I typed this story up last week, and then it got erased when I was just about done, so I ignored it for the week because I was frustrated, but now here it is....
Last Friday was the last night of Steve being out of town. The boys and I went to a High School Football game because they like to introduce the flag football players at one of their games, so Steven was being introduced. We had a pretty good time, but left at half time because the boys had lost interest. When we got home the boys asked if they could still stay up late. On Friday nights they get to stay up late and watch TV if they have had good behavior at school that week. (It has been a great incentive for Nathan.) At about that time Steve called from his hotel, and I wanted to talk to him about the day, so I told the boys to turn the TV on. This was about 9:00pm. ThenI went in to the office and got on the computer while I talked to Steve. I talked to him for about ten minutes , and when I was done talking I stayed on the computer because the boys were all occupied watching their late show. Right?? WRONG!
At 9:30 I hear Brandon start whining so I went to find him. I walked through the family room towards his room, and on my way I stepped in a puddle of water, took another step and stepped in another puddle of water. I looked towards the bathroom and Brandon was locked in it, so I ran and turned the lights on and my family room was FLOODED! Apparently for that half hour Brandon was not watching TV like I thought he was, instead he was flushing toilet paper down the toilet and watching the water flow over the top. It had to have been running for like twenty minutes. The bathroom, hall, and family room were covered in water. I couldn't believe how much there was on the floor. My bathroom has a tile floor, but the hall and family room have a very nice hardwood floor.
So, I quickly made all the boys get a towel and start soaking up the water. That was a joke! The towels were dripping before they even got to the floor. The boys would bring me their towels and I would ring them out and send them to soak up more water. After about 15 minutes of this with little progress, and my hands hurting from ringing out four towels every minute I decided to call for help.
My backyard neighbor is a member of the church, and a dear friend to me, and I knew she had a carpet cleaner. So, at 9:45pm I called her and told her the situation. She came right over with the carpet cleaner, and worked for an hour to get the water up. She probably filled her two gallon tank fifteen times, and had to dump it. Like I said, So Much Water. So she and I took the rugs outside, and I mopped up the rest and we went to bed. Thank heavens that is over. Right? WRONG!
Over this past week I have noticed the floor cracking and then getting little white spots all over it. Everyone I have talked to said I definitely needed to call my home owners insurance and find out if there was more damage done to the floor. Well, I finally did that this past Friday, so one week after it happened, and when the lady came to check it today she said there is definitely water still under the floor. It has probably just pooled under the wood floor, and is sitting on the concrete slab, and rotting the wood floor from underneath. Aarrgghh!
I am so mad at myself for not paying more attention that night. This is going to be such a headache to have the floor ripped up and a new one put in, not to mention the $500 deductible we are going to have to come up with.
I was pretty calm the night this happened and was very ignorant in thinking that once we soaked up the water the problem was solved. What was weird to me was the slight panic attacks I had in the middle of the night for two nights after this happened. On Saturday night Jacob came into my room because he was scared and he was kneeling next to my bed asking if he could sleep with me. I woke up and looked at him and then started yelling, "Where is Brandon, do you know where Brandon is!!??" I remember being very afraid that Brandon was in danger.
Then the next night at about 3am I woke up and jumped out of bed, and was quickly headed to Brandon's room to see what he was doing. Steve talked to me before I got out of our room and asked what I was doing. I then became conscious and realized that I was panicking for no reason. Weird huh??
So...if you are still reading this we need some opinions. What kind of floor would you get for your family room. I guess we have the option to change if we want, and I may want to do that. The hardwood looks beautiful, but it scratches SO easily and it stresses me out every time something gets slid across that floor. We thought today about carpet of pergo or hardwood again. Does anyone have an opinion for me? I would love to hear it.
The End
11 comments:
OH MY GOODNESS!!! That is horrible! You started to tell me the story, but I don't think you finished it. Plus, you didn't know the rest of the story. That is a pain! Laurel and Alicia Ellsworth have concrete floors, they just paint the concrete. Alicia Buchanan had a counter top like that and I liked it. That is really durable. Is your kitchen getting done, too?
Opinion- yes I do.
First of all, I can't believe what a pain that is. And I don't think it's weird at all that you're having little panic attacks about Brandon. Every time we've had a scare, I become crazy paranoid for a little while.
On your floors- Hardwood floors are BEAUTIFUL!!!! I can't wait to have them someday in my dream home. BUT- I do not love them with little kids. 1. They are LOUD! 2. There is nowhere for your boys to wrestle and tumble around on the floor. So they probably use your furniture which is NOT okay with me. Even if I had hardwood down every hall and in the entry, I would carpet the family room. It's just a place where you want to lounge out and watch TV, or play a board game or wrestle. I like the family room to be cozy and comfortable, and maybe not as formal.
Wow. That was a lot. In the end... My opinion- carpet in the family room(even if you do beautiful hardwood down the hall).
I would love to have the fake hardwood stuff. Yet, I also agree with the above poster that especially when your kids are little, carpet is a beeter choice. So sorry this happened.
Why didn't the other boys tell you that there was water on the floor?
The latest craze here is concrete floors. They can be stained to any color you like, and looks a lot like huge tiles. They are super easy to clean and need to polish only once a year. I personally love them!!
I hate carpet because of stains and animal hair. But if you go with carpet they make this new carpet out of recycled pop bottles. It supposedly wears extremely well, and is pretty stain resistant.
God luck interested to see what you choose!
In the house we own we have a combination of hardwood and pergo, absolutely no carpet anywhere. In the house we are renting right now we have carpet. The carpet is harder to keep clean, but it is quieter and more comfortable to lay on and wrestle. I like the hard floors better, even with four boys. That is what area rugs are for. :o} Good luck!
Oh my gosh! That is horrible! I don't have any opinion about whether to do carpet or hardwood. Hardwood looks good, but scratches easily....esp with 4 boys. Carpet is more durable but stains extremely easily. (just take a look at MY house!!!) :) Anyway, let us know what you decide! :)
What a nightmare!! I'm sorry you've had to deal with that!
You have probably already made a decision but I'll throw my 2 cents anyways. We had hardwood in our last house and I loved the look but HATED it with kids. If it were me, I would do vinyl "hardwood." It look almost the same but is so much durable! My SIL has/had it and it is gorgeous and so easy to take care of. I've gotten to where I HATE carpet. It just gets nasty after a while and I hate to vacuume. You could get a large area rug to lay down to make it warmer and more cozy.
That's just my opinion.
It's actually called laminate "hardwood" not vinyl.
Thank you for asking for my opinion. That happens too infrequently in my old age.
I say that, in spite of it all, you should keep Brandon.
I love our hardwood floors, however, even with only 3 of us left in the house now I can still see where they have become scratched. I'd definately go with carpet with 4 kids!! How come the other boys didn't notice that the floor was wet??
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