Talk About Timing

[DaveM]

Well I took a days leave today for no particular reason really. So the day starts off as normal getting up the same time as the wife needs to still go to work. We do our normal stuff and at around 7am I take her off to work. The round trip is possibly about 20 minutes.

So as I get home and come into the house I hear water dripping. Go into the passage and the house is flooding and it seems the geyser has popped. The main passageway and the main bedroom all flooded. So I rush outside to turn off the water mains and start mopping up as best I can.

The thing is as you all might remember I have just put down laminated floors and this really does not like water so I expect that to be an issue later on. I also have water dripping out the passage light fitting so I suppose an electrician will also be needed.

So now I am just waiting on the plumber and will be phoning my insurance company a bit later to see what the next steps are. The problem with the floor it might seem ok but a few month down the line I could see the impact of this coming out.

 

[shanered6]

Aw man what a pain in the ass ! I hate leaks there worse than anything as it makes such a mess and gets every where , if it's the true laminate flooring it should be none the worse when it dries out but if it's the compressed cardboard and wood fibre one its finnished !
Hope you get sorted quickly there seems to be a thing of unfortunate stuff happening to TT members of late .

 

[DaveM]

Well I phone my insurance company and they will send someone out to have a look at the floor and other stuff. The plumber is busy replacing his side now so that part should be sorted. As I say I would have hated to see where it would have been when we got home tonight as we would normally do.

 

[Rocky]

Water damage can be terrible!
What good luck that you came home in time!
What caused the problem?

Something similar happened to me in 1964.
We just had our first child and he woke us up in the middle of the night.
We were in the kitchen when I thought I could hear water flowing through the pipes.
I went down in the basement and the hot water tank had sprung a leak and was flooding the basement.
The floor was bare concrete then so no damage, but took a lot of mopping up.

 

[DaveM]

It was the hot water tank that gave in we call it a geyser you know as in

 

[Rocky]

Or maybe geezer,

When we ride our old bikes we call ourselves "geezers on wheezer's"

 

[CarlS]

Dave, that was, indeed, fortunate timing! I am glad you took the day off; but I'm sorry you had to spend mitigating water damage. Water damage is just as bad as fire damage.

 

[DaveM]

Well we have a brand new 200L hot water tank that keeps tripping the main trip switch, so now we have a brand new 200L cold water tank

 

[CarlS]

Now that sux. Is it defective or is it wired improperly?

 

[DaveM]

I have no idea but it stays on for a few minutes and then trips again. I phoned the emergency line for the insurance and they going to send out an electrician in the morning

 

[CarlS]

Do you Like cold showers?

 

[DaveM]

Do you Like cold showers?

Well I found out that they really do wake you up first thing in the morning in the middle of winter

 

[CarlS]

LOL No doubt about that!

 

[DaveM]

Well it seems this is going to be a huge job as floors and ceilings now need replacing.

The contractors have been out to have a look and today the insurance assessor is coming around to verify the damage

 

[Rocky]

I'm stunned to hear this!
Why the ceilings?

 

[DaveM]

The hot water tank sits in the roof so when it went the ceilings were flooded and then the floors

 

[Rocky]

OK, now I understand.
Over here the last place you want a water tank is outside in the cold of winter.
It didn't occur to me that in some places in the world water tanks are outside - but when you think about it that makes sense for warm climates.
Why the roof instead of at ground level? Any plans to relocate it?

 

[Sprocket]

Go Solar Dave
Check out eco navitas website
You got some cold weather there at the moment dont you

I had the same problem as you many times and through my bank HOC insurance
they gave me a good deal on solar. My electricity bill has dropped by 30%

 

[DaveM]

@Rocky it is not outside but above the ceiling under the main roof but yes I suppose when you live in an igloo in winter you would want it directly inside where it would keep warm.

@Sprocket they have already replaced the damaged one with another so it is now a bit late to think about solar. Replacing this one cost 10K as it was and I know solar are normally more expensive

 

[Sprocket]

Oh well they only built to last just after the warranty expires

At least you were home to minimize damages.