Houston, We have a Problem!

I am a consultant - which either has me working from home or working from my current client site during the week.  I have been lucky that I have not had to travel since I bought my house - as it makes settling in much easier.

Last week was like most any other week.  During many days, I will host conference calls and lead WebEx meetings for hours at a time.  Wednesday was no different.  I had ended a call a few minutes early, and I heard something.  It sounded like air or heat was on full force, except nothing was on.  So quickly walked around the house and everything seemed fine - but I knew it wasn't.  I walked outside to make sure the facet wasn't on - still nothing.

Then, I walk around to my crawl space.  Water was seeping out from under the door - and when I opened it - it was several inches deep already.  I freaked out.  I was suppose to be leading a meeting for 2 hours - but I could not let my house sail away on the rising flood waters under my house.

I knew I need to cut the water off, but I didn't know where the shut off was.  I called a plumber that had serviced the house before - he was across town.  So, I had Tim go under the house while I tried to turn it off at the road.  After wading through my snake-invested waterlogged crawl space, Tim was able to find the valve and turn it off.

Okay - so my house was not gushing water, it actually didn't have any water.  My dad thought he could probably fix the problem - but he was traveling out of state.  So, I could try to find a plumber - or wait until 2 days without water.  Plumbers are very expensive - so I opted for the wait.

I survived with some gallons of  fresh water and the rainwater from my rain-barrel.  (If you don't have a rain-barrel, I highly recommend getting one.)  Friday, Dad shows up and has everything fixed in under an hour.  The problem?  The connector of 2 pipes broke off.  So now, my pipes are reconnected, my crawl space is all dried up, I got a lesson on how to turn off the water at my house and road, and I didn't have to pay an expensive plumber - thanks to the best dad in the world!

I am Suzy Homemaker - hear my broken pipes gush!