Welcome Home!!

There are some things in life you should just expect: taxes in April, fireworks in July and, apparently for the Petersons, floods in December.
Last December our neighbor had a leak in his bathroom and all the water came to my living room. All turned out well just in time for us to leave for vacation.

Jump ahead to 2008. Yesterday we returned home to find this

There is water under the tile and the base cabinets stink of wetness. But there was no water dripping anywhere. I talked to my neighbor (sharing the other wall this time) and she had noticed a wet spot on the exterior stucco but nothing more. I decided to trace the water line on the tile to see if water was still leaking. When I got up this morning the water marks had expanded, so that meant I had to spend my day sleuthing. As I was standing in the kitchen contemplating my dilemma while eating leftover pizza for breakfast, I heard the sound of rushing water in the wall. I touched the wall to see if it was wet and found a little drip of water coming from under the faceplate of an outlet. I immediately unplugged the microwave (thank goodness the water didn't gush as I was warming my pizza), threw on my slippers and ran to the neighbor's to see if she had just ran water in her bathroom (which is on the second story of that wall). She had!

Great, I thought. I have poo water under my tile. However, after more testing, we concluded that the tubs and toilets in our bathrooms were safe, but that we share a drainline from our vanity sinks which must have a hole in it. Workers were called and after doing this

to my kitchen wall, we found the problem--a gaping hole in the pipe.

Of course the master plumber is out of town until tomorrow so until then I had to put the sink out of commission because I'm such a creature of habit that I accidentally turned it on for .5 seconds before realizing I was filling my kitchen with more water.

Oh well, if I look on the bright side, I'll start the new year with a new pipe. (fingers are crossed for good luck!)