For Lesley, my crazy Christmas

Stanz · Post by **Stanz** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:16 pm

So, Christmas eve morning at 8 AM, our water heater shorted out and began burning the foam insulation and we were awakened by the smoke that filled our house when the furnace came on at 8. Thankfully we were home and smelled the smoke. Well, it was only Christmas Eve, stores were open, and after much research we found that Lowes had one only of the one we needed. We have a friend who is soon arriving to stay here through Christmas. DH puts everything on hold at Lowes, our houseguest arrives, and soon after they leave for Lowes. While they’re gone I figure out how to drain the water heater, but not w/o burning myself while releasing the pressure valve. NOT what I planned for the day - still had gift shopping planned - but at that point, I’m just so happy that our house didn't catch on fire and we were home when it happened and were able to put the fire out and air out the house.

They get back with the new water heater, and, of course, find that Lowes forgot to include things he had asked them to hold, so back to Lowes they go, after we disconnected the old water heater and take it outside. We also had found black mold and a damaged subfloor under the former water heater, which had been leaking since March – and I wanted to replace back then. Long story. By now I am really angry that it has come to this, that our house could have caught fire because this wasn’t dealt with months before. While they’re gone I cut a new piece of plywood to cover the moldy, pitted flooring, with cutouts for a floor vent, and in and around corners and install it. My ex-DH was a remodeling contractor, there are few areas of construction that I haven’t done, fortunately. They arrive with the rest of the stuff and we're supposedly "good to go". We’d also found that the galvanized pipe feeding the water heater was rusted out when he removed the old water heater. DH replaced the pipe w/no drama and I’m hopeful we can fix this and get back to normal.

I unpack the new water heater. The new energy efficient water heaters are bigger around now because they come with all the insulation enclosed. The old one was 18" at it's widest. This is when we realize that the new furnace (which we replaced last Christmas) has ventilation and evaporation piping that extends too far into the opening of the closet area and up through the roof, where we need to put the new water heater through. We also find that there is a leak from the roof. The only way we can MAYBE get it in, is by lifting a 143 lb. water heater over and above the furnace piping and dropping it down. We are lacking 5 inches in width and where we do have the 24" we need, we likely don't have enough headroom to angle it in. The stores are now all closed through Christmas.

Well, fortunately we have a water heater for the kitchen and another bathroom - which doesn't have a shower/bath. Other than tearing out support beams there doesn't seem to be a solution other than removing the furnace pipes and then we won't have heat OR hot water. Our friend/houseguest is being very helpful, despite this wasn't what he'd had planned either. I’ve been awake since 4:30 in the morning and was too tired to deal with any more, so finally we just said "screw it" for the day around 9 PM, opened a bottle of wine, and ate some really good food. My daughter came over to pick up the presents I'd picked up for her kids while she was in LA with her sister. I was literally still in my pajamas.

Christmas day. Well, fortunately I'd already shopped for Christmas dinner on the 23rd. I get up Christmas morning and clean up as best I can. I call my daughter to find out when they’re going to be back home from her in-laws place, and find out she is sick, but still wants us to come over. So, I made dinner for all of us, pack it and the presents up, take it all over and take showers at their house before we eat. We exchange presents, everything is very nice and very tense.

Monday the 26th. We leave a message with the people who installed our furnace to tell them the piping needs to be re-routed and that the hole in the roof has apparently been leaking since they installed it (judging from the water stains). We now find a live electrical wire shoved into a hole at the base of the wall in the back of the closet that isn’t connected to anything other than the light in our laundry room which is probably 60 feet away. Next to this is the outflow pipe, he disconnects the old flex hose and finds this pipe is also rusted out. This is when it gets “really fun”. The rest of the day is a blur. Many arguments about “firewalls” and how to solve the electrical problem, but DH eventually caps off the electrical at the floor and then decides that isn’t good enough should there be a leak.

Tuesday the 27th, my brother is brought into this. He’d borrowed the saw that we need now. He’s also a contractor who knows his stuff and even though he’s as ADD as my DH, he does prevent me from committing a capital offense. The furnace guys come to re-route the piping, surely we’re good to go now!!! I have to leave for a few hours. My brother caps off the electrical wires via the attic and patches the holes in the sheetrock. I get home, brother leaves, surely we’re good to go now, but now we’re dealing with wiring issues on the water heater. The instructions don’t say what to do with the “white wire” and nobody at Whirlpool/Lowes, etc will commit to telling him how to deal with it and he’s not comfortable proceeding and by now it’s after 5 and I have given up.

Wednesday the 28th, I leave early to go babysit my grandkids (and shower) and I come home hopeful that we now have a functioning water heater. But no, DH has been on the phone dealing with legitimate family issues relating to his Dad’s death all day and now he has to go to a friend’s birthday party. I am beyond frustrated and go to bed, he comes home after the party and hooks up the electrical while I am sleeping.

Thursday the 29th, all our ducks are apparently in a row, we decide not to replace the outflow pipe, as realistically we need to literally rebuild this whole end of this sprawling house, as all the pipes underneath the house are rusty and need to be replaced with Wirsbo, so what’s the point? We fill the water heater and with much trepidation turn on the power. Nothing explodes. By 4 PM yesterday we had hot water and DH finally had a shower. Other than 1 little leak that has since been fixed, we have hot water now. We still need to tear down that whole end of the house as it was built without a sill plate and has dry-rot, but that’s another story. We don’t have a house that is even remotely normal in it’s evolution from a hunting lodge and is now in an area that is considered “city”, but is a beautiful, unique place that is so charming, has an interesting history and suits us.

