THIS is what renter's insurance is for
Sep. 5th, 2006 06:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gizaMy toilet just exploded.
Well, maybe "explode" isn't the right word, but that's sure what it seemed like at the time!
I was woken up at 5 AM by what sounded like a "thud" coming from the bathroom. A "porcelain on porcelain" sounding thud, which was loud enough to wake me up. I shambled into the bathroom to see what was going on, and heard the sound of my toilet filling. I've had minor problems before, where the water hose inside the toilet would come dislodged from its tube, which was easy enough to fix by removing the porcelain cover, grabbing the (spurting) hose, and reinserting it where it belonged.
When I tried removing the porcelain cover to do that this time, I was greeted by a stream of water in right in the face! To my horror, I noticed that said stream was shooting straight up (it's never done THAT before), and that water was rapidly collecting on the floor, and starting to flow out into the hallway. Definitely not good!
I reached behind the toilet for the shutoff valve, only to discover that it was stuck tight! I was flailing about, getting ready to run down the hall to my neighbor's and see if he had a pipe wrench, when I suddenly remembered that I had a pair of pliers in the linen closet. I threw open the door (oh gee, there's water in THERE, too!), grabbed the pliers, and started twisting the valve closed, while water was raining down on me, like a water park from hell.
I finally got the water flow under control, and started to check out the damage. The bathroom was flooded with about a half an inch of water. The water had also gone out into the hallway, and worked its way into my bedroom, leaving the outer 2 inches of the carpet soaked. I was fortunate that I stopped the water when I did, because it's nothing that 20 minutes of mopping and a fan weren't able to fix. Had the water gotten much further, I would have had damage well into the hundreds of dollars, and had to file a claim with my renter's insurance, which would cover this sort of thing.
Post mortem examination of the now ex-toilet revealed that the plastic assembly that regulates the flow of water inside the toilet had actually separated from the base that it was attached to. This left the copper water pipe coming out of the wall exposed, and with nothing to regulate it, the water shot out full force. I also determined that the water struck the ceiling, as evidenced by the water droplets hanging from the ceiling. This also resulted in my possessions on the rack above the toilet getting soaked.
Oh well, that's an interesting way to start the week. At least I have an excuse to fail today's qualifying round in the Google Code Jam...
Well, maybe "explode" isn't the right word, but that's sure what it seemed like at the time!
I was woken up at 5 AM by what sounded like a "thud" coming from the bathroom. A "porcelain on porcelain" sounding thud, which was loud enough to wake me up. I shambled into the bathroom to see what was going on, and heard the sound of my toilet filling. I've had minor problems before, where the water hose inside the toilet would come dislodged from its tube, which was easy enough to fix by removing the porcelain cover, grabbing the (spurting) hose, and reinserting it where it belonged.
When I tried removing the porcelain cover to do that this time, I was greeted by a stream of water in right in the face! To my horror, I noticed that said stream was shooting straight up (it's never done THAT before), and that water was rapidly collecting on the floor, and starting to flow out into the hallway. Definitely not good!
I reached behind the toilet for the shutoff valve, only to discover that it was stuck tight! I was flailing about, getting ready to run down the hall to my neighbor's and see if he had a pipe wrench, when I suddenly remembered that I had a pair of pliers in the linen closet. I threw open the door (oh gee, there's water in THERE, too!), grabbed the pliers, and started twisting the valve closed, while water was raining down on me, like a water park from hell.
I finally got the water flow under control, and started to check out the damage. The bathroom was flooded with about a half an inch of water. The water had also gone out into the hallway, and worked its way into my bedroom, leaving the outer 2 inches of the carpet soaked. I was fortunate that I stopped the water when I did, because it's nothing that 20 minutes of mopping and a fan weren't able to fix. Had the water gotten much further, I would have had damage well into the hundreds of dollars, and had to file a claim with my renter's insurance, which would cover this sort of thing.
Post mortem examination of the now ex-toilet revealed that the plastic assembly that regulates the flow of water inside the toilet had actually separated from the base that it was attached to. This left the copper water pipe coming out of the wall exposed, and with nothing to regulate it, the water shot out full force. I also determined that the water struck the ceiling, as evidenced by the water droplets hanging from the ceiling. This also resulted in my possessions on the rack above the toilet getting soaked.
Oh well, that's an interesting way to start the week. At least I have an excuse to fail today's qualifying round in the Google Code Jam...