Thursday, August 02, 2007

If I smell, I apologize

We have no water. In the house, that is. Nothing is coming out of the taps right now. We haven't had water since last night, which means we haven't been able to flush the toilets and we weren't able to take showers this morning. I cleaned up with baby wipes this morning... BABY WIPES!

And whose fault is this?

You guessed it. My FATHER-IN-LAW'S!!!!!

He was over yesterday, working on some small household projects with the husband. During all of this, he decided that the husband needed a lesson on where the main water shut-off for the house is located and how it works (because we're so stupid we can't figure out how to turn a knob). Instead of just pointing to it and saying 'Here's your main shut-off', he pointed to it, said 'Here's your main shut-off', gave a brief talk on when we might have to use it, and turned the knob to demonstrate how it works. After my husband confirmed that the water was off, the father-in-law turned it back on.

We had supper and chatted. The husband cleaned up the dishes and started the dish washer. The father-in-law left. The husband walked down the hall to go the the bathroom, past the utility closet where the main water shut-off valve is...

... and stepped in a puddle of water.

Obviously, there should not be a puddle of water on top of the carpet in the hallway.

Knowing now where the main shut-off was, the husband leaped into action, threw open the utility closet doors to shut the valve off... and found water spewing from said main shut-off valve. He got it shut off, and we got most of the water cleaned up, but when he turned it back on water started spewing again.

Something in the valve apparently snapped when the father-in-law gave his demonstration. Of course. Granted, we probably would've had to have gotten this fixed eventually, but we've lived here almost 10 years and haven't had a 'water emergency' that necessitated turning off the water at the main valve.

The plumber is here now... the plumber that does work for the father-in-law's condo complex and does side jobs under the table... he has to drain the water heater (40 gallons) and take it out so he can get to the valve to replace it... it's going to cost about $400.

At least the father-in-law had the sense to offer to pay for all this.

3 comments:

Twyla said...

I don't know how you've controlled yourself and not told him to stick it where the sun don't shine.

Ruth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ruth said...

I myself am quite often surprised that I haven't told him off many times; if he were a mind-reader, I'd be in HUGE trouble. But there is my husband's inheritance to consider (note sarcasm)...