Walking on water...and kitty litter!

Woke up to a nasty shock this morning: the water pipes in the garage burst, pouring gallons of water into most of the garage and 8 litter boxes, making those overflow all over the floor. What a MESS!  There was 1/2" of mucky, clay slime, studded with cat poop, all over the floor.  Some of the electrical things had some water on them, but nothing got fried.  The water even poured into the stack of lined, ready-to-use boxes in the corner.  Luckily, I keep a few of those disposable Kat Kits litter boxes, and I also had a few that I washed out to fill up again. I managed to scrape up a lot of the gunk, but it's still wet.

When we had the severe cold weather the past 2 days, I did ask DH if we should do something to prevent those pipes from bursting. He told me I was over-reacting. Isn't he lucky that it happened just after he left for work?   I had to take the day off to clean it all up (I used the electric fireplace to dry things a bit, so I couldn't leave home anyway).  I also had to move a chest of drawers out of the coat closet, where the mains are, and clean that mess up.

Ugh! I'm so sorry you had to deal with this! Isn't a slow drip through the faucets all that's needed to keep pipes from bursting? Regardless, this is definitely an "I told you so!" moment.

Yep, that's what I suggested to DH! Next time, I'll do it!

Oh no! I can imagine how bad it was. We've had flooding in the cellar before and lost some things. The litter certainly turns into an awful paste, doesn't it?

Argh! That sounds like a nasty mess! This winter has been very taxing for everyone hasn't it?
And ummm, is your DH still in one piece?

Well, that would fry my chickens, too. We've had the basement flood twice and what a hassle that is. I'm glad it was in your garage though and not in your kitchen!

This winter needs to end....now. 

Geez, that's awful! Should you spread a layer of enzyme cleaner on it, since pee/poop got spread around?

I'm really sorry to hear you have to deal with this. That clay litter and water is the worst slimey combination!

Our basement flooded 6 times before the problem was discovered it was the perimeter drains that needed replacing. We had professional clean-up crews come 5 times and (I don't know maybe this will help) they always said to wear boots or any waterproof shoes you have because all flood waters come in contact with sewage. Each time, they moved all of the stuff, repacked anything that was wet, and took anything that needed drying out elsewhere, and set up heaters and fans that ran for 3 days and nights. Everything dried out and we had no mold develop.  A final mopping with hot water and a little bleach will take care of the disinfecting part.

   

Anyone know a good divorce lawyer?  And I'm only half-joking.

Three days later, I'm still cleaning up this mess. He's helping me. Of course, apparently, it's my fault, even though I'm the one who said we should have turned the faucet on those 2 days to prevent this mess...It really cheeses me off when I say something, and he just says, "Uh-huh" in that sarcastic tone.

We had to move the storage cabinets to clean under them. We store the cat carriers, wrapped in trash bags, on top. I asked. "Shouldn't we take those down before moving the cabinets?" "No! Just stop it!". Of course, I was asked to stand against them to brace them, and guess what happened? One hit me on my head, HARD, and it was heavy. My eyes are a bit blurry as I type, it hit me so hard. "Stop complaining. I've been hit in the head many times." (Yeah, and soon you may have that experience AGAIN...)

Yes, I'm angry. And I left him to finish cleaning. And, if it's not done properly, he's going to do it over, and I mean it.

The long term forecast is for a mild rest of the winter if that helps.  Men sometimes get into this thing where they know everything about things like this and get hugely irritated when they are shown that they don't.  Sorry all this happened and hopefully things will be back on track soon.