Leaky Water Heater

Yesterday evening, Corey came home after a full day but still had to get work done, so he snuck around the basement door and set up downstairs where he could hide from kids and get in some more hours. Ethan and Corey had been having a talk about if we'd allow him to go on a date before he is 16 next month. Eth wanted to continue the discussion, so we went into the basement. It was there that Ethan, while working on the bouncy ball puzzle, noticed the carpet around the table was wet. (I had finished the puzzle but it then got busted up a week ago when we had friends over, so we're doing it again and I'm accepting assistance this time.) Joseph had joined us in the basement and helped me slide the table off the wet part so I could soak up the carpet and see what was going on, but after we slid it over, there was rust and mold under the base of the table. It has a big 2 foot wide flat pedestal base. Oh great! So we picked up the table and moved it over to the unfinished part. Needless to say we didn't finish the date discussion. I ran upstairs and got a stack of towels and my trusty US Advantage. I did a bit of scrubbing and got it all out, you can't even tell. I'm hoping the mold wasn't at a point where it will be dangerous to our health, I should probably google that and learn about mold. At first we thought it was coming from the wall - cause we've had a leak from the ceiling come through the walls and down into this spot of the basement before. But we've also had a leaky water tank before - just over 4 years ago to be precise. So second task, after cleaning up the carpet, was to see what caused this wet mess. I got out my weights to soak up the water while I went to start a load of towels.

I thought that it was a leak from the wall and that the water had made it's way over to the drain so as to fortunately not flood the whole basement. I thought maybe it was from the ton of snow we had experienced that quickly melted... maybe it was too much for the rain gutters to handle and it soaked through some crack? I cleaned up the cement, kept soaking up water with the towels, and then went to start another load of towels and get some more towels for the carpet. It was then, at 11:30 at night, that I noticed the beginnings of a little trickle of water making it's way across the cement - water leaking from the tank! And not to the drain, but across the floor and on to the carpet! Ah HA! I found you! I found the culprit! You naughty water tank! Ok, what do I do to keep this water from getting on the carpet again? How can I build a wall? Tape? Paper? Plastic? Then inspiration hit - Hot glue! I skipped upstairs and then stayed up until 1:00 am trying to build little levees with my hot glue gun. I dried the cement, tried to glue walls to dam in the water, I made several barriers and paths, gluing as I watched the trickle coming again, making it's way across the cement. I was very pleased when it followed the glue path and then yay! down into the drain, I did it! The carpet will not get wet anymore tonight. Although I did dream about all this mess last night. I also checked the status again to be sure it wasn't getting the carpet when my sleep was interrupted at 3 am.

Poor old water tank. He looked spent and tired, I can't blame him. His spouse (aka the other water tank) passed away 4 years ago. This guy has fulfilled the measure of it's creation and is now ready to go the way of all the earth. I decided to call a plumber and text our neighbors/landlords in the morning, which I did. And we are grateful for the blessing for renting, cause our amazing landlords and friends took care of it all in a jiffy. The plumber was here at 11, tank was on it's way at noon, all installed and upgraded and looking amazing by 2. They updated the whole thing, and now our water filter on the fridge works! Shhh, I don't want the kids to know though, I'd rather they not discover they can get water from the fridge, since it's right by the study carpet (very poor floor plan design there...)

One last thought - so I had a major breakthrough about being in control over the weekend, and how the thought "I am not in control" is one of my limiting beliefs. Last night as I was scrubbing the carpet, the thought came, "See! You aren't in control! You can't stop problems like this!!" But I called it out "No, I am in control. True, I can't stop stuff like this from happening, but I can choose how I respond. I can me in control of me!" That thought helped me handle the unexpected mess better, and I'm sure I'll keep having little battles with the voices in my head as life keeps happening, cause life is messy. But it's okay, it's part of the learning and growth that we are here on this earth to experience.