From The Past: May 27, 2008

I told you about our hot water heater bursting on Wednesday, May 21st. That day, we rented an air blower and paid $400 for a new hot water heater.

Thursday, May 22nd, we installed the new hot water heater. On this day, we also noticed an odor.

The hallway has laminate wood and laminate does not mix well with water. We have read and also been told that it will swell and have to be replaced. We noticed many places where it was trying to swell, so Kevin put books on each bad spot and then put two of Andrew’s weights on top of the book. We want to do all we can to try and salvage this floor.

Walking through our hallway has been like walking through a landmine.

It’s not fun in the dark.

The thresholds having been removed make it especially unsightly.

Friday, May 23rd, Kevin discovered the odor was coming from the carpet in Andrew’s bedroom. Andrew’s bedroom is straight across the hall from the utility room which houses the hot water heater. When the heater burst, the water went straight out into the hall and into his carpet. When we rented the air blower, we put it under his carpet and kept it there overnight, but the padding was dripping wet and could not be saved. For this reason and because we were afraid of mold, we removed Andrew’s carpet. Kevin used a water/bleach mix and wiped down the floor. Currently, there is only concrete subfloor in this room, but the horrible smell is gone.

Kevin contacted our insurance agent Friday afternoon. Because of the Memorial Day holiday yesterday, the claim will be submitted today. Our insurance company should be calling us tomorrow.