Well, that was interesting! Do you like riddles?
How are the phenomena of a slow well and a flooded studio connected? By something the size of a grain of sand, perhaps. I'll try to be brief (she says, "try"):
In the last week, or so, we've experienced a lack of water in the evening three different times. It always returns (refilling the storage tank to usable level) sometime during the night. Given that the tank holds 2500 gallons and that we thought it was near full most of the time, we decided to have a well-expert come to help figure out why we kept running out. Also, we knew very little about that water thing in under the garage and that other water thing in the studio and how it's all connected We figured it was high time for some tutoring on water systems.
On Wednesday, Nice-Guy Mike stepped us through our particular system, all the parts of which seems to be in good working order, with the exception that the well pump, itself, looks to be slowing down and will need replacing sometime in the future.
Meanwhile, this time of year, we have four outdoor watering systems working, three of which are on drip. The fourth is our little lawn in back which is on standard sprinkler. It's been consistently in the high 80's, lately, so, even though the lawn is slated for destruction, we thought we'd keep it green til we had time to dig it up. Thinking about it, we would run out of water on the evenings of lawn watering. Hm. Given that the well pump has slowed down, the lawn has been using so much water that it draws the water level in the tank down faster than it can replenish.
Next morning, Thursday (yesterday), about 6:15, just as I was leaving for my morning walk, I noticed a small puddle on the tile in front of the upstairs bathroom near the kitchen. Odd. As I walked, I could not figure out an explanation. Ate breakfast, read paper, then ambled downstairs to turn on my computer about 8:30, and walked into a studio that looked as though a little rain storm had passed through. About half the floor, cabinets, tables, etc. were soaked. On the ceiling, the only sign that anything might be amiss was that the drywall tape in one small place looked a little loose.
Suddenly, the adrenalin kicked in and I ran for the towels, sounding the alarm for Tom, and we mopped up best we could. It seems like one of those little miracles, now, but the computer was in a dry area, as were my paper and books. My recent artwork was safe under the cabinets, but the rain came to within inches. My new camera got wet, but it seems OK. The cork floor also seems to have endured several hours of standing water and is no worse for it. Most of the drawers on one side of the room had water in them (one had about 1/2"), but most of the supplies were salvageable. Very little lost, thankfully.
Very Nice Guy (and owner of a large plumbing business), Mark, had some guesses based on lots of experience. He came over and started with a square-inch hole in the ceiling through which to push his very cool little camera probe (!) and saw lots of water, but, because of the insulation, wasn't able to see far enough (that's Mark a little later with the flashlight). The hole grew over the next two hours to about 6 or 7 sq.ft. or more.
He found no leaky pipes anywhere, even under regular house pressure.
When he inspected the bathroom above for the umpteenth time, he found a little bit of dampness in the floor vent and under the waste basket, which meant that there had been an overflow of some kind. So, here's the theory: When the water tank outside refilled to it's critical minimum sometime during Wednesday night, the house pump (not the well pump) started up automatically and water refilled the pipes (like it's supposed to). Somewhere in the system,there must have been some tiny, grain-of-sand-sized piece of who-knows-what that got caught in the flush mechanism of the urinal, somehow starting a flush that continued for who-knows-how-long that the drain could not handle.
I know. The flush started by itself? So, the bathroom floor had flooded and the water had seeped through the grout, through the subfloor, insulation and drywall below and into the studio, spreading far and wide as it went. All that was left upstairs by 6:15 was a small puddle in the hallway.Then, again, *somehow*, the little fleck of unknown-something must have finally been washed loose and the urinal stopped it's continuous flush. Mark-the-Plumber called it a "perfect storm". He'd never seen such a situation. No plumbing repair was needed.
I still don't quite understand it. But in the absence of a better explanation, we have to go with it. Tom and I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting the hole much bigger (about 8' square) to get rid of the not-so-drywall and soaked insulation and ceiling fixture. We'll leave it awhile to air out, then try to fix it ourselves in a week or so.
So, here I tap away, able, now, to keep a direct eye on the perfectly-performing bathroom plumbing upstairs, just in case something decides to throw another tantrum of some sort. I'm hoping it's over it, whatever it was.
Stay tuned for adventures in ceiling repair...
