower in my sister's bathroom wouldn't turn on, so Dad assumed
this pipe was frozen. All the more reason to get this figured out quickly, right? Right. Miss to
ok Hannah down to their house to get ready, and I stayed here. We got a furnace repairman scheduled to come out at 11, and by then it was 47 degrees in the house! Double yikes! He came and basically said that the way the wiring was set up when the house was built was dumb. The breaker that the furnace was on is also the breaker for the water heater and the stove. This breaker is set to handle 100 amps, yet the furnace alone pulls 110! Seeing a problem here? He said we needed an electrician to rewire things.
We made calls to 5 electricians and got 1 out here the same day. By this time, I was snuggled under 5 blankets in my sister's bed (she has flannel sheets). I had on my OSU hoodie and was wearing gloves, but I had to keep going down to the basement every 30 minutes to reset the breaker. Mom and Dad were coming up, and I fell asleep.
The next thing I knew, my mom came running into my sister's bedroom screaming my name. I was out of it but jumped up and followed her into my sister's bathroom. The tub was full but the drain was not plugged - this did not compute initially, but we plugged it anyways. Dad came running in next, telling us to make sure all the faucets were off, then went running back downstairs. Mom ran after him and told me to come help. I raced down the stairs and saw a waterfall spraying the study, which is the room off the foyer and right under the bathroom. Water was pouring out of a HOLE in the ceiling AND from the light fixture in the middle of the room. There was a puddle about 3 feet in diameter in front of the door, as well as one under the hole and another smaller puddle under the light. We scrambled to find towels and get trash cans to catch the water. I wish I would have taken a picture - there was SO MUCH WATER and from such a little hole!
So, by now you've guessed it - a pipe had burst due to the broken furnace. By now it's about 3:30 in the afternoon. Apparently my dad had been in the basement with the electricians when they started to see water streaming down the walls. At the same time, my mom was upstairs in the living room and seeing something funny hitting the study door. They realized at the same time what was happening and frantically tried to stop the deluge.
We taped the switch for the light in the study, and my dad took the light fixture off. That, too, had filled with water, so we had to let it drain. Mom went to their house to get her carpet cleaner to suck up all the water that was lying on the study's carpet. We then started calling around for plumbers. I assumed the role of calling my sister to tell her what had happened. We needed to call her homeowner's insurance company so we could get started with getting repairs done. By now it was about 4 PM. She immediately left work and called her insurance company. By the time she got home about 20 minutes later, the adjuster was calling to set up a time to come out and survey the damage.
In the meantime, the furnace had been rewired to the other breaker, and we had heat again! Praise Jesus! Julie (the babysitter) came to drop off Hannah, and we had gotten a referral from the electricians about a plumber to call. Turns out it's someone who graduated a year ahead of me from high school. He was going to be able to come out that night (and by now it's like 5), so that was great too! He came about 8:00, and he installed some shut off valves on the pipes. He also became the 4th person to tell us that the house shouldn't have been built the way it was. The furnace guy said it should have been apparent that the house was wired wrong, the electricians said the same thing. They added that if Ashland County was a county that required inspections that the house would never have passed. Brandon, the plumber, said that the house should not have been built without shut off valves on the pipes. There are valves under the sinks but not on any other pipes. They also used thin walled copper piping, which he said shouldn't be used for pipes that will have lots of water pressure.
He cut into the valve that brings the water into the house, and the hole in the study started leaking again! He said that shouldn't have happened. Again with the weird set up. The pipe burst in the middle of the room, likely under the tub, and (surprise) the builders did not install an access panel to the tub. That means the tub will have to come out in order to get at the burst pipe.
He left about 9:30 Monday night and plans to come back on Friday to tear out the tub. The blessing is that we have water in all the other parts of the house except my sister's bathroom. Thankfully, there are two other full baths (both with showers), so we have ways to stay clean. And we have heat, which is fabulous! I was starting to think we wouldn't be able to have Christmas here, but God took care of us.
Before Brandon left, we noticed another wet spot starting to form in the great room, which is adjacent to the study. Awesome.
The adjustor came out yesterday, and she was so nice. I had taken pictures of the damage, and she took some too. This one is of the hole in the study.
The second one is of the light after the fixture had to be taken off when the water was coming out of it.
This last one is of the wet spot in the great room - the wall underneath the widest spot is shared with the study.
Because the kitchen and great room are all under one ceiling, she is writing the estimate to cover replacing the entire ceiling since theoretically someone could see a difference in the ceiling when that wet spot is resealed and painted. This doesn't matter to us, but she did this of her own accord. She has a point that it could affect resale of the house if it were ever resold, but it was highly generous since the overestimate will essentially cover the expenses of fixing the furnace (which isn't covered by the insurance). The estimate will also cover patching the hole in the study, covering the ripping out of the tub, the pipes, and reinstalling pipes and repairing the drywall.
It's been a bit hard to get into the Christmas spirit with all of this going on. To add insult to injury, we've all been sick. I was asked to fill in on the music team for tonight's Christmas Eve service at church, and I barely had a voice, so I fear the music - something always so special at Christmastime - was subpar. Hannah's been a bit challenging lately; she's a smart tyke and has been asking "why" a lot when given rules, finding excuses to delay bedtime (has to potty, needs a drink, etc.), so that's been a little stressful.
However, we are blessed. We have a house we can stay in, we have many presents under the tree, we get to have our traditional cheesy potatoes and honey-baked ham tomorrow (yummmmmmm!), we have working water, the insurance is covering all expenses, and it's the eve of the celebration of Christ's birth. Tonight at church, Ben talked about why we were at church and the frustration he feels with so many people celebrating nothingness in the name of Christmas. I have to admit, I'm guilty of getting lost in the commercialism of Christmas. This year, we aren't doing gifts for each other except Hannah, who is receiving all the gifts. That's fine with me, and I know it's not a bad thing for us to be giving her gifts. At the same time, it's not about the gifts. As much pure and righteous delight I may take in seeing her excitement at the many princess-themed gifts she's getting, I need to work harder at seeing her delight in Jesus.
While we were at church, Hannah had to potty, so I took her to the restroom in the nursery. She wanted to play for a bit, so I let her and kept listening to the sermon through the speaker into the nursery. When Ben started to pray, "Precious heavenly Father....", I was prepared to listen and keep an eye on her. Hannah, however, gasped and turned around and said, "Pray, Tia!" She closed her eyes, folded her hands, and sat quietly while Ben prayed - even though her crayons and coloring book (a very VERY cherished activity of hers) were sitting right in front of her. I was very proud of her in that moment, and in spite of her challenging ways sometimes, I love her and want more than anything else for her to surrender her life to Christ as her Lord, Savior, and Treasure. I want it to be before she makes many mistakes she may regret, but I also hope she's old enough to really know what she's doing and taking her walk very seriously.
I've rambled on for a long time tonight, so I'll wrap up. Merry Christmas to all! May we all focus on Christ and His birth as the cause for the celebration. May we enter our churches with Him as our focus. May we hear Christmas songs on the radio and enjoy the merriment but recognize silliness and worldliness for what it is. May we center our hearts on the miracle of this season. And may we look at burst pipes, holes in ceilings, stuffy noses, green Christmases, and low bank accounts as far inferior to the joy of Christ. I want more of that this year; do you?
1 comment:
what an ordeal. yikes!
Post a Comment