sometimes you eat the bar...

... and sometimes it eats you.

So yesterday I ran some errands after work. Ran down to the scuba shop and bought some junk, nothing too exciting. Anyways, I get home and decide I better throw some laundry in the washer before I eat so I can make the most of my time. So I put some clothes in, turn the washer on and head upstairs. I eat my sandwich and get caught up in a movie, Fight Club. I started the machine at around 6:30 to 7 and decided around 9 to head downstairs to throw it in the drier and possibly get one more load done before I head to bed. I head for the basement door and open it up. As I turn on my stair light, to my surprise I see what appears to be wet carpet about 6 inches from the stairs. FUCK. I literally ran down the stairs thinking to myself what in the world could this be? The water main? I get to the bottom and look over at my newly renovated den area… the carpet is soaked. I then look towards the laundry room to notice the carpet outside of it is to say the least, very wet. I run to the laundry room door and crack push it open. FUCK. Water was at a depth of an inch by the door, and 4 inches by the washer…. and high enough to be possibly shorting out an appliance meaning the water is live… with 120vac. I take my work pants off and my socks and touch my toe to the water. No shock. Whew! I decide to take the gamble and make a dash for the sewer drain which doesn’t appear to be draining. I dash in and hear the still filling!! WTF?! I open the lid to find the washer completely… empty! The water was pouring out into the washer, but water was flowing out the bottom of the machine! I shut the washer off and turn my attention to the flooded 4 inches of water I’m standing in. I took a look at the drain and came to the quick decision that it must be plugged. Running upstairs I grab the plunger and head back down. I get down there and begin to plunge away. My attempts as it turns out were futile. I run back to my shop and grab a screw driver and come back and remove the sewer grate cover to discover what appears to be a cloth covering the drain hole. I throw it out of the way and to my relief a mini water tornado begins to form. The room finally drains and I turned my attention to my soaked basement carpet. The first thing I did was move everything in my den that was on wet carpet to higher ground, meaning to the north wall where the water had yet to reach. I then grabbed the shop wet/dry vac and began what turned out to be 3 hours of personal time on my knees between the carpet and myself. I finished up around midnight and when I went to bed had 2 fans on full blast and the carpet barely damp. In total and in my estimation, there was about 20 gallons of water I sucked up in the shopvac and at least 36 gallons on the floor in my laundry room. Who knows how much more I lost down the drain, or how long the drain was going before it clogged.

So now this weekend I have the fun job of ripping the washer apart to fix it. Hopefully it’s just a faulty valve. Worst case – I get to by a new washer. Joy.