Friday the 30th, I’m struggling to have a sense of humor and not be afraid of the changes sure to come in my family. It's always something. Christmas has always been hard for me for many reasons. DH had to leave this morning and I was waiting to go take my first shower since this happened until the guys who sold my DH a battery for his truck, that he installed this morning, and needed to use today, only to find out that it apparently wasn’t charged, so he called them and asked them to come out and fix it and they just came and found that the battery is fine, it’s another problem with his truck and it just goes on and on……

So, that's been my Christmas, not like I ever had high hopes to begin with, but, the result of this is that the stress resulted in “Hershey squirts” that have now become “slushies” so I guess that’s progress.

Happy New Year.

Connie

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:41 pm

Good heavens Connie! When you do drama you do it BIG!

Not that I am a helpless "little woman", but I sure as hell act like one when things like that happen in my house. In fact I have been known to act that way intentionally to get help from big strong guys!
One good thing about living in a rented place. Something happens I call "the guys" and they fix it for me.

he does prevent me from committing a capital offense

I don't know how he held you back. I would have been apoplectic by then.

Sorry you had to put up with the fire hose stuff as a result, but both you and the house seem to be recovering.

They say no one gets more than they can handle. I REALLY don't believe that one. It has to come out somewhere, and with us we know where it comes out of (or doesn't in my case).

I hope for you that this year brings only good stuff for you and yours!

Stanz · Post by **Stanz** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 8:53 pm

Ah, yes, Lesley, we'll see if we recover. I forgot to add that the reason I went to bed early on the 28th, was because shortly after he left to go to the birthday party, in the middle of a deluge of rain, I could hear that the flat roof over our garage area was overflowing with water, which meant that the TINY little drain that the nimrods who built this place and installed, had plugged up, even though I'd cleaned off the roof and drain screen just 4 weeks ago. So, I knew that there was a "lake" on the roof.

I also knew and found that it was blowing into an unused roof vent in my garage and flooding all the shelving that contains all our power tools, etc., so I am beyond frustrated already, and now I am taking out a ladder and going onto the roof in a blinding rainstorm to clear the drain so that the end of this sprawling place - that is garage and storage - won't ultimately end in all the ceilings in that area being flooded and collapsing onto all that DH considers holy and all my catering equipment. After this is when I go to bed.

JoAnn · Post by **JoAnn** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:35 pm

Connie, I just wanted to send you :bigbighug:

You deserve a MUCH better New Year,

Love JoAnn

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:43 pm

Connie,
That is WAY too much excitement for anyone! It sounds like a scene from a horror movie.

OK, tomorrow is a new year. In fact, on the east coast it already is 2012. Tomorrow is going to be MUCH better, and all of the new year. I decreed!

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 9:42 am

WOW!! I'd have been contemplating a capital offence too!!

What a story!!

Love, Shirley

Post by **tex** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 9:46 am

Lesley,

Whoa! You're jumping the gun. You forgot about the 31st day of December. It's already 2012 in Australia, but the east coast of the U. S., still has to finish today, to get to 2012.

:2012cautionsign:

Tex

Stanz · Post by **Stanz** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 11:01 am

Thanks for the hug, JoAnn, and the confirmation that this was a bit much, you guys. I was under a great deal of stress before any of this happened, so I'm still in a bit of shock over it all.

Doing my best to deal, but not doing well.

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 12:09 pm

Tex, I am always mixed up with dates. It's my grandson's birthday today, and I thought it was yesterday. The kids think I am totally muddled and they are RIGHT!

Post by **tex** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:08 pm

Lesley,

Look at the bright side - this gives you an extra day to enjoy.

Tex

Post by **tex** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 1:25 pm

Connie,

Replacing a water heater has to be one of the most frustrating projects on the planet. I hate it with a passion, because the new heater will never fit in the same place as the old one, and there are always additional complicating issues. Always! The people who design water heaters are without a doubt, some of the cruelest sadists in the world.

Besides all that, water heaters never quit at a sensible time - they always quit either while no one is at home, or as soon as the stores close on weekends or holidays, and they try to pick a long weekend, whenever possible. Obviously, water heaters are sadists, also. As proof of that, do they ever quit during the summer? Nope! They virtually always quit during the winter, if they can possibly arrange it. If you had lived in the Midwest, it probably would have waited until you were snowed in.

If there are any "good" water heaters reading this post, I apologize for making such accusatory generalizations, but I've replaced quite a few water heaters in my day, and none of them have ever impressed me with their behavior. They all seemed to be just about as inconsiderate as they could have possibly been, under the circumstances.

I hope your symptoms subside soon - hopefully the New Year will bring some smooth sailing for a while.

Tex

humbird753 · Post by **humbird753** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 4:07 pm

Hi Connie,

What a holiday "horror"!!! That was a lot to deal with over the holiday.

Sounds like things have settled down now. I hope you're feeling better about all of it soon.

Happy New Year.

Paula

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 6:07 pm

Connie, that is quite a terrible story.

Stress beyond words. I hope and pray that 2012 brings you less stress and good health.

A :bigbighug:

from me, too.

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:56 pm

Connie,

Unbelievable! One thing after another...it can only get better. I hope you can get some rest and peace over the weekend.

Gloria

Stanz · Post by **Stanz** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 2:07 pm

Tex,

I see that no "good" water heaters have defended themselves. I take that as a confirmation. We can't live w/o them, they know that, they like to remind us by tactically choosing the worst possible times to use their power - or not.....

Happy New year,

Connie