This was the sound I heard just after I returned home late this morning (about 11:30AM). I had run out to pick up some Star Wars stamps for our birth announcements. I came in through the garage and was just closing the door when (as the title says) I heard: “Thunk-WHHHOOOOOSSSSHHHH!!” come from upstairs, something like the sound you get when you suddenly release the tub drain… except the rush of water seemed to be under pressure and kept going strong. Afraid that perhaps K has fallen in the shower (she had not), I shouted out and quickly ran upstairs.
Meanwhile: “WHHHOOOOOSSSSHHHH!!”
I got to the top of the stairs and noticed the running water sound seemed to be coming from the hall bathroom (maybe K is in the tub?). I quickly looked in the tub… nothing… except for water gurgling out around the water control knob (we have one of those single knob shower controls) and from… get this… around the OUTSIDE of the tub faucet. “Oooh,” I thought, “that can’t be good.” So skipping most of the stairs on the way down, I sprinted to the basement.
Meanwhile: “WHHHOOOOOSSSSHHHH!!”
As I passed through the kitchen there were not yet any signs of the mischief above. I quickly ran to the hot water cutoff…. a few squeaks later… no change.
Still going: “whhhooooosssshhh!!” from two floors away.
Off to the main water cutoff. I torqued it down tight and thankfully heard the rush subside. I walked back upstairs and turned on the kitchen faucet to help drain the line and heard the splashing of water drops. Some, then many dripping down out of the kitchen recessed lighting fixture (mmm… 120 VAC and water). Back downstairs for that collection of unused kitty litter buckets…
First one on the counter, then two, then one under the threshold to the center hall, then two… eventually four. Water was dripping rapidly from the door frame and from the recessed lighting. About this time K got downstairs and asked “Did you just get home?”
“Yes,” I replied, “I’m glad I did!”
Can you imagine the disaster if that had occurred while neither of us had been home (we were about to leave for Nathan’s pediatric appointment)?
Aftermath: Towels and buckets throughout the kitchen, no more active dripping at this point, several knife wounds to the ceiling where I punctured wet spots to prevent cave-ins. There are two gigantic water spots on the ceiling (one bathtub sized… go figure, the other about 1/2 that).
Root cause: I took the access panel off the back of the wet wall (in the linen closet). We left the panel when my Dad and I installed the plumbing fixtures last year. I feared that one of the sweats had popped. We also installed cutoffs at the tub, so I cutoff water locally and turned the house water back on. No broken welds, but rather a small cutoff valve and snap ring from the Moen fixture were lying on the bottom of the wall (inside the wall). They both looked intact. I removed the face plate from the tub side, and the valve body looked in tact. When I put the valve back into place, and inserted the snap ring (retaining ring in an interior groove on the valve body) it was pretty sloppy in the groove. In fact, if I slid it to the top of the groove, I could almost clear one side of the ring from the groove. I removed it and opened it up a bit, then reinserted it. Much tighter fit now. I admit, I’m a bit curious as to whether this will happen again any time soon.
I think I had better check the insurance for water damage… in case this happens when nobody is home next time.
PS: I’m starting to wonder if my sister is right.
June 6th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Perhaps you have a ghost who thought life had been too calm the past few days!