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puppetmakerI agreed the night before to get up with the baby since she can be an early riser. At about 7:15 she made her wishes known that she wanted to get up. I brought her downstairs and placed her in her corral. I went into the kitchen to get the morning bottle for her. I heard what sounded like a hissing sound coming from the bathroom off the kitchen. I went in and water was spraying everywhere. The floor was rapidly flooding. I pulled various things out from next to the toilet and dove for the valve which was imbedded in the floor. The hose had separated from the tank. The valve was STUCK! My mind went blank as I couldn’t remember where the cut off valve was in the basement. I ran upstairs and woke Peter who ran down stairs with me. I suddenly remembered where the valve was and turned the water off to the house.
By that time the bathroom, the kitchen, part of the dining room and a bit of the living room was covered in water. Along with the problems upstairs, the laundry room downstairs was being flooded as well as the furnace room. We quickly worked on getting the water out the back door. The water froze as it hit the deck since it was about 20 degrees outside. Once we had stopped the water from dripping into parts of the house that it shouldn’t, we looked at the value on the toilet which was stuck. Not a little stuck but frozen in place. Peter WD-40d it and tried to get the valve to turn. No luck. He went off to call a plumber and I had a go. I got a wrench attached to the handle and turned it while holding the pipe up so I could get to the valve. I ended up propping the can of WD-40 in such a way to keep the handle off the floor. Finally the oil worked its magic and the handle turned. I turned it as far as I could and then we turned the water back on.
We are down one toilet which is fine since we have another working one. The floor in the kitchen hasn’t looked this good in a while. I think I went through my adrenaline for the day and possibly the week. The cats are hiding right now. I have dried off except for the knees of my pants. All in all it was an adventure I don’t want to repeat.
I am grateful for WD-40
By that time the bathroom, the kitchen, part of the dining room and a bit of the living room was covered in water. Along with the problems upstairs, the laundry room downstairs was being flooded as well as the furnace room. We quickly worked on getting the water out the back door. The water froze as it hit the deck since it was about 20 degrees outside. Once we had stopped the water from dripping into parts of the house that it shouldn’t, we looked at the value on the toilet which was stuck. Not a little stuck but frozen in place. Peter WD-40d it and tried to get the valve to turn. No luck. He went off to call a plumber and I had a go. I got a wrench attached to the handle and turned it while holding the pipe up so I could get to the valve. I ended up propping the can of WD-40 in such a way to keep the handle off the floor. Finally the oil worked its magic and the handle turned. I turned it as far as I could and then we turned the water back on.
We are down one toilet which is fine since we have another working one. The floor in the kitchen hasn’t looked this good in a while. I think I went through my adrenaline for the day and possibly the week. The cats are hiding right now. I have dried off except for the knees of my pants. All in all it was an adventure I don’t want to repeat.
I am grateful for WD-40
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Date: 2004-11-14 04:05 pm (UTC)My very first apartment was an illegal basement apartment in Queens that flooded twice while I was there, destroying all sorts of personal items and in general antagoniing me toward the landlord because he'd do nothing about the conditions in the place. I *so* understand how miserable it is to find your home under a couple of inches of water of an early morning. Here's hoping that whatever repairs are necessary will be easily and relatively inexpensively taken care of.