GoingNorth
Crazy Cat Lady
Yikes!
It all started when I got up at 2AM to pee. Finished that chore and washed my hands. Went to turn off the hot water and the tap assembly snapped off in my hand!
Instant geyser of hot water 3' high. Darn good thing I had the plumber on one of his (many) earlier visits show me where the interior whole house cutoff valve was. Run for bedroom closet, pull the drywall panel that hides the hotwater heater off, breaking it in the process, find the shut off valve, turn off the water, run back into the bathroom and discover that turning the darned valve with all my strength doesn't quite shut the water all the way off.
It is no longer geyser-ing, but is still running. All over the bathroom floor, out into the hallway, behind the washer and dryer, and down the wall into the vanity.
Throw down every towel I have, grab bucket and mop, grab phone, manage to juggle phone and mop, and start mopping while calling plumbing company's emergency number.
Get through to them. Plumber will be here in half an hour.
Try to keep up with water in the meantime. Realize hotwater heater is making ghastly noises because it is empty and running. Head to circuit panel and throw the breaker, shutting off hotwater heater.
Plumber shows up. While he is replacing faucet, I call insurance company and start claim process. I know I'm eating the plumbing bill, but my insurance should cover the cost of water damage, less deductible, blah.blah.blah.
Insurance company puts me through the contractor in my area they use. They'll be out in an hour. By now it is 5AM.
Meanwhile, I am finishing up paperwork with plumber and writing a rather large check. Thomas is having a field day because he's made a new buddy. Pity all the sucking up didn't get me a discount, though it did amuse the plumber.
Squeaky is under the bed. Plumber leaves. The "mitigation contractors" show up. They poke around, find out the bottom of the vanity is soaked and after disconnecting the washer and dryer and pulling them away from the wall, so is the drywall about 6" up from the floor. They do some more poking around and waving of arcane measuring instruments, and then come in with a dehumidifier the size of a fridge, and two humungous fans. They set up the dehumidifier and one of the fans in the bathroom to dry the vanity, and set up the other fan in the hallway blowing on the drywall behind the washer and dryer.
They finally leave, with the equipment making an unholy racket, two cats under the bed, a litterpan in the bedroom as there is barely enough room for me to turn sideways and inch my way to the toilet, and two terrified cats under the bed.
I finally pass out around 10AM and sleep until noon, racket or no racket. Wake up to discover that despite the phone being a foot from my head and the ringer turned up full blast, I have missed several calls from the claims adjuster. Call him back.
He comes out. Checks the damage. Tells me that the bottom of the cabinet needs replacing, the drywall will be fine, cuts me a check that accounting for deductible, is is nearly a grand less than the lowball estimate the insurance company's contractor has given me for the work so far!
I blow my stack! He tells me to sort it out with the contractor. I tell him B.S. It's YOUR contractor. YOU sort it out with them! We go round and round for a bit. He finally backs down and says, have them call me when they come out tomorrow to check on the progress (they are coming out to check on how the drying out process is going)
Meanwhile, Thomas has gotten up the nerve to sneak past the fan in the hallway and has been out and around. He's also so short on sleep due to the noise and upheaval that he's staggering around like a drunk.
Squeaky is out and around in the bedroom finally, but also hasn't slept. I'm running on about 2 hours sleep.
My medications are screwed up. My eating is screwed up. I had to hit the glucose tablets today because I was dealing with contractors and adjusters and phone calls and didn't have a chance to eat, and nearly keeled over, and right now it is 3:30AM and I'm exhausted, but not tired enough to sleep through the racket the bloody fans are making.
I'll take some nice Triple creme' Brie and water crackers with my whine, if you don't mind.
It all started when I got up at 2AM to pee. Finished that chore and washed my hands. Went to turn off the hot water and the tap assembly snapped off in my hand!
Instant geyser of hot water 3' high. Darn good thing I had the plumber on one of his (many) earlier visits show me where the interior whole house cutoff valve was. Run for bedroom closet, pull the drywall panel that hides the hotwater heater off, breaking it in the process, find the shut off valve, turn off the water, run back into the bathroom and discover that turning the darned valve with all my strength doesn't quite shut the water all the way off.
It is no longer geyser-ing, but is still running. All over the bathroom floor, out into the hallway, behind the washer and dryer, and down the wall into the vanity.
Throw down every towel I have, grab bucket and mop, grab phone, manage to juggle phone and mop, and start mopping while calling plumbing company's emergency number.
Get through to them. Plumber will be here in half an hour.
Try to keep up with water in the meantime. Realize hotwater heater is making ghastly noises because it is empty and running. Head to circuit panel and throw the breaker, shutting off hotwater heater.
Plumber shows up. While he is replacing faucet, I call insurance company and start claim process. I know I'm eating the plumbing bill, but my insurance should cover the cost of water damage, less deductible, blah.blah.blah.
Insurance company puts me through the contractor in my area they use. They'll be out in an hour. By now it is 5AM.
Meanwhile, I am finishing up paperwork with plumber and writing a rather large check. Thomas is having a field day because he's made a new buddy. Pity all the sucking up didn't get me a discount, though it did amuse the plumber.
Squeaky is under the bed. Plumber leaves. The "mitigation contractors" show up. They poke around, find out the bottom of the vanity is soaked and after disconnecting the washer and dryer and pulling them away from the wall, so is the drywall about 6" up from the floor. They do some more poking around and waving of arcane measuring instruments, and then come in with a dehumidifier the size of a fridge, and two humungous fans. They set up the dehumidifier and one of the fans in the bathroom to dry the vanity, and set up the other fan in the hallway blowing on the drywall behind the washer and dryer.
They finally leave, with the equipment making an unholy racket, two cats under the bed, a litterpan in the bedroom as there is barely enough room for me to turn sideways and inch my way to the toilet, and two terrified cats under the bed.
I finally pass out around 10AM and sleep until noon, racket or no racket. Wake up to discover that despite the phone being a foot from my head and the ringer turned up full blast, I have missed several calls from the claims adjuster. Call him back.
He comes out. Checks the damage. Tells me that the bottom of the cabinet needs replacing, the drywall will be fine, cuts me a check that accounting for deductible, is is nearly a grand less than the lowball estimate the insurance company's contractor has given me for the work so far!
I blow my stack! He tells me to sort it out with the contractor. I tell him B.S. It's YOUR contractor. YOU sort it out with them! We go round and round for a bit. He finally backs down and says, have them call me when they come out tomorrow to check on the progress (they are coming out to check on how the drying out process is going)
Meanwhile, Thomas has gotten up the nerve to sneak past the fan in the hallway and has been out and around. He's also so short on sleep due to the noise and upheaval that he's staggering around like a drunk.
Squeaky is out and around in the bedroom finally, but also hasn't slept. I'm running on about 2 hours sleep.
My medications are screwed up. My eating is screwed up. I had to hit the glucose tablets today because I was dealing with contractors and adjusters and phone calls and didn't have a chance to eat, and nearly keeled over, and right now it is 3:30AM and I'm exhausted, but not tired enough to sleep through the racket the bloody fans are making.
I'll take some nice Triple creme' Brie and water crackers with my whine, if you don't mind.
