Adventures in Home Ownership: Water Damage (Part I)

I'm one of those homeowners that would rather just fix it and move on. I may not have the savvy and know how to do it alone, but goodness knows I will stalk beg politely appeal to someone who does until they help me fix it. (Sorry, Dad, that usually means you.) However, I have recently come across one problem I could not solve alone.

Water Damage.

I discovered a small pool of water collected in the bottom of the laundry closet. We checked the washer and all of its many water connections and deemed that temporary halt of its use would help us determine the cause. I stopped doing laundry (which had its own benefit, which was pseudo-discussed here.) And then, three days later, the water appeared. This led us to the conclusion that the water had to be coming from the shower, just behind the wall.

We did several experiments to try and determine which part of the shower the water was coming from. We blocked up the drain to check the basin, and then we put the water line directly on the one of the corners of the encasement... as we allowed the water to run, we noticed the water seep under the drywall in the laundry closet. Clearly we had a culprit. However, at this point the damage had gotten worse, and now linoleum tiles were pulling up from both the laundry closet and the bathroom. I decided it was time to call the my homeowners insurance company.

I have to say that I am pretty impressed with Safeco. My claim was taken late on a random weekend day. Within two days an inspector was taking measurements, two days later a 'water specialist' arrived to determine the exact location of the leak. And it was not from where we thought --- the basin was leaking, and the water was pooling underneath the basin and spreading out on either side of the shower encasement. The problem with this being that if the leak was deemed to have lasted more than two weeks, my particular coverage would no longer cover the damage. The description provided to me by the water specialist didn't give me much hope...So I waited several days before my wonderful insurance claim lady called back. Assuming the worst, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that my claim would be covered and that the company was sending out a specialist to look for specific water damage, mold and other types of damage.

And that brings us to today.  This morning, the water damage dudes came out to the house. They noticed some water damage in the other bathroom, and took out some dry wall to look at both bathrooms. Luckily, there was no major water damage, rot or mold. They did put ginormous green industrial fans in both bathrooms and in the face of both drywall holes. I am supposed to let them run and hang out until tomorrow, or the next day, when they come pick them up. Until then, I get to figure out how to use the facilities around giant green fans and possibly shower at the gym. See!! Another good reason to have joined the gym!

The fan in the kitchen blowing into the bathroom. 

Hall bathroom: Anyone need to use the facilities?

Master bedroom: fanning out underneath the shower. 

Master Bathroom: Being mastered by the green fan!