Pipe Burst

Yesterday morning around 9:30 am I was making a smoothie for snack time when we hurt a loud noise and water starting shooting out from under the sink.  It was like having a spewing fire hydrant in our kitchen.  The water was so forceful I couldn’t get to the shut off valve to make it stop under the sink.

Andrew was in Georgia for an on campus job interview, but it was winter break and so our in-house neighbors happened to be home still (they work for the schools).  Our third floor neighbor was getting in her car and I ran out to her saying a pipe burst and do you know where the water shut off to the house is.  We ran downstairs together and she looked with me as water was pouring down into the basement quickly turning into a flood.

After looking with no avail I ran up stairs and knocked on the door of our 2nd floor neighbor who has lived in the house the longest and she joined in the search, confirming with a “Oh wow!” that we had a big mess on our hands.  The third floor neighbor needed to be somewhere and left while the two of us went downstairs to continue hunting.

The amount of water pouring through the basement was amazing.  We called the landlord, manager, listing agent, and maintenance numbers trying to find someone who knew where the water shut off was.  A few minutes later our third floor neighbor came back, unable to leave us with a water emergency.  Eventually we found a valve and they tried it, which did slow the water down and stop the flood.  So much water!!!

I went upstairs and found the kids had barricaded themselves in their bedroom, dragging Laura with them, after throwing all the bathroom towels in the house on the floor in the kitchen to soak up the water.  The water filled our kitchen, went under our appliances and the wall and seeped into the hallway behind the kitchen near the kid’s bedroom door.

Keri (2nd floor neighbor) helped me soak up the water and move everything out of the kitchen so I could continue cleaning.  It was a ton of work! We set up a bunch of fans to dry everything out.  The kids hung out in the organizer we keep by the back door and ate pretzels.  It was super helpful that they kept Laura contained. Eventually maintenance came and cleaned up the HUGE basement flood with the shop vac.

When they looked at the pipe under the sink they started laughing so hard and said, “Boy I bed that scared you so bad!!!”  It turns out it was an old pipe that wasn’t reinforced and it was a matter of if, not when, it would blow.  The amazing miracle was that I was standing right there when it happened. If we had been gone or if it had been at night it would have sooo much more destructive and a much bigger hassle.  So many miracles and blessings, including that it was winter break and there were other adults in the house to help me!