Demolition!

I think I like demolition. How did I come to find this out? By helping my dad completely disassemble the guest bathroom in his home.

My parents have been away on vacation for over a week and I was in charge of checking the house and retrieving the mail. Oh, and feeding the darn fish! Since I had just been at the house on Friday to retrieve some information for my dad, I did not feel the need to visit the house on Saturday. However, upon waking up Sunday morning I couldn’t remember if I had fed the fish on Friday. So I planned my day to start with a visit to the parents’ house to feed the fish and then to go run my errands.

Upon entering the house I could hear a strange “hissing” noise. I wasn’t sure what it was so I worked my way to the back of the house. When I went to step into the guest bathroom to turn on the light I walked right into a puddle of water! Upon turning on the light in the bathroom I could see steam coming out from under one of the sinks in the double vanity. When I opened up the cabinet, I could then see where the water and steam coming out from the valve.

Of course when I called my dad he didn’t answer his cell phone. So I called my grandparents home. My grandfather informed me that they were all at church so I asked him for help. He told me to find the main water valve in the house and shut it off. So getting off the phone with him I went to search for this valve. Luckily I found it pretty quickly as I went straight to where I knew where the meters were.

After being able to turn off the water I went back in to assess the damage. There was water all in the bathroom, invading the living room and beginning to seep into the back hallway. Fortunately my parents’ house is mostly tile or linoleum flooring. Of course the cabinet where the water was coming from was the one that housed all the towels so I went out to the shed to get some towels to put down and then left to go back to my place for more towels.

By the time I reached the apartment my dad had already called and I told him I had it under control. I was able to reach my co-worker Lisa to borrow her wet vac. My friend Joy came with me over to the house and for several hours we vacuumed the water up and proceeded to begin tearing out the flooring in the bathroom.

I spent Monday washing all my mom’s towels because they had gotten wet and stinky! Then when my parents finally made it home around 5 pm, my dad and I proceeded to take everything out of the bathroom. We removed everything down to the studs. It was hard work but it was kind of fun. But that was probably because we were able to destroy things!

But I learned that I am not ready for the worry and financial responsibility of owning a house. This is something that can happen at any time. And while it was ok to handle for someone else, I am sure it would have been an entirely different experience if it was my own home.