brief update

[mamajoan]

Basement flooding: Brian (upstairs neighbor/co-owner) says that the sump pump failed because the electrical socket it was plugged into got wet and shut itself off. He plans to install an alarm in the socket so we'll have more notice if this happens again. He also plans to get a portable pump from Home Depot tonight (if they have any left!) and pump out the basement tonight.

Water heater: The plumber says that once the basement is dried out, the water heater just needs its pilot light re-lit, and says that instructions for same are printed right on the heater itself, so hopefully Brian and I can do it ourselves.

Laundry: done at mom's place
Shower: ditto
Nap: semi-ditto (well, lay down and closed eyes anyway)
Mood: very slightly better

In the midst of all that, today I managed to get over to a woman's house who is selling two toddler beds on craigslist. I think they will be ideal (one for here, one for the cottage) so I gave her a deposit/down-payment of half her asking price. ($50 for two beds, each of which goes for $100 at IKEA.) Now I just have to figure out how the hell to get them from her house to mine. Also, the same for a rocking chair that I'm getting for free from someone on the reuse list. At least that should fit in my car...I hope...!

oh yeah, and I still have gobs of bills to pay. Today's direct-deposit paycheck at 60% of my usual salary (maternity leave pay) was just barely enough to cover the plumber's bill for the new water heater. And let's not talk about all the other bills that are sitting around desperately begging to be paid ... When the creditors start calling you, and sending you notes saying they're going to cut off your service, it's probably time to pay the bill, eh?

sigh.

gotta run, more later.

Comments

[deepforestowl.livejournal.com]

Have you considered a battery backup for your sump? We have one and it has saved our butts a few times when we occasionally lose power (about once a year [maybe]).

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

The thing is, when we bought the house (2 years ago), the inspector said that the basement was bone-dry and showed no signs of ever having flooded -- and this is a 100-plus-year-old house. He said the sump pump showed no signs of ever having been used, and indeed he wondered why the previous owners had even bothered to install one.

So no, we hadn't considered a battery backup. We hadn't considered that the sump pump would even be needed, let alone would fail us at the critical moment. And this has been some really extreme weather, so I don't know how much money we're going to want to expend on safeguards for every eventuality -- I think if we get an alarm that'll let us know when the socket shuts itself off, we'll consider that sufficient, and cross our fingers.

[deepforestowl.livejournal.com]

good points...have you contacted your homeowners insurance people? When our sump failed (no battery backup at the time) the house insurance paid out 1000$ to dry the basement out with a professional service and they paid for a new sump as well.

[techn0goddess.livejournal.com]

*hugs*hugs*hugs* I hope you get dried out soon. We've had minor problems with water in the basement a few times, so I have an idea of how nasty it is. I hope the rain lets up soon. It's been some crazy weather up there in the NE.

move the socket

[auntfaintly.livejournal.com]

At some point you should see if you can have the outlet for the sump pump moved higher. It would probably be a pretty simple job.