Household Disasters

[BridgeTroll]

Everybody has had one of those household disasters...  You know... the one where you stare in disbelief at what is happening or what has just happened.  Or one of those seemingly innocuous jobs the clearly even the most non-handy person ought to be able to accomplish... yet you find yourself cursing with bloody knuckles...

Let me tell you about this past Saturday...

The blessed day had arrived.  My wife and I could hardly contain ourselves.  Our new washer and dryer was arriving between 8:30 and 11:30 to replace our 16... yes 16 year old pair.  They actually sounded like a pair of Harley's at idle.  I jumped out of bed, poured a coffee, and ate a breakfast.  While eating I decided to move the washer and dryer so installation of our new machines would be quick and easy.  I also wanted to clean all that nasty stuff that accumulates behind and under those things.  The units are located in an alcove outside in the garage.

I removed the dryer with little effort and began to move the washer.  I unplugged the unit, pulled the drain hose out of the drain, and turned off the water.  Well... actually I tried to turn off the water.  Seems the valves had become frozen with hard water deposit.  I managed to get them closed with the help of a pliers.

I was beginning to have that bad feeling...

All I had to do now was remove the hoses.  That's all...  Of course they will not budge either... my pipe wrench doesn't fit in the work area, my pliers are able to get somewhat of a grip.  I tap... I wiggle... I curse... I twist... I turn.  Nothing.  Finally with one last mighty heave I give it a turn and hear a sickening snap followed by a torrential flow of extremely cold water.  Yep... I broke the freeking PVC pipe.  Of course water is shooting everywhere... I run to the master shutoff... praying all the while that it too was not frozen by hard water deposit... Thank god... the valve turned.  I return to the garage to see a small river of water winding its way down the driveway.

Oh look... here come the delivery guys with my new washer and dryer...  I informed them it was their lucky day and installation would not be needed... simply deliver them... until I get my tsunami damage repaired.  Called a plumber and they actually got to my house in less than an hour and had my pipe fixed an hour after that... all for $136.  Of course my day was not over as I now began removing waterlogged "stuff" from my garage... sweeping water away... setting up fans and a hair dryer to dry the drywall in the alcove.

I completed the installation of our new washer and dryer today and am currently running a test load through each... Isn't home ownership great??

Please feel free to add your own horror stories...

[Bewler]

HAHAHA, that's rough.

This isn't nearly as bad but I once used liquid dish soap in the dishwasher instead of the regular detergent. It caused the entire kitchen floor to be covered in a thick foam of bubbles that required every towel in the house to clean up.

[BridgeTroll]

   Good one!