The Great Flood

No, it's not a creationism post. It's much more personal.

Wednesday morning, at 4am, one of my dogs comes upstairs to wake me. That usually means she's desperate to go outside, so I get up to oblige. Better than stepping in a wet spot later, right?

No such luck. There's already a wet spot. In fact, there's a broad soaking area. No, the dogs had nothing to do with it; the water heater had broken, and they just came up to let us know something was wrong.

So, we shut off the water to the house and took stock. Before, when we had small leaks, we would go over the area with a wet/dry vacuum and turn some fans on it to remove the dampness, but we had not needed to deal with tens of gallons of water before.

So, we've ripped up the soaked carpet, and we have an industrial dehumidifier working on the areas where water wicked up the drywall. What started with a broken water heater is turning into a massive redecoration of the lower floor. There will be no carpet when we're done; it was pretty impractical, anyway. It'll be tile, laminate, or some other easily moppable surface, and we'll lay rugs anywere that cold feet becomes a problem.

Of course, now I have to deal with the total rearranging of the house. I hate that kind of thing, but it's probably a boon to Fjorleif, who gets tired of a given furniture arrangement every few months, anyway.