Water, Water, Everywhere

Have I ever mentioned my incredible disdain for basements?

Basements and I have a notoriously bad reputation of getting along. They are the Hatfields to my McCoy. The bane of my existence. The reason for every bad thing that's ever happened to me.

Okay, that may be slightly exaggerated, but I want you to understand how. Serious. I. Am.

I have never had a basement that hasn't at one point or another inadvertently become an indoor pool. The first house I lived in while growing up, flooded at least once that I remember. The second house, flooded on multiple occasions, usually in my basement bedroom, which required being able to quickly and efficiently remove all my possessions to higher ground.

Recently in the middle of the night I awoke to the sound of rushing water. I immediately ran downstairs and found water pouring from the basement ceiling. I turned off the main water valve, while swearing ~~several~~ a few curse words.

A water pipe had burst due to the freezing temperature outside and an extreme lack of insulation in the house.

The basement in this house has had more water in it than I care to think about. Multiple burst pipes, backed up sewer, and a detached washing machine drainage hose just to name a few.

It has gotten so bad that for my next birthday I have requested a shop vac from my husband to ease the clean up process.

The point you ask?

To tell you about a little gadget we got a couple years back, that has probably saved us thousands in water damage.

It's a water detector.

You can pick it up at hardware stores or online. I think we got ours at Menards. They have a little metal strip that sets off an ear piercing alarm when it gets wet.

It is battery operated, so I just replace the batteries twice a year, the same time I replace the fire alarm batteries, when the time changes. Which by the way, it's spring ahead time on March 10th!

I set our water detector near the drainage hole in our basement floor, because that tends to be where a lot of our water issues occur. The floor is sloped towards the hole, so water naturally runs that direction when we have a problem.

This is possibly the most incredible device ever! It has gone off dozens of times and I can hear it all the way upstairs and I can get the main water valve shut off before the water mess becomes worse.

Buy one.

It will give you piece of mind that that evil thing they call a basement will not become an indoor swimming pool.

Do you have any gadgets around your house that have been life savers? I'd love to hear about them!

Have a lovely day!

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