A Little Too Much Excitement..
“Is that rain?”
It was approaching midnight and I’d just drifted off to sleep, only to be reawakened by the sound of a heavy downpour. Mike agreed. Rain. And at first I was delighted, the garden so desperately needs it. But as wakefulness increased its hold so did the realisation that this rain was like no other we’d ever experienced before, not even in the tropics. And it was getting louder. Out of the window all appearances seemed to suggest a clear, cloudless night. Just as they’d predicted in the weather forecast.
I ventured into the corridor outside the bedroom where the sound of rushing water became louder still. Opening a cupboard the source became clear. I could hear water, and a great deal of it, rushing into the cavity between the bathroom and the cupboard walls, saturating the carpet and by now my bare feet as well.
Mike, only steps behind me in the corridor, rushed past and on down the stairs. Which is where he did find rain, a veritable waterfall in fact, cascading down from the dining room ceiling. The rate of flow would have been enough to take a shower by, if you’d had a mind. In the few minutes that it had taken us to wake and get downstairs so much water had accumulated on the dining room floor that it came to meet us at the door before seeping onwards into the hall.
With the mains stopcock turned off we stood in the dining room numb in disbelief, watching as the shower of water diminished slowly to a trickle and then, mercifully, stopped altogether. The plumbers responded to the middle of the night emergency call and were with us before 9.00. a.m. A connection in the bathroom supply pipe had burst open, possibly due to either the water pressure or temperature running too high. Both things that can be adjusted.
How lucky were we. Firstly that we were home at the time and able to stem the flow. Secondly that the broken connection was in a place that was easily accessible and not buried beneath the tiling under the bath. And finally that the dining room is currently an empty shell. No decoration, furniture or fixings to spoil. Heck, the builders were about to take the ceiling down anyway. That task at least might be a bit easier now..
OMG! What a horrible way to wake up – hope everything gets fixed and that adjustments are made so there is no repeat performance of the Water Music xxx
Thanks. We’re gradually drying out. Thank goodness it is summer and all the doors and windows can be open all day.
oh my oh my not fun. may you have a gentle rain for your plants instead in the future
That would be more welcome for sure.. it’s got really dry here!
Adrenaline – don’t you love it? Gets that heart racing and the blood flowing before you can say “Oh my gosh!”.
It does indeed. Similar words may have been uttered!
At least there was a silver lining.
It could have been so much worse. It doesn’t bear thinking about really.
Ugh!! Similar story to ones we’ve been thru. We just had all of our plumbing replaced because we had two gushing leaks. Thankful to God we were home as well both times. Love reading your posts. I’m from the US, and live in North East Georgia. So glad you decided to keep blogging!
Welcome Kristy, great to hear from you!
It’s no fun having plumbing work done, I feel for you. But hopefully no more leaks.
Oh my, I admire your ability to look on the bright side of what must have been a truly horrific experience. If you don’t laugh you’ll cry…………. xxx
Isn’t that the truth.
It takes a while, in the middle of the night, to get your mind around what is happening. Thankfully it’s not often you wake up only to find yourself in the middle of a nightmare.
I was going to say “It never rains but it pours” but maybe not!!! As you say, thank goodness you were at home and that your dining room is undergoing alterations anyway, hope that is the end of your horror stories!
I could do with the rain in the garden, as I’m sure you could too. Nothing is ever easy is it.
Oh crikey! On a brighter note it gave the floor a wash! Now if only the plants were getting a water at the same time. *runs and hides . . .
Funnily enough that’s exactly what the builders said when they arrived that morning.. “Oh, you’ve washed the floor!”
And you didn’t make a water feature of it? I’m disappointed, Mrs Duck…
That would make for interesting dinner party conversation.. Dinner plus a free hair wash.
Yikes! More excitement Chez Duck. We were about to go to our family Christmas celebration one year when we heard a rushing watery noise. A pipe had burst from extreme cold and was shooting water directly out into the basement, right where my husband had just built shelves to hold his artwork. As he put his hand around the cold water pipe trying to see where to turn the water off, the hot water pipe burst open. A wet mess but nothing really damaged. But five more minutes and we would have been gone. The weather was bad enough that we were going to stay overnight at the family gathering. One does not even want to think about what might happen in these situations if you were not at home.
Absolutely. Oh goodness, what you would have come back home to.
This leak came from a hot water pipe too. It seemed even more surreal somehow, having warm water pouring out of the ceiling!
Thinking positive as always Jessica. I am hoping for some really good news soon. You deserve it. x
It’s been a fairly quiet week by comparison, that is good news in itself!
I’m not sure if its good or bad! Good you were there and it was an accessible fault, bad it happened in the first place – plus if you don’t know what caused it, can it happen again when it might not be quite so fortuituous?? How do you cope?? Oh well, alls well as they say. x
The plumbers used plastic snap fit pipes and joints in the bathroom, to avoid the need for soldering given that the bathroom ceiling is in part the underside of the thatched roof! We now know that if the water temperature is set too high the joints become more susceptible to water under pressure. We’ve turned the water temperature down!
Oh, lor, you do lead an exciting life don’t you?
A quieter life is very appealing. One day!
Incredible. I’m glad you were lucky – sort of. I hope everything is clear sailing from here on out.
The delights of renovating. I hope yours is progressing more smoothly! The pressure of everything going on around here has driven down my time for blogging. I will catch up with you soon.
Oh boy! That was a close call. So glad you were there to turn off the water, how awful to think of all that happening if you were out, YIKES
I haven’t slept well since. And all those water features at Chelsea with cascading water have given pause for thought as well!
Literally it never rains but it pours. Lucky you weren’t away on one of your jaunts
Mike had isolating taps fitted to the bathroom hot and cold feeds. I think we’ll be using them next time we go away!
Ei yi yi. Glad you were home to stop the water before more destruction took place. No rest for the weary in Chez Duck.
None at all. I’m counting the weeks until it’s done.
Dreadful
Yes, but it could have been an awful lot worse. For that I am thankful.
Just found this site – and am enjoying it tremendously. Thanks!
Hi Susan, thank you and welcome!
Oh, you poor darling . . . but on a more cheerful note how are the new terraces doing?
We are digging for England. Possibly out of England.. next post.
Oh HECK!! Yes, it happened when it did least damage, but it must have been a bad few hours until the plumber sorted it out. And the dining room must smell of damp too. Sigh. You do live exciting lives, don’t you! My excitement was a painter coming to quote to properly prepare and paint a worst-weather-facing garage door, and giving me an extremely reasonable quote. Yahoo!
The dining room just smells of wet plaster, no different from before! But we have had the hall carpet up all this week, it seems most of the water ended up there. Fortunately that room isn’t decorated yet either.
Reasonable quotes are always an unexpected pleasure, good luck with the painting.
Yikes. You did not need that. Hope the damage was manageable.
More manageable than it could have been, but it was a complication we could have done without for sure.
You couldn’t make up some of your experiennces, Jessica – have ‘things’ happened to you all your life, I wonder…?
Only since we started renovating. It’s a shame I didn’t start the blog in time for the last house. That was an experience and a half.
Nightmare! Hope it is all sorted by now and your chin is up x
Chin is up. It’s summer after all and time in the garden, however rare these days, is suitably healing.
Oh goodness, how lucky that you were home. Water is the worst thing, it does so much damage as I found out recently.xxx
Oh no, not you as well!
It’s how quickly it spreads too. Frighteningly so.
Oh my goodness! I hope this is the last drama of the renovation x
It would be nice to think so!