Disaster Diverted! Thanking the Lord for His care and for watching over our fabric!
On Tuesday afternoon, the Lord was graciously keeping guard over our fabrics and effort, even though we were busy with other things.
One ceiling tile hits the floor - Soaked through!
At 12:30 in the afternoon, I was down in our new storage facility, putting away fabrics in an organized manner, saving them for a future date. I then went back to the store, greeting customers and helping others finish up, ate lunch, and around 2:30 p.m. went down to the former Salon, where we’re now storing fabrics as well, while we work on turning it into a Man Cave for our men’s waiting area.
While sitting in the big chairs, I was staring at the stacks of beautiful fabrics, wondering what I should cut next, trying to decide between the beautiful and the classics, in walked Sandi and Pat, from the Sewin’ Shop, next door. They wanted to see more of the beautiful new fabrics.
They asked me what I was doing sitting there, and I said, “I’m trying to decide what to cut next.. Should I cut the beautiful bundle? Or should I cut the classic?” Sandi asked, “What do you mean?” I said, “Well, whenever I cut up Kim Diehl Fabric in blacks or browns, they always sell, but the beautiful ones don’t always. I’m leaning towards the Kim Diehl.”
While I was talking to Sandi, Pat meandered into the back part of the salon where tables were stacked high with fabrics. I heard, “Oh my, you have a water leak.”
We grabbed these gorgeous 6 yard pieces quickly out of the water’s way.
I Said, “what do you mean, a water leak?” I jumped out of the chair, and found a ceiling tile on the floor, soaked through, and water was DRIP – DRIP – DRIPPING onto my neatly stacked up Riley Blake 6 yard solids. They were getting soaked.
Sandi jumped into action, moving fabrics out of the way, and I ran into the Sewin’ Shop to grab a trash can, to use as a bucket to collect the drips.
A trash can works as a water bucket in a pinch.
After we were assured that all fabrics were safely out of the dripping water, I figured I should call for help. So I sent pictures to the guys who take care of such things: Ken, (my hubby), Michael (my Son-in-law) and Peter (my son). I knew that one of them would respond. (By the way, none of the water actually landed on the floor, since it was dripping straight into the Riley Blake Solid stack, and that absorbed it all very nicely since it only had 1 or 2 hours before discovery. As well, my fabrics that touch the floor are all wrapped in plastic.)
Within about 10 or 15 minutes, the first one came. It was Ken. While waiting for him, I had time to mostly clean up the soaked ceiling tile, and found some dry towels to wipe down the wet table, where the soaked fabrics had left water on the table.
This is the front room, away from the water, where we are hoping to turn this area into a Men’s Waiting room. For now it’s a Fabric Waiting Room — waiting for me to pack it or for us to get it on the shelf.
Sandi and I had spread out some of the wet fabric. Then Sandi said, “You’ve got a dryer, right? Why not use that?” Since the fabric wasn’t ruined in any way, I decided that was an excellent idea.. It was just wet. So we opted to dry about 5 or 6 of the 6 yard bundles that had gotten soaked in the dryer, but we left some of the pieces drying on the furniture, as I had already spread it out. Sandi took some to the sewin’ shop, which I forgot to picture!
Ken decided it was an air conditioner overflow pan that was dripping, and since the water was drip – dripping safely into the bucket, and not harming any more things, he hustled to get a wet/dry vac, so they could vacuum out the system. (It was in the ceiling.)
Michael was vacuuming outside.
Shortly after he left, Peter popped in and said, “Well, what’s going on?” I showed him. He replied, “Doesn’t look like a plumbing problem, so I’m not needed here.” I showed him some of our floor tile issues, and then he left.
Shortly thereafter, Michael came in. He got a ladder, and was glad to hear that my hubby was gone to get a wet/dry vac. Shortly after that Ken got back with the vac and he and Michael took turns vacuuming out the outside plumbing, trying to ascertain exactly where the problem was.
I had draped some of the 6 yard pieces out so that they could dry. I put them over chairs and other pieces of furniture in the room.
After some discussion, Ken and Michael decided it was something (the details escape me) and I left the dripping to the experts. I figured my time was better spent doing other things.
I finally got to the cutting of the “classic” black pack shortly after 5 p.m.
So, here you have it: Kim Diehl’s Ebony and Onyx! Who would’ve known that so much excitement went into cutting a bundle?!
I’m ever so thankful that the leak was Tuesday instead of Monday. I hadn’t had time to go down to the former Salon much at all on Monday. The water could have dripped for many hours, instead of just 1 or 2, causing a huge deal of damage.
I’m so incredibly thankful that Pat decided to be curious and wander into the back room, while Sandi and I were talking in the front room. She’s the one who noticed the dripping.
I’m also incredibly thankful that only two pieces of Riley Blake solids had any “damage” at all. There seems to be two water stains caused by the leak, and I can easily use the rest of the 6 yard piece, and use the stained part for another purpose, thus limiting the loss to not a whole lot more than an afternoon’s worth of time, and a whole lot of emotional energy.
After just that relatively small water leak, mess and consequential cleanup, I have MUCH, much more huge empathy for all of the Hurricane Ian victims, both in Ft. Myers, and those in Daytona, and everywhere the water came in and soaked everything.
We pray every day for safety for our children and grandchildren. I’m going to add in safety for our business efforts as well. I’m ever so thankful that the Lord was gracious on Tuesday and saved us from a great deal of expense and loss.
Thanks for coming on my little Tuesday afternoon adventure! I’m so thankful it was found, stopped and repaired, all in the same afternoon!
Thank you, Rachael, for sharing this moment of potential disaster with us! Water is not fabric’s best friend!
Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!