Greetings all! I hope everyone had a great and safe holiday. I had a little mishap at my house over the holidays that could have been avoided had I been a little more diligent in maintaining my own home. I wanted to pass this info on so someone else might avoid the aggravation my family has recently gone/is going through.
You know those little drain holes that are cut into the bowls of most sinks in baths? Well, they're for handling overflow of water should the sink fill up. Now, these holes don't have the capacity to handle a large volume of water for an extended period of time but they're intended to handle the forgetful person that gets distracted and wanders off and leaves the faucet on with the stopper either closed or the drain plugged. I check these all the time as part of my inspections and always flag them when they're clogged or not draining properly. Does anyone ever check them periodically to see if they've gotten clogged over time? I don't but I will from now on!
The weekend after Christmas my family went out of town to visit family. Sunday evening my two older sons returned home to find part of our kitchen ceiling on the floor and water dripping from the ceiling. We think the culprit was one of our cats. He's big and loves to drink out of the faucet when he has the chance. We think he jumped up into the bath sink and rubbed against the handle causing the water to trickle out. One of my sons had put his contact lenses in prior to leaving and had left the stopper pulled so the drain was shut. The overflow for the sink was clogged and didn't drain sooooo... it overflowed and caused some pretty extensive damage in the kitchen, bath, hallway, and family room. The flow was slow enough where the overflow would have easily handled the trickling water had it been clear! Oh well, with a $500 insurance deductible it's an expensive lesson for me and a maintenance item I will not forget to check every now and then. I will certainly mention it to my clients in the future!
Here are a few pix of the damage (the blue things are heated blowers to dry things out!). Amazing what a little trickle of water over about 24 hours can do!
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