Oh, joy. Sitting in my basement office working this morning, I suddenly hear water running. And I’m alone in the house.

Run up the stairs, and water is gushing out of the main light fixture in the ceiling in the living room. Grab a couple of buckets and place them beneath the waterfall.

Run upstairs another flight, and find a supply line between a shutoff valve and a sink tap dislodged inside a cupboard beneath a sink in the upstairs bathroom. Turn off the shutoff valve, and then the main water valve in the basement for good measure.

When the supply had popped free and how long that cold-water pipe had been running I don’t know, but likely at least 15 minutes or more. That’s a lot of water.

Fearing the ceiling in the living room could collapse from the weight  of the water, I poked a few holes in it with a crowbar, and placed buckets under those as they began to flow.

The gusher from the ceiling eventually dwindled to a drip, and has now stopped, but water has also found its way through walls down to the basement bathroom, spreading over the floor.

Bucketing, mopping, toweling. . . Drying the carpet.

And not looking forward to assessing the full extent of the damage. The killer is the potential for mold. Once drywall gets wet. . .

I know a good chunk of the ceiling will have to come down and be re-done, but how much of the adjoining walls I don’t know yet.  May also have to pull the countertop and cabinets in the bathroom and redo the wall and floor behind them.

Sigh.

Anyway, I have reconnected the errant pipe, and turned the main water back on, and so far so good.

We were fortunate. We didn’t lose anything. It’s just the PITA factor now. . .