Leaking down two floors

Yesterday I touched on the fact that something bad happened at the condo the other day. I’m really trying to get everything done correctly. I’m doing my best to make sure that my experiences here are good ones, right? Still, with so many good things going on, I guess something was bound to happen to get my head out of the clouds.

So, yesterday while I was at work I received a call on my cell. Turns out it one of the building’s head builders. After exchanging greetings with her, it was obvious that something was up. When she told me that there was a problem with my suite my heart sank.

What could have gone wrong?
What did I do?
Did I do something irresponsible?

In just a few brief moments so many scenarios played through my head. After some thought though I was able to narrow it down to a few probable causes. When the builder explained, my fears were confirmed. Apparently the fridge water line was leaking. The resulting water had gone down two floors. Fuck! Due to this, they had to enter the suite and shut off the valve to the fridge water line. That in itself didn’t bother me at all. I mean, it’s a good thing that they went in to prevent further damage. I asked how bad it was and they said “Oh, it’s bad. I mean it went down two floors.” At that point I just became muddled and couldn’t concentrate. I’ve been doing my best to be a good neighbour. The fact that something originating in my suite had caused the issue just about killed me.

When I regained some clarity of mind, I asked her what the damage was like. She said that there was some water damage on the wall behind the fridge. Most likely I’d experience some swollen baseboards. Fine. Nothing that can’t be addressed, right? I asked about the damage downstairs. She told me that fortunately the damage was only to the corridor. Nothing happened to any of the suites below mine. Thank GOD. Since it was just to the common areas, it meant that I wouldn’t have to cover any repairs. Still, I felt kind of bad knowing that the fuck up was on my head. After the phone call I went straight back home from work to survey the damage. I didn’t think it was horrible, but you could tell that something happened behind the fridge.

What went wrong? Well, if you recall, a bunch of us worked together to connect that line a few weekends ago. The first time we did it I didn’t tighten the nuts enough so it kind of splashed all over. We shut off the water and I tightened the hell out of the nut. Hells yeah, it was secure. When we opened the valve, there was no spraying at all. I was satisfied that things were secure, so we pushed the fridge back. At that point we had every reason to be self-congratulatory. I mean, wow, connecting that thing was actually pretty cool. From that point though, I must have moved the fridge back and forth a couple of times. The movement must have loosened the copper pipe connection, thus spraying all over. Thing is, I didn’t even know there was an issue. There was no hissing. There wasn’t a big huge puddle on the kitchen floor. No, there was nothing. How would I have known unless I became paranoid and checked behind the fridge a few times? And in doing so, wouldn’t that make the problem worse? Bah. I don’t know what happened, and I’m sure I will never know. Anyway, that’s a lesson learned, isn’t it? The builder told me that I should get a plumber to come in and connect it. They would know how to make it all entirely secure. Well after the fact, of course, I’m inclined to agree. I completely recognize that the problem could have been a whole lot worse. So, I’m glad knowing that this episode came to pass with minimal effects.

Possibly related posts:

1. The big thaw
2. Connections and handy work
3. Increased handiness