Emergency Home Improvement

How would you spend $500? I'm guessing a new water heater is not at the top of your list. Unfortunately, it forced it's way to the top of mine. It sucks, but at least I'm not paying to install new carpet in the basement. This post isn't about cycling so feel free to bail now if you're not interested in reading about my near miss with a mini home disaster...

So last night before dinner I run downstairs to check email and notice the sound of running water. It's not out of the ordinary in my house to hear water running in the pipes so I pass it off as normal, probably caused by either the water heater or water softener cycling. After dinner I realize that I can still hear water running and begin to wonder what's going on since whatever needed cycling should have finished by now. Well, to make a long story short I go downstairs to figure out where the sound is coming from and encounter an inch of water on the linoleum above our drain (which isn't draining...), just outside of the furnace/water heater closet. Opening the door I see the floor is covered in water. I yell for Cami to find a mop and grab a neighbor (I know nothing about home repairs) while searching for a bucket and towel. Initially I wasn't able to turn off the water line to the water heater but with my neighbor's help (and a little WD40 and mechanical aid) we shut it off. Problem is, the water kept leaking. By this time I'm mopping like a madman trying to stay ahead of the leak and protect the carpet. What makes the situation even funnier (in hindsight) is that I was using one of those mops with a bunch of tassles at the end and didn't have a way to wring out the water. So I used my hands. For close to an hour. Talk about water logged fingers! Anyway, after turning off the main water line and mopping for an additional 15 minutes the leaking finally stopped. In my neighbor's words, "You must be living right to have noticed this as soon as you did!" Yeah, we were about 30 minutes away from some very wet carpet and hours away from a swimming pool downstairs. Thanks to a relative on my wife's side of the family who runs a plumbing business (Dan's Plumbing) we had a new water heater installed by 10 am this morning. I can't help thinking where we'd be if this had happened last month while we were in Phoenix. That would have been ugly...