Disaster Strikes

For the past few days, temperatures here in Middle Tennessee have been extremely cold. Even hitting the negative degrees. I know that for some of you reading this, -2 degrees is not a big deal, but for us here, it is down right freezing. We just are not prepared for these temperatures. So much so that John Mark even had school canceled yesterday due to extreme coldness. (Something I had never heard of having grown up in the North!).

I came home from work on Friday morning and JP told me the upstairs pipes were frozen. This has happened before and they have defrosted in a few hours. But as I was sleeping, I suddenly heard a loud noise of rushing water. I went into our bathroom (in my sleepy state) and heard the rushing water louder, but could not see where it was coming from. When I walked out of the bathroom, I heard what sounded like rain coming from the kitchen. I rushed downstairs and it was a literaly rainstorm in our kitchen. The door frame between the stairs and kitchen was like a waterfall. There was water streaming out of the ceiling and door frames. There was 1/2 inch of water in our kitchen. I immediately picked up my phone and called JP (in what he called my panic-stricken state). Then I ran out to the water main outside but I couldn't figure out how to turn off the water. JP got home about 15 minutes later and got the water off. While he began to vacuum up the water I called a plumber and the insurance company.

Basically when the day was over, we had discovered that one of our pipes had burst. It amazed me that the hole that did all of this damage was a 1/2 inch slit. We had a plumber at the house within the hour who replaced the section of pipe. Our insurance adjuster sent out a company who specializes in water damage. They spent 4 hours ripping apart our carpet, walls, floor, and ceiling. Then they set up 3 industrial sized dehumidifiers and 8 industrial fans. All which make our house sound like a train station and feel like a wind tunnel. Here are some pictures of the current state of disaster.

The hole the plumber cut in our ceiling to fix the pipe.

Tearing up the carpet and vaccumming out the water.

Our kitchen floor with half the linoleum ripped up.

The hole in our wall and the wet sub-floor

Kitchen and stairs.

The dehumidifer that is taking up all the room in my kitchen.


More dehumidifers and fans


Dehumidifer and fan in the hall between the kids rooms.

Everyone keeps saying that at least we will get new carpet and flooring, which I am grateful for. I am also grateful that I was home, no one was hurt and that we have insurance. I am trying to focus on these things because right now it is hard to see past the mess we are living in and likely to be living in for at least a month (or more!).

I think next time we will remember to leave the water dripping upstairs!!