Another Leak In My House (or Testing My Patience)

I’ve had a lot of issues with my house lately. In the past few months, I’ve had 2 different gas leaks and one water leak. Although I will say, the gas leak must have been going on for years because I just got my gas bill for last month, and it’s less than half of the cheapest it has ever been. So at least I’m saving some money now.

I will say, having issues with a rental should be expected when the place you are renting is almost 100 years old. But on Wednesday night, this problem made me go a little crazy.

The evening was going normally. Got home from my workout and took a quick shower. Then I headed into the kitchen to make some dinner. I had to grab something out of my utility room behind my kitchen (that’s where my pantry storage is) and when I stepped into the room, my foot went into a puddle.

I turned on the light in my utility room and noticed water pouring out of the bottom of my water heater. There was at least half an inch of water on the ground (thankfully it turns out that my utility room is the low point in my house and most of the water was contained in that area).

First thing I did was grab some towels, I tried to stop up the leak and that seemed to help a bit. Then I started trying to clean up the floor and move everything that was in the utility room. My suitcases are in there and they are fine (but they were soaked). My vacuum was also there and when I lifted it out, water poured from the bottom. I think that might now be garbage.

Thankfully, the water stopped leaking so I could take a minute to evaluate the situation. I tried to shut off the water to the water heater, but the instructions weren’t clear on which pipe that was. So I called my dad.

My dad was able to FaceTime with me and I had the camera pointed out so he could see what I was looking at. He was able to find the pipe that I needed to shut off, so I tried that. It was stuck, but since my dad stocked my tool kit with everything, I was able to use some WD40 on it and stop the water from filling up the tank again.

My next call was my landlord. I figured this was an emergency and I needed to leave a message for him right away. And of course, when I called, the voicemail wasn’t working so I couldn’t leave a message. I found his email address from an old email that I sent to him regarding a rent issue and sent an email with the subject “Leaking Water Heater”. That got his attention and he emailed me back within a few hours letting me know that the plumbers would be at my house in the morning.

The plumbers showed up (and we laughed about how often they’ve been sent to my house lately), and they immediately saw that my water heater was not salvageable and that they would need to go out and buy me a new one then.

All in all, it took a little over 2 hours to get the old water heater out and put the new one in. And about another 2 hours to clean up all the mess (when they moved the old water heater a flood of rusted water came out of the bottom and all over my floors).

Even though this situation was not idea, I tried to practice gratitude again. At least I noticed the flood at the beginning and it didn’t flood overnight. At least I rent so I didn’t have to pay for the repair. At least my landlord saw my email that night and sent the plumbers right away. And at least I had already taken my post-workout shower.

My dad added one as well. With all the issues that I’ve seen in my house lately, I’m getting more and more prepared to eventually be a homeowner. And I’m seeing what these emergencies can cost and why renting is the best situation for me right now.

In the 4 1/2 years I’ve lived in my house, I’ve rarely had a problem. But having these three back to back has really tested my patience and my ability to stay positive and grateful. But fortunately, I am able to stay on the positive side and not freak out about these things like I would have years ago.

And now, I have a fancy new water heater in my house!

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2 Floods in 11 Hours (or I’m Glad I Knew Where The Water Shut-Off Was) Getting Rid Of Extras (or Cleaning House) Another Test Of Being Grateful (or Again I’m Glad I Rent) Upgrading My House (or Feeling Lucky) Having My Patience Tested (or Taking Deep Breaths) Testing Some Water (or Continuing My No Soda Streak)