Things go wrong at home while on the road

FL350

FL350

Well-Known Member
Just curious if you all have plans with your family for taking care of problems at home while you're on the road?

Just found out my water main broke in the front yard, neighbors had it shut off. I'm the handy one at home for taking care of things like this, or getting help.

I feel bad that my girlfriend is stuck with the problem. (I'm taking care of it from my layover and with neighbor's help, but she's facing the ordeal at home)

Just curious if you have any plans or "life hacks" for similar scenarios.

Murphy's law that it would happen on a trip.
 
How do you have a "life hack" for a broken water main?

If you're responsible for the line from the street into the house and it breaks while you're gone, your only "hack" is going to be having the phone number of a reliable plumber. If the municipality is responsible for the line up to the house, well, then your "hack" is to have the phone number for the municipality.

Unless you're buddies with a bunch of tradesmen who are going to step in and take care of the problem, your only "hacks" are going to be phone numbers. And the girlfriend or wife should be capable of calling any of those numbers without having to bother you. I mean, seriously, what are you going to do from some distant location that she shouldn't be entirely capable of doing from right there at the house???
 
@Plata I'm obviously not looking for a magical fix to the water main.

And what you said is common sense. Sometimes people have general recommendations for how to deal with things that I haven't thought of, and that's what I was asking about.

Maybe you took the life hack term in a different way than I intended.
 
HVAC? Have a service plan.
All other household related trades? Make friends individually with them, or, make friends with a General contractor. He'll have the trades contacts.
 
jskibo said:
When I was in the Navy on Cruises or workups, my wife's numerous boyfriends usually took care of those things until I got back.

Not the best solution, but hey, at least the house wasn't damaged!
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Ahh, the magic of friends and Scotch therapy. You have clarity!
 
Beefy McGee said:
I didn't know Jody took care of home maintenance!
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He should be if he's "sleeping" there..... eating all the damn groceries....


Seriously though, a home warranty plan has been a small expense that has paid for its self in piece of mind for me. My wife isn't handy, my neighbors are but that's a lot to ask over a month in the field or 9-10 deployed.

Some things are worth spending money on to lower the constant stress level of game planning scenarios in your head of "what about if....."
 
Thank you for the good ideas.

Luckily I have some handy neighbor's who are extremely helpful as well.
 
I had a death in the family a few months ago and was immediately taken off the trip and positive spaced home. They also gave me a few days off as well.
 
Yesterday 2-3" of rain overwhelmed a friend's gutters, water into the basement window wells and then into her basement, an inch or so in the basement with no drains .. So we friends arrived with buckets and sponge mops, clearly not going to do the job. She did have a 6 gal. dry/wet vac. So what to do with the water; one option was suc the water it into the vac, then into buckets and up the stairs and out the door. Chosen option 2 was suc the water into the vac, then into buckets, and THEN INTO THE CLOTHS WASHER and let the spin cycle pump the water up and into her drain field. It worked, and after several hours and many spin cycles the floor was ready for the sponge mops, then the fans and de-humidifiers overnight .. and today the floor is dry. She also called the ins agent, so so sorry, considered an act of nature plus no flood ins equals your liability. :)
 
Bear said:
Yesterday 2-3" of rain overwhelmed a friend's gutters, water into the basement window wells and then into her basement, an inch or so in the basement with no drains .. So we friends arrived with buckets and sponge mops, clearly not going to do the job. She did have a 6 gal. dry/wet vac. So what to do with the water; one option was suc the water it into the vac, then into buckets and up the stairs and out the door. Chosen option 2 was suc the water into the vac, then into buckets, and THEN INTO THE CLOTHS WASHER and let the spin cycle pump the water up and into her drain field. It worked, and after several hours and many spin cycles the floor was ready for the sponge mops, then the fans and de-humidifiers overnight .. and today the floor is dry. She also called the ins agent, so so sorry, considered an act of nature plus no flood ins equals your liability. :)
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And that's why, even though I live just outside the local flood zone, I pay $450 a year for flood insurance. All it'll take is a storm surge equal to what Hugo spun out, and I'll be underwater.
 
Maximillian_Jenius said:
Why not? He was already laying pipe!
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Cptnchia said:
And that's why, even though I live just outside the local flood zone, I pay $450 a year for flood insurance. All it'll take is a storm surge equal to what Hugo spun out, and I'll be underwater.
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Best advice for insurance buying. I have never bought in a flood zone although I have a house about 5 doors down from the ocean. Still a cheap price to pay for peace of mind.
 
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