All Fall Down

The photographs in this album are no works of art, but they might prove interesting to those of you who've taken a stroll through my earlier home albums. As follows...It was a normal Tuesday morning. But not for long. I awoke not to the sound of birdsong, but my wife's frantic calls for help. Rushing into the lounge, I looked up to see my wife standing on the stairs and pointing frantically at the ceiling of our upstairs TV lounge. From every downlighter in the ceiling, solid columns of water poured into the lounge, soaking the new carpet, the furniture and all our TV equipment. I knew there was a hot-water geyser in the ceiling, so - still clad in my dressing-gown - I raced to the roadside where the valve of our water mains in located. To my horror, I discovered someone had removed the spindle on the stop tap - and there was no way I could get it to close. Rushing back into the house, I heard a sound like thunder and then stood transfixed as the entire upstairs ceiling - not just a portion of it, but the whole ceiling, came crashing down onto the floor - missing my wife by about three inches. She did the only sane thing - and promptly burst into tears. I comforted her, then phoned our plumber. To cut a long story short, a pressure valve on our (new) geyser had failed and, hidden from view, had turned the geyser into a fountain spraying water in every direction. Eventually, the weight of the water on the ceiling caused the whole lot to collapse. When the plumber got there, he used a monkey wrench to switch off the water supply, then commented: "I've been in this business for 25 years, but I've never seen anything like this." That was two weeks ago: today, we have a new ceiling, new lights and a new carpet will be laid in a day or so. Am I distraught by this calamity? Not really: it could have been far worse...my lady could have been brained by the falling roof, everything was fully insured and none of the water managed to make it downstairs to do more damage.

said DaveMullany 3 months 19 days ago

Sholy hit Dawie ..... this is hectic my bru (!) .... I'm please to hear everything is back to "normal" ....

said leervis67 3 months 19 days ago

I've looked at these again. Wow man. A real eye opener. Was the spindle made of brass by any chance? Around here, the plaaslike bevolking remove entire water meters 'cos of the brass content.

said leervis67 3 months 19 days ago

Good afternoon Mr. Mullany. I am so happy to hear that nobody was hurt through all of this! That is very scary. This is what my house looks like through a normal renovation...lol I'm not kidding! We started renovating our kitchen a year ago and it still isn't finished...sigh Signed BB?...lol

said paintlady101 3 months 19 days ago

So sorry to hear of what you went thru Dave...glad no one was hurt..

said Mimsy211 3 months 19 days ago

Ohhhhhhhhhh, Dave & Pam, this is scary, but, as you said, could have been so much worse. Now to start over with new furniture (I presume) and all new equipment. Sorry for calamity; no dull days in your corner of the world!!!

said ladybug591 3 months 19 days ago

Well, when I bookmarked you a few days ago, this wasn't exactly what I expected to see!! There's not much I can say about this really, except I'm glad to hear it's almost back to normal and glad no one was hurt!! Look forward to browsing through more of your albums soon. In the meantime, saludos from a wee Scots lassie cum Portena, aka Sheina in Argentina

said sheinas 3 months 19 days ago

I knew something was going on when I didn't see you popping up in my favorites. I was concerned that there was a health issue. I'm sorry for all the inconvenience & glad neither of you was hurt. I had a Realtor friend who had a fire in her kitchen once. In retrospect she said it was nice to have the insurance company pay for her remodeling. I'm glad to hear you guys are well and survived the disaster.

said bmille38 3 months 18 days ago

There is always something good after a disaster like this YOU CAN REDECORATE ! Glad to hear everybody walked away from this safely.

said Sandra0510 3 months 17 days ago

Holy Mackeral !......glad you are both okay. I'd keep these photos too, quite the story.

said Quippu 3 months 16 days ago

Dave glad to see Smoke Alarm and Air Con was saved..but you better have a few words with the Builder..never dull around your place.....

said Leonslens 2 months 28 days ago

Well, this looks bad! It must really hurt to see your own home like this. Good to know that nobody was physically hurt, and that everything is covered by the ensurance. At least you have the chance to redecorate everything - hope to see pictures of your new lounge soon! Take care - Mike

said swissmike62 2 months 27 days ago