Today was a good day. Some hard work- nothing "bad" or tough, but at 4 PM I was ready to head home for an evening to just crash. I had a bit of a headache and I was tired. Saturday was looking good!As soon as I walked in the door, I intended to call the oil company to come look at our furnace. It was leaking some water and our hot water in the house wasn't quite up to snuff lately. Little did I know, I would be calling the oil company, but not to look at my furnace.
As I pulled out my keys at the front door, I noticed a bit of a smell. "Oil," I thought and, sure enough, when I opened the door it hit me hard! Whoa! BIG time oil smell right in the front foyer! So I headed down to the basement to look at the furnace.
When I turned the corner into the laundry room, I almost slipped and fell. The floor was covered in a layer of black, slippery oil. Thinking the furnace could be the problem, I inched my way carefully over to look, but as I neared the big machine, I noticed there was no oil on that part of the floor. So back to the other side of the room, where it looked deeper.
As I slide my feet through the slippery muck, I looked around the room and saw that oil had been soaking into everything it could reach from the floor- apparently for some time. Rugs were soaked black, boxes on the floor were a shiny black instead of the usual dull brown. Then I noticed the brand spanking new oil tank (less than a month old) was covered in a light film of oil and the depth meter was missing. Later I found it in pieces around the area, because it had been blown off the oil tank. Apparently, the oil company over filled our tank and the pressure, blew the gauge off and oil spewed to the ceiling rafters and all around that side of the room! Somewhere around 10 gallons were now soaked into our sheet-rock walls, woodwork, carpets, ceiling beams, boxes, 2 mattresses and box springs and a bedroom dresser.
All kinds of things were damaged beyond use including my son's entire summer wardrobe of pants and shorts in his closet. All our instruments were dry (whew!), but we ended up having to throw out a lot of things that could not be salvaged.
As I stood there in the middle of our new disaster, I was dumbfounded. If it had been water, I would have known what to do, but oil? Where in the world should I start? Several phone calls and a few hours later, we finally got someone in to begin the cleanup process. He just left, but the house still reeks! There's a LOT more to do. Looks like it's going to be days (weeks?) before we get things settled again. And we're going to have to replace floor tiles, carpeting, some furniture, some walls . . . oh man!
Well, after the initial shock wore off, both Debbie and I began taking it all a little easier. I mean, you gotta just roll with these kind of punches- there's nothing else you can do. One day it will all be a "can you top THIS one?" story we can tell!
It's a good thing we know God's in control. Without that certain knowledge that he knows it all and nothing comes our way without him first approving it and giving us the strength to deal with it, we'd be lost for sure.
But we're not lost and he IS in control. Hallelujah!
2 comments:
woah. doug. that is a serious story there. glad things are beginning to be mopped up [haha]. You are going to put a claim into chesterfield to replace chris's clothes, etc, right?
When we lived in Maine, getting adjusted to the reality of oil for heat was the hardest componant to acquire. I had been a Midwest girl, with natural gas keeping home and hearth warm...it was always there. The fact of needing the oil company to fill up every 6 weeks or so was foreign to us.
What a horrible problem caused by oil delivery. Sorry to hear about so much damage - and slip sliding around!
That smell may be with you for a long, long time. Augh
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