Its been two years since our last plumbing emergency.  This one is a complete nightmare.....

Last Sunday afternoon we actually put some efffort forth to our unmanageable yard.  The weather was hot and muggy so it seems appropriate to jump in the shower and rinse of bug spray and yard debris.  I stepped out of the shower into a lake of warm water.  Since the water was a nice comfortable temperature, I assumed that our hot water heater finally bit the dust.  I called Mike Latronico from Economy Plumbing based in St. Augustine.  Mike walked me through the process of draining the hot water heater to prevent more flooding.  

After cleaning up the mess from dragging in the house and mopping up water, we felt that a cool shower was in order.  The cool water felt oh so good until I stepped out of the shower into another lake!  I cleaned up this lake and called Mike again.  Mike said he would be here first thing in the morning.

Just prior to bed, my husband thought it would be a good idea to see if the lake had spread into the guest bedroom.  We walked into another lake.  We knew at that moment, that this lake was bad.  We NEVER use this room so we didn't know that the leak was a nasty one. 

A polite, well groomed young man arrived at my home first thing Monday morning to investigate.  The young man came in about 5 minutes later and informed us that Mike was on his way. Mike and his crew arrived not more that a few hours later.

We spent some time with Mike explaining and investigating the problems (which, of course, were numerous)

The first issue was the hot water heater.  I thought that I had turned off the breaker, but we learned that the breakers are either mislabeled or miswired.  The crew from Economy Plumbing finally got the power off so the heater could be moved from the closet. The only problem is that the bottom of the hot water heater fell out on the floor.  Mike said that we were dealing with a long time leak in the shower pan or the drain.  Mike noticed some small bubble on the wall and touched the bubble.  The wall immediately opened up and revealed very thick black mold.  In fact, the tile baseboard came off just from looking at it!  The support beams in the wall were saturated to the point that the wood just turned to mush.  An inspection of the wall between the shower and heater revealed super wet insullation.  The news just keep getting worse.  The guest bedroom had mold under the carpet and along the baseboards. 

Mike instructed me to call my insurance agent so I could file a claim.  I called Daniel Miller at Brightway Insurance.  Daniel gave me my policy number and the claims number.  Daniel also provided a water/mold mitigation service, Ben at Serv-Pro.  I called the insurance and Serve Pro.  Ben showed up in a few hours and had some air scrubbers installed in the two rooms.  My claims rep called and walked me through the process. 

Meanwhile, Mike and my husband discussed issues regarding the repairs and how we would get hot water.  We decided to install the Rinnai tankless hot water heater.  Mike said that we would have hot water by Tuesday afternoon!

While the air scrubbers were being installed, I learned that I need to have a mold expert conduct a sampling for a remediation protocal.  This protocal is necessary to contain the mold and prevent illness.  I obtained the name of Jeff Pruitt from Tropical Sciences.  Jeff arrived and took samples of the air and measured how far up the water had seeped up the walls. 

Jeff explained that his report would be sent to all parties so action could begin.

Tuesday arrived and the crew from Economy Plumbing arrived.  Mike also brought a licensed contractor to investigate the damage.  The entire crew from Economy was wonderful.  Every single guy was polite and well groomed.  The lead on the project explained the process of installing the Rinnai unit.  Economy Plumbing even coordinated the gas tank delivery and installation.  The guys spent all day at my home.  Since I have had such bad experiences with plumbers, I supervised every thing and asked questions at every point.  I even listened to their conversations.  I didn't hear anything inappropriate such as foul language or stories of their conquests over the weekend.  I probably should mention that it was pouring rain all day and the guys were still in a good mood and didn't complain ONE BIT!  

It's one week later.  The mold mitigation process hasn't started, the air scrubbers are incredibly loud.  We were instructed to not enter the affected rooms.  So, we are down to one bathroom.

We can only focus on the positives.  We have plenty of hot water.