‍Everything’s Fine Upon Arrival

We arrived late in town on Friday night, our second weekend back after purchasing the house. Some work had already been started by the contractor (we’ll get to that in another post), but we couldn’t see much because it was so late and dark. We inflated the air mattress and headed to “bed.”

Who’s In Our House?

When we woke up, I heard the sound of running water. It sounded like someone showering and we both jumped to the same conclusion, “is someone in our house?” Thinking there might be a squatter upstairs, I carefully walked to the front the house. As I go closer to the stairs, I realized the sound wasn’t upstairs.

I opened the basement door to see and hear what a steady sound of raining water. I walked down there stairs to the lowest dry point and peers into the basement. A pipe with what looked to be a small but forceful leak, spraying water everywhere, had built up to about 2 inches of standing water in the basement.

So It Goes

Thankfully we had, literally, nothing of value in the basement. No belongings, no storage. Anything that was there was something destined to the dumpster outside.

We called our contractor, we called a few plumbers’ emergency numbers, then we took a walk and went out for breakfast. What else were we to do? I asked the pet store owner in town if she’s recommend a plumber and described our situation. She remarked that we seemed very calm for having a flooded basement. Sounds about right.

Within an hour, a plumber arrived. It turns out that a pipe was probably knocked during demolition and sprung a small leak. The demo crew had down a temporary fix, but that didn’t hold up after a few days (and possibly with our use of the plumbing that has otherwise sat unused). Thankfully, there was a valve that would cut off only that one pipe. Other than some wet boots, the plumber made it out unscathed. Fifteen minutes and forty dollars later, he was on to his next gig.

The Adventure

We’ve heard lots of things about home ownership, things like “it’s an adventure” and “the fun never ends."Others are less subtle, saying things like “it’s a money pit!" and "get ready to learn how to deal with problems."

It was an adventure. And it was fun. On to the next one.