Topic: 1:45 am

[Francois]

1:45 am, I go into the kitchen and hear a strange noise coming from the basement.
1:46 am, I go downstairs and hear the noise getting louder.
1:46 am, I turn the light on in the office.
1:46 am, I panic as there's water everywhere and it's coming from the ventilation duct.
2:00 am, I'm frantically cutting open the ceiling to try and figure out where all the water is coming from.
2:30 am, I'm rushing to go and close the water main to the house.
2:45 am, There's still water coming down from the ceiling. WTF.
3:00 am, Still cutting and pulling down the ceiling with a claw hammer.
3:30 am, I figure that the water is probably coming from the kitchen as there are no pipes in sight.
3:35 am, I inspect the kitchen and everything is bone dry.
3:45 am, I decide to open-up the access panel to the dishwasher.
3:50 am, I'm laying down on the floor in a huge puddle of water... found it!
3:55 am, I turn off the water to the dishwasher. and mop-up all the water that's under it. It seems to be coming from the solenoid valve. (the water pressure is always on the valve even when the dishwasher is not in use)
3:58 am, I turn off the breaker to the dishwasher in the basement furnace room... electricity and water, not really a glorious mix.
4:00 am, I turn the water to the house back on and it definitely was coming from the dishwasher. Gallons and gallons of the stuff was stuck in the basement drywall ceiling.
4:30 am, I'm washing-up as I'm completely filthy and stinky.
4:45 am, I put the dehumidifier in the office and try and get some zzzs.
10:30 am, I'm awake and inspecting the damage.

Lucky, no cameras or books were harmed in the process. I don't think my cell-phone will survive this.
I had a ton of important papers that got wet and are drying on the bathroom counter.

Wish me luck for the rest...

[Bryan]

Get everything dried out ASAP so mold doesn't grow.  Lift up carpets to speed the drying process.  Fans and heaters will help, you can also rent dehumidifiers.  I understand the panic, I've had a few roof leaks over the years, water can do a lot of damage.  The worst is when I'm a thousand miles away and my wife has to deal with it by herself. 

As we were getting ready to leave for New Mexico a month ago I noticed that the water heater was leaking.  Luckily I had installed a pan under it so the water was contained.  This was a Sunday, we were leaving on Tuesday.  I was lucky that I was able to get a plumber out right away and had the heater replaced before we left.  It cost me though, I could have bought a very nice camera for what I paid them.  I think plumbers make more than lawyers and doctors these days.  Normally that's something I would replace myself for a fraction of the price but I just had no time. 

[John Robison]

Years ago a slow water leak in the dishwasher lead to a complete kitchen remodel. The slow leak was against the wall and wicked up the sheet rock. When I pulled out the cabinets there was black mold two feet up the sheet rock and spread out about four feet wide. What a mess. Had to specially treat the wall studs and rip out the underlayment. Fortunately the subfloor was still sound and the dishwasher went bye bye with the new cabinets. With just the missus and I the few dishes can be done by hand.

[Francois]

It's the second time we get water in that part of the basement, so I'm starting to get to know the drill.
The wooden window sash has swelled-up, so I can't fully close the window anymore.
Quickly putting the dehumidifier full blast really helped as the drywall on the ceiling appears to have pretty much fully dried by now. But there is still that horrible gypsum smell in the room.

I plan on getting me a humidity tester to make sure the walls are dry enough.
I still have a supply of Mold Control in the garage from the last flood. That darn dishwasher is only 3 years old and came with a 10 year warranty so I might be able to get it fixed for cheap... that is if the valve is still under warranty.

Lets just say that things like that wake you up a lot faster than chocolate or probably coffee (I don't drink that brown juice)!

Took the day off and just cleaned my tools. Tomorrow, tackling the dishwasher problem. I hole the sub floor in the kitchen won't be too wet...

I'll probably end-up ripping a large part of the ceiling out and replace it with a suspended ceiling. At least it's easy to repair when things like that happen.

I guess my dreams of new gear are going straight out the window this time...

[ManuelL]

Hope you get everything dry and no rot.

We had water coming from the ceiling earlier this year. The person living above us had passed away last year and the demolition company cleaning out the apartment removed all appliances but missed that the valves didn't close propperly. So their was a slow steady drip over several months until the water made it through the solid ceiling down to us. I was getting up early in the morning,  wondering half asleep why it is raining in our bathroom.

[Francois]

Water damage always sucks...
Today I fixed the leaking dishwasher. It turns out it was the solenoid valve... only 3 years old and already leaking.
I'm going to get a water leak detector and put it under it behind the front fascia. It's not out first dishwasher problem but it's definitely the worst one.

I've got a big shop fan blowing air under the dishwasher to get rid of the remaining dampness.

[Adam Doe]

What a complete drag, Francois. Sorry to hear this happened to you. We live in a house where the floor of the lower level is below ground level in the front. We had a few days in a row, about four years ago, where it rained heavily. Water seeped in and flooded the entire downstairs. We had to rip up the carpeting and discovered that underneath was linoleum tile that was probably from the 60s (some of you can see where this is leading). The flooring turned out to be asbestos and we had to have it all removed by a specialist. Then we had to install new flooring in all three rooms downstairs. Water is wonderful stuff, mostly.

[Francois]

It's actually a pretty good way to get rid of what you don't want anymore... 
Only problem is that it also takes away what you still want to keep.

It's the 3rd time in about 10 years where there's a water disaster in that room.
First time it was flooded about 2 inches thick in less than 30 minutes by an incredibly powerful rain storm (it still holds records here).
Second time was about 2 weeks after we had finished rebuilding. We had the house's main sewer pipe perforate in the ceiling. Water was coming out of the door jamb.
Now it's this... I'm probably going to finish ripping out a part of the ceiling and replace it with a suspended ceiling. At least if there's a water disaster once more I won't have to replace the entire ceiling...

[irv_b]

I think plumbers make more than lawyers and doctors these days.

 I wish that was true in the UK

[Francois]

But when it comes down to trades, I believe that they are up there in the salary game.
Thing is with all those peoples that they know that when you call them you really need them. Urgency is one of those things that drives the price up.

[LEAFotography]

Sorry to hear about all this Francois! I hope you're on top of the clean up!

[Francois]

Oh yeah. Well... apart from the large hole in the ceiling, everything is now pretty dry.
Now I need to figure out a way to attach some sort of decorative panel to cover the hole. (I don't want to do the plaster work and re-paint the whole place)