The Ugliness of Owning a Home

I woke up this morning happy that I had my husband home for a whole day off, GASP. We discussed last night about going skiing today since again our fourth rescheduled ski trip got cancelled for next weekend because of work “shaking my fist at the sky”, but Mr. Rogue was feeling exhausted so we decided to just hang out at home. I woke up early and was reading on the couch letting Mr. Rogue get some extra ZZZZ. When he came out of the bedroom an hour later he started pacing around the house asking me if I can hear the noise. Ummm what noise? I ask. Once he points it out I can hear what he means, it is a slight hum, a hum that woke him up at 3:00 in the morning, a hum that we both ended up investigating. Neither of us could determine where it was coming from but Mr. Rogue thought it sounded like running water. He decided to check the water meter outside which is in the rarely used alley out back. What he walked out to was a surprise to both of us. The alley had water in it!

Mr. Rogue tried digging around in the murky stuff for the shut-off valve to the house.



He spent a good half hour rooting around trying to locate it... Oh wait did he find it? That face does not look good. Of course I helped by tiptoeing around the water and taking photos. I am a girl and plumbing is not something I signed up for.



The entire alley was soaked with hundreds of gallons of water, who knows how long it has been leaking. All I could think about was all that water gone to waste!



Unfortunately Mr. Rogue was unsuccessful at finding the main shutoff to the house. We ended up calling the city water company to come out and help, hoping that this would be their problem and not ours. I was praying all fingers and arms and legs and pinky toes crossed.

While we were waiting we found where the water was bubbling out and DRAT it was on our property. It was not a slow trickle either, this was a rip roaring spew of water.



Mr. Rogue tried to stop the leak with his finger, that did not work out so well.



Even two hands were not enough to stop the stream.



And the city came out, they shut off the water and stop the leak from continuing to water the alley but unfortunately all that praying and crossing did not get me anywhere. The damage is on our property and therefore our problem. We have a plumber coming out tomorrow to investigate and then there are the calls to the homeowners insurance and the problems to navigate once the plumber opens up the concrete and finds out how extensive the damage was.

For now all we can do is wait, wait in a house where we cannot use the faucets, the shower, or the toilets. We are lucky in the fact that my husband’s brother lives two doors down and our neighbour has given us free reign to let ourselves in their home with our key, Thanks Mrs. Rambo. But it could be several days until water is restored to the house. HOW ANNOYING!

As Mr. Rogue puts it
“At least it’s not black mold.”