Jen splashed the soap on her legs. Standing in a cloud of steam, she wondered why she still heard a rush of water after turning off the shower. When he opened the shower door, the sound of running water got louder! Confused, she glanced at the shower head, which she could see more clearly now that the steam from the hot water had begun to dissipate. No water was coming out of the shower. When he stepped out of the shower onto the tile floor of the bathroom, his foot landed in a pool of cold water!
The impact of the icy water made Jen panic. Following the sound, he saw the nightmare of a waterfall partially opening the two cabinet doors under the bathroom sink! The vanity in her bathroom had two sinks. Quickly, Jen glanced at the one her husband was wearing and didn’t see any water coming out. He opened the closet doors under his sink. Dozens of her cosmetics flowed in a mini waterfall onto her bathroom floor! He got down on his knees to watch the water squirt from a shut-off valve. The small plastic tube that connected the shutoff valve to the shutoff valve in his sink hung down when the water sprayed it. Jen quickly got to her feet. He turned on the cold water in his sink; no water flowed. Then, he turned on the hot water knob and warm water flowed into his sink.
Now, two minutes after a flood emergency, Jen realized she had to turn off the cold water valve under the sink. Quickly, he knelt down again and turned the valve to the left. But that didn’t stop the cold water spray! He turned and opened the valve and started crying when this didn’t work. Jen turned the hot water valve counterclockwise until she couldn’t do it anymore. Then he got up to test the hot water tap in his sink. No hot water! She had confirmed that she did the right thing by turning the cold water valve counterclockwise. Could a valve be installed backwards? Frantically, he turned the cold water valve clockwise. It spun and spun, but the water kept coming out. Jen didn’t know what to do, and her tears added to inches of water on the bathroom tile floor, water flowing into her carpeted closet and into her carpeted bedroom.
He grabbed his plastic trash can, dumped the trash into the water, and shoved the can under the water leak, but that didn’t do much good. The water did not drip. It spread. He tried to push small objects into the shut-off valve, but the force of the water blew these objects away. Now, three minutes after a flood emergency, the water hadn’t stopped! Frozen and scared, Jen slipped on a pair of jeans and ran downstairs to turn off the house water tap on the downstairs hall closet closet valve. He turned the valve counterclockwise until it was tight. As he got up, he saw a waterfall colliding against the overhead light in his kitchen, located below the main bathroom. So much water had spilled that he had come downstairs. He ran upstairs to confirm that he had stopped the leak and, as he ran, realized that the water might have spilled during the twenty minutes he was in the shower.
When he got to his bathroom, he saw water spurting out of the useless shutoff valve. Jen ran downstairs to turn the main house shutoff valve clockwise (could it be installed backwards?). After that, he ran upstairs to see that he still hadn’t stopped the leak. Sobbing, she reached for her smartphone to call a plumber. They put her on hold, asked her to leave a message, and on her fifth try, a receptionist told her a plumber would be arriving in three days. Jen heard, “Would you use a date in the morning or in the afternoon?” He disconnected and phoned his neighbors. On his second call, he received help. A neighbor had a “T” tap for the water meter. In three minutes he turned off the water to Jen’s house on the street.
Jen contacted her landlord’s insurance agent, who initiated a claim and helped her find a reputable plumber. With an approved claim, the agent gave Jen options about professionals to hire to mitigate the water damage by locating, removing or drying it. Its tile floor and cabinets were demolished. Then Jen was able to select new cabinets and tile floors. Jen got a new bathroom and parts for a new kitchen, but had to pay thousands of dollars in costs beyond what her insurance would pay. He asked his plumber to replace all the water shutoff valves in his house with the best products; two in each sink and one behind each toilet. He bought a wrench in “T” and learned how to use it to turn off the water in the street. # Tag1writer
