The Great Washer Disaster

For the twenty-four years we have been married, almost every Sunday has been laundry day. Here and there for one reason or another it has been a Saturday or a Monday or whatever but probably at least 95% of the time it has been on Sunday so ... Sunday, December 30th, we were proceeding as usual and when the washer did its little toodle-oo that it was done (with the first load),  Geoff headed off to it to put the contents in the dryer and start the next load ... when ooops, loud yell from Geoff and I scurried into the kitchen ... water was running all over the floor!

In fact water was pouring across the kitchen floor and into Geoff's office! I hollered for towels and Geoff ran to the linen closet for a pile of towels which we threw down on the floor to grab up the water and stop it from going further. We tried first to call our insurance company but, being a Sunday, the service there simply said to call and report it tomorrow.

So, we took a look and quickly decided to call ServPro, a big cleanup and restoration business ... advertising pays! They came within an hour and started further cleanup. We had done as much as we could soaking up water from half the kitchen and half Geoff's office but water had still got into a lot of stuff and we were especially concerned about dampness in the walls and mold! The two guys that came from ServPro were reassuring and immediately got to work removing water and setting up fans and dehumidifiers as they investigated the situation. They also complimented us on what we had managed to do and said it was surprising the number of people who not only don't make even a stab at cleanup but sometimes do not even stop the source of the problem!

Dehumidifier and one of the many fans

We, on the other hand, were stunned, completely gobsmacked. We were just beginning to feel like we had the house somewhat put back together after the new flooring and furniture and WHAM, disrupted again. The kitchen wasn't too bad as the ceramic tile withstood the water well due to the relatively short time it was wet and there was limited furniture in there, especially since the cabinet under the window wasn't installed yet.

The floor in Geoff's office was done for, hardwood laminate does fine with a damp mop but otherwise does NOT like water on it at all. This meant that we had to empty the storage cabinet, desk, bookshelves, pretty much all the furniture in his office and put it back out in the garage. Everything was moved away form the walls, flooring and baseboard taken up and fans set to dry before mold or anything could get started in the walls.

The pile of stuff they had to haul away

The kitchen had the baseboard taken up and the cabinet, washer and dryer all moved away from the walls. We had already dragged the area rugs out of the kitchen and office and they were taken to be dried. Since they had only been down a couple of weeks they didn't need cleaning anyway. Eventually they did end up removing the drywall that had been in the laundry area, along with quite a pile of trash.


The next day, Monday, we called our insurance and got that moving and checked on the washer which it seems we had gotten the extended warranty and it hadn't even expired yet! So we called Home Depot on that. They were most helpful and set up an appointment a few days later for the washer repair guy to come. Our insurance company were also helpful and things moved right along except only time was gonna dry things out so we were stuck with noisy fans and dehumidifiers for what turned into close to a couple of weeks although some of them were removed sooner.

The old washer box, source of the trouble

The washer repairman came and checked the washer out thoroughly and determined it was NOT the problem so calls to the plumber and a thorough check there determined that what they call the washer box had failed and the hookups broken off and the water had not drained like it should, pouring into the wall instead. From there it flowed mostly towards the kitchen and Geoff's office but some towards the garage and had thoroughly soaked that wall.


As disheartening as taking all sorts of stuff back out to the garage was and having to replace the floor in Geoff's office that had just been put down, if we had still had the carpet it would have been MUCH worse as it would have just soaked up tons of water and there would have been little we could do as it was quite clear that our quick (for a couple of old people) action in cleaning up what we could had done much to mitigate the situation.

They finally started putting stuff back together when the drywall guy came and took care of what they had demolished in the laundry area. That was the week of the 21st, the same week we also finally got that window seat cabinet installed. They finally got the flooring replacement in and the week of February 11th, got the floor replaced in Geoff's office!

The picture at the right shows the wall along which they were drying out his office walls and floor. I think we listened to fans almost three weeks all together. During the day we spent a lot of time in my office and Geoff's temporary office with the doors closed just so we could hear ourselves think.

I rarely do an out and out praise for companies but the ServPro crews were helpful, responsive, and prompt and the charges even though mostly paid by our insurance were NOT unreasonable. They were polite, hard-working and most of all communicative even with the delays in getting the replacement flooring in for Geoff's office. I hope you NEVER EVER need them but if you have this kind of situation, I strongly recommend them!

As you can imagine, Geoffrey spent the next several Sundays sitting right by the washer while we did laundry, just in case it happened again! I think it is time for our next escape ... off to the Keys & the Everglades!