"HERE'S TO WATER BEING WET"

The above picture is of the basement in our 14-month old condo. As you can probably tell, it is soaked with water.

We had been renting a washer and dryer from Azuma Leasing because at the time we didn't have the money to buy a set and the ones that our builder offered were overpriced. We never intended to have the leased units for more than a few months...but you get settled, the washer and dryer work fine and before you know it, a few months becomes a year. Hey, there are always higher priorities, right?

Finally, we decided enough was enough! Especially since we had probably "purchased" these seven or eight year old machines two or three times over now. Not only that, one of Tracy's work friends had just purchased a new washer and dryer and still had perfectly working, fairly new ones just sitting around unused and taking up space. Score! Free washer and dryer and money saved.

Today, we took out the old and installed the new. We decided to clean out the washer by letting it run while we ran to Home Depot and the grocery store. When we got back, the washing machine was still running and the entire basement was under an inch of water. Apparently, either a hose came off while the water was running (although it didn't look like it when we got home) or a valve got nicked while we were moving the washer in, causing the water to leak. We may not know until we're able to move the washing machine back out again. The early verdict:

Carpet -- lost cause.

Some wedding pictures -- damaged.

Some furniture -- damaged.

Two feet of drywall and insulation around the entire bottom floor -- wet

We called Rainbow International, then our insurance company and the contractors came out right away to assess the damage, take pictures and then set up all of the equipment needed to dry out our basement floor and minimize the damage to the drywall.

We found out that they'll have to strip away the bottom of the outside of our condo (called "floodcutting" - nice) to remove the flooded insulation and to try and get the remaining water out. This should take two weeks.

While the workers were getting some equipment from their truck, I took the bottle of vodka from our freezer, where there was only about the equivalent of a small glass left, took two glasses, divided the vodka between them, gave one glass to Tracy and raised my glass in a toast.

"Here's to water being wet," I said and then we both chugged our drinks down. Maybe it's not the most appropriate time to drink or maybe it's the best time to drink. All I know is that all the cliches about when life gives you lemons make lemonade keep popping into my head and they all ring hollow and pointless.

I'm thankful for Tracy, thankful we have homeowner's insurance and grateful that nothing happened to our cat Sammy during le deluge. But frankly it's hard to see past the hassle, the expense and the stupidity of the whole thing to the brighter future on the other side. Sorry to end on a dark note, but there it is. I guess this is just one of those things homeowners have to go through and maybe it's not that a big deal, but given a choice between living this particular life experience and not having to go through it, I must say I would have chosen "not."

If you've got any suggestions or any similar stories you'd like to share, I'd love to read about them and compare notes. In the meantime, remember always to check your hoses.

Peace...