When a pipe bursts, it pours!

Look here, universe. We need to have a conversation. Ya girl is tired. TIRED, okay??

 

I sew in my basement. A pipe above the water heater burst in the basement. You do the math.

 

😩😩😩

 

DEEEEEEP SIGH. So. Much. Water. 

 

Ten days ago, I woke up to a strange hissing sound coming from what I thought was the bathroom. As I stood there listening, it hit me. I ran downstairs to find 70% of the basement floor covered in water. Bae thinks the pipe burst early in the night (around 11pm) and just poured for hours (until discovered at 7am). That water bill is about to be bananas.

 

Given that the pipe was overhead, it rained water onto inconveniently-placed stacks of boxes of out-of-print patterns and fabric.

My sewing machines were in an adjacent room to the water heater, so thankfully they didn't get wet. All of the pedals, though, were sitting in water (not fully submerged). I have a space heater that I usually leave plugged in; I am so grateful that I unplugged it months ago for some unknown reason (lookin' at you again, universe).

 

Though my basement has never flooded from heavy rains (knock on wood), I already had the necessary equipment to deal with floods (thanks childhood memories). I used a submersible pump to pump the water (omg...so much water) to the utility tub and Bae used the wet-dry vac to soak up water from the carpet. We tried to save the carpet, but nah, it had to go. I ran my dehumidifier nonstop and borrowed a floor blower from a dear friend.

 

It's taken nearly two weeks to dry all of the patterns. I tried several methods:  

• drying outside (quick, but I think some birds or other wild animals made off with a few patterns because I *cannot* find the sheets)
• drying in the dryer (equal parts a great and horrible idea)
• hang-drying in the laundry room (this worked best, but took foreeeeever)

I washed several boxes of fabric and hung the wool pieces out to dry. Of course, during this drying time we had torrential rains and you know what? Wool survives downpours wonderfully. By this time, I was DONE done. I was not going outside to rescue those fabrics.

 

The pipe was repaired the day of the flood (good lookin' out to the plumbers). If you have one of those circular knob valves, have them replaced. They're known for failing and spontaneously exploding...or something.

 

My sewing space is mostly back together now, but there are still some things that need tossing and/or reorganizing. I'm considering ripping out the old wood paneling and replacing it with drywall. I am also thinking of updating my sewing furniture.

 

The positives? I mopped the basement floor and did not stress-buy any fabric.

The negatives? I stress-ate two large bags of Better Made potato chips, lots of chocolate, and wine. 😬

Maybe I'll get some sewing done soon.

L