Well, We Wanted To Do Some Remodeling, Right?

We had a little surprise at our house this morning in the form of our dining room ceiling collapsing. Yes, you read that correctly. I’ll show you:

That small hole in the middle picture represents the middle of the room — where the light normally is. So, yeah. Did I mention I just painted this ceiling a couple months ago? Peachy.

Honestly, I just have to laugh at the whole thing, as big of a pain as it is. Here’s what happened: We have a friend, Ian, crashing on our couch for a few days while he waits for his new apartment to become available. Ian was the third person to shower this morning… while Jeff was working upstairs and I was outside with the dogs. I came inside to find water dripping steadily out of the hole in the ceiling for the dining room light, the table covered in water, and parts of the carpet soaking wet.

Aside: Fortunately I had just placed a glass bowl (still empty) in the middle of the table yesterday or there would have been even more water everywhere. And I had just cleared off all the papers (many of them important) that usually are on the table. Ian’s laptop did get wet, as well as a couple books, but just on the surface. Hallelujah!

Next, just picture people running around gathering up old towels and buckets whilst simultaneously staring concernedly at the seams starting to bulge in the ceiling and trying to stay calm. I mean, how do you go about getting water out of a ceiling?

Step 1: Call your dad.

Step 2: When you can’t get ahold of your dad, check the internet for advice and then call your brother.

Step 3: Dig plastic sheets (used for painting) out of the basement to place under sagging ceiling.

Step 3: Poke holes in said ceiling with a screwdriver like the internet told you and your brother confirmed to be a reasonable idea.

Step 4: Give a prayer of thanks when your dad calls you back.

Step 5: Listen to the sagely advice of your dad, home-fixer extraordinaire, whilst watching concernedly as the ceiling bulge turns into the ceiling crack.

Step 6: Laugh at yourself and the ridiculousness of the situation when a roughly 4 ft. x 4 ft. piece of soggy drywall falls out of your ceiling, missing most of the plastic you so conscientiously laid down.

Step 7: Saw little drainage holes in the other piece of bulging ceiling to avoid repeating Step 6.

Somewhere in there is the step where you call around to find a plumber who can come on short notice so you (and your house guest) can take showers the rest of the weekend.

Well, we have a happy ending at least. Jim the Plumber—yes, that’s really his business name—fixed the leak no problem! He was great and even gave us a discount since it was a pretty simple fix and we’re on his way home. We still have a massive hole in our ceiling, but I can fix that on my own next week. After our out-of-town town family who are visiting us for the first time come on Sunday, that is.