Long Burn

The rider of the storm

The evening came, the rider of the storm sent down the rain. I looked out at the weather and it was terrible....With the first light of dawn a black cloud came from the horizon; it thundered within where Adad, lord of the storm, was riding....Then the Gods of the Abyss rose up; Nergal pulled out the dams of the nether waters, Ninurta the warlord threw down the dykes, and...the God of the storm turned daylight into darkness.

--The story of the flood from the Epic of Gilgamesh

So, I renovated the small 'guest bathroom' downstairs a few months ago. Put in a new floor and toilet, sink and cupboard, cabinet and lamp, painted the walls and ceiling. The whole thing turned out nicely. Our in-laws were just visiting and my mother-in-law left the water running in the sink for about an hour. It ran over and when I opened the door there was 3/4" of water standing on the floor. There is no drain in the floor of the room. I had installed laminated flooring and the area under it was flooded, as was the foam insulation, as was the original linoleum floor under that, and the felt pad under that floor. Everything soaked, down to the foundation. So I spent this past Sunday ripping out the baseboards and the nice terra cotta pattern floor and the subfloor. The sill boards got wet but I think they will be alright. I am trying not to imagine that the water ran out and under the floor in the hallway, or under the stairs. This weekend I will be putting in a new floor, this time tile, hope to have the room ready again by Christmas.

posted by Matt_J @ 10:08 AM