Washing Machine

One day at the end of August someone knocked on the door and said hey we have water coming down the ceiling of our apartment from your apartment. 

We soon found it was the washing machine causing the flooding. I had started a load about 5 minutes before and didn’t realize that the water was overflowing from the washing machine. I immediately turned it off. The carpet in front and around the washing machine was already soaking wet as well as some of the hallway carpet.

My brother and the downstairs neighbor immediately went to the front office and let them know. While they were at the office, I had been using towels to soak up the water. I think I got at least 6 bath towels soaking wet with water from the floor and could have been more if the maintenance people hadn’t come with the industrial size fans to put under the carpet. 

The picture above is what the hallway and my brother’s bedroom looked like for a few days.

I must admit this situation stressed me out. One reason was because the fans were so loud. Even if I went into my bedroom with the door closed, they were still loud. Also one of the fans had to be plugged in in the bathroom which meant we couldn’t close the door all of the way. So anytime my brother or I had to use the bathroom we had to let the other person know not to come near there until we were done. 

The first night after this incident, I asked one of my friends if I could stay in her spare bedroom for the night. Thankfully, she let me. I needed some calm amidst the chaos of my apartment. 

Since the load I had in the washing machine did not finish its cycle and I had no idea how long it would take the maintenance people to fix the washing machine, I decided I needed to go to a laundromat. I did the load that had been in the washing machine as well as a load of the soaking wet towels I had used to clean up the water. 

It was quite the adventure going to the laundromat. The machines only took quarters. So I had to get at least $20 worth of quarters, that was fun. ;) The laundromat was quite busy. Although I had brought a book to read, the place was a little too chaotic for me to concentrate on reading. I just listened to music and looked at my phone.

Here were some of the quarters I had to use the machines. A few days later the maintenance man came and fixed the washing machine in the apartment. (He found it was the sensor that told the washing machine that it was full enough). 

I will say this experience has made me appreciate having a washer and dryer in my apartment so I don’t have to go to the laundromat on a regular basis. In the past, I have lived without a washer and dryer in my apartment but the laundry room was still in the building. I have also lived in a place where I had to do my laundry by hand because there was no washer available anywhere nearby. These places were years ago though. 

I say all of this to say that I am grateful for having a washing machine and dryer in my apartment that doesn’t require quarters nor does it require me leaving my apartment.