Gas leak in my house!!!!

What a way to come home early from work! Thinking I was in for a nice afternoon of undisturbed work, I opened the door and could hear and smell the leak before my keys were out of the lock.

Ran to the kitchen and shut off the valve, ignored the door alarm wailing in my ears, opened doors and windows to vent, and scrambled out of the house.

When I deemed it safe to reenter the gas chamber, I saw something that really pissed me off. The reason the gas valve for the stove was exposed was because I am currently remodeling, and the stove is no longer there. I demolished cabinets, laid flooring, painted, installed new cabinets, wired and re-plumbed the whole thing without so much as tapping the gas valve.

What opened it up? A tile backsplash put in on Sunday decided it did not want to hold, but only in the section where the stove should be. A section of tile separated from the wall, and turned the gas valve as it fell.

All is safe now. My wife was panicked when I told her, but now she's calmer. Except now I have to retile. And regrout. And scrape off the other sections to realign. And buy some new tiles. And scrape the grout off of others. This is why I should have hired someone. And I was only two days from retiring...from home improvements for this year.


Let the fart jokes commence.

kct webber said:

Damn. That's rough, man. Hope everything is alright. For future reference... wrap the lever in duct tape when you're hose is unhooked and you're working around it. So that even if something hits it, it can't turn.

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Good tip! Didn't even think of the lever getting turned when I wasn't there to turn it back...

bettielee said:

At least you didn't blow up and die and have your house turn into a fourth of July display

????

Is it all better now?

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All is better now. After it was safe enough to leave, left the windows open while I went out to buy more tile.

stormie said:

That's scary! Glad you're safe. Can you hire someone to help you finish the project?

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I have discovered the limits of my abilities many times during this project, and it's always the jobs that appear to be simple. Getting some quotes tomorrow.

Wayne K said:

Good thing you don't live with this guy

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I haven't had a bean burrito this week...