Jen washed the soap over her legacy. Standing in a cloud of steam, she wondered why she still heard a spray of water after turning off the shower. When she opened the door to her shower stall, the sound of running water got louder! Confused, she looked at the shower head, which she could see more clearly now that the hot water steam had begun to dissipate. There was no water coming out of the shower. When she stepped out of the shower stall onto the tiled bathroom floor, her foot landed in a puddle of cold water!
The impact of the icy water sends Jen into a panic. Following the sound, she beheld the nightmare of a waterfall that partially opened the two cabinet doors below the bathroom sink. Her bathroom vanity had two sinks. Quickly, Jen looked at the one her husband was using and didn’t see any water coming out of it. She opened the cabinet doors under the sink. Dozens of her cosmetics fell in a mini waterfall on her bathroom floor! She knelt down to see water coming out of a shutoff valve. The little plastic tube that connected the shut-off valve to the open-valve on her sink was dangling when the spray hit it. Jen got up quickly. She turned on the cold water in her sink; no water flowed. Then she turned on the hot water knob and warm water flowed into the sink.
Now, two minutes into a flood emergency, Jen realized she had to turn off the cold water valve under the sink. Quickly, she returned to her knees and turned the valve to the left. But that didn’t stop the cold water spray! She turned and turned the valve and started crying when this didn’t work. Jen turned the hot water valve counterclockwise until she couldn’t turn it anymore. Then she got up to test the hot water knob on her sink. No hot water! She had confirmed that she did the right thing by turning the cold water valve to the left. Could a valve be installed upside down? Frantically, she turned the cold water valve to the right. She went round and round, but the water kept coming out. Jen didn’t know what to do, and her tears added to inches of water on the tiled bathroom floor, water that flowed into the carpeted linen closet and down her carpeted bedroom.
He grabbed his plastic trash can, emptied the trash into the water, and pushed the can under the water leak, but that didn’t do much good. The water did not drip. She got sprayed. He tried to push small objects into the shutoff valve, but the force of the water caused these objects to fly out. Now, three minutes into an emergency flood, she hadn’t stopped the water! Frozen and scared, Jen throws on a pair of jeans and runs downstairs to turn off the house’s water at the valve in the downstairs hall closet. She turned the valve counterclockwise until she was tight. As she stood up, she saw a cascade of water crash against the ceiling light in her kitchen, located below the master bathroom. She had spilled so much water that she had forced her way down. She ran upstairs to confirm that she had stopped the leak and as she ran she realized that water could have spilled during the full twenty minutes she took her shower.
When he got to his bathroom, he saw water spurting out of the useless shut-off valve! Jen ran downstairs to turn the main house shutoff valve to the right (could it be installed backwards?). After that, she ran upstairs to see that she still hadn’t stopped the leak! Sobbing, she took her smartphone to call a plumber. They put her on hold, asked her to leave a message for her, and on her fifth attempt, a receptionist told her that a plumber would be there in three days. Jen heard, “Would you like a date in the morning or in the afternoon?” She disconnected and phoned her neighbors. On the second call from her, she received help. A man next door had a “T” wrench for a water meter. In three minutes he turned off the water to Jen’s house across the street.
Jen contacted her home insurance agent, who filed a claim and helped her find a reputable plumber. With an approved claim, the agent gave Jen options to hire professionals to mitigate the water damage by spotting, removing, or drying it out. The tile floor and cabinets in it were torn down. Then Ella Jen was able to select new cabinets and tile flooring. Jen got a new bathroom and parts to a new kitchen, but she had to pay thousands of dollars in costs beyond what her insurance would pay. She had her plumber replace all the water shutoff valves in her house with the best products; two at each sink and one behind each toilet. She bought a “T” key and learned how to use it to turn off the water in the street. #tag1writer
