Day 19 (Part 2): A fountain in the kitchen! ):

Adding on to the other details for Day 19 of our renovation, our kitchen became a fountain. At about 4ish, just as I was really really happy with all the work that was slowly taking place, we met with a MISHAP. 

Our kitchen had a fountain. 

The contractor working on the kitchen cabinets was putting the upper cabinets for the longer side of the kitchen up when he hit the concealed water pipe in the wall. 

Water began GUSHING down the hole, saturating both the upper cabinets AND the counter top. 

  

I WAS IN DEEP SHOCK. 

Our ID Richie who was overseeing the works at that point of time quickly turned off the water supply to our unit. 

They quickly removed the upper cabinets and tried to wipe the parts where water came in contact with. I'm certain the blue line marked with the stickers indicate the presence of a water pipe behind the walls. Why he failed to use a detector (as I was told by many) is beyond me. 

The contractor did confess that he miscalculated and hence the drill hit the water pipe. He also said that it is common for such an occurrence. I didn't blame him. I wasn't mad with him. Accidents really do happen. 

We quickly tried wiping the surfaces where water came in contact with. However, the table top was pretty wet. 

My concern then grew.. The parts where the water came in contact with was WOOD after all. Wood and water didn't go... Wood will rot with moisture.. coupled with the many other worries of issues that may follow. The carpenter and Richie kept telling us that it was OKAY and that the wood would dry, it's chemically treated and that it's fine. 

Well, I WAS NOT OKAY WITH IT. 

The upper cabinet was moist..

The laminates stuck to the upper cabinet also had water seeping through it.

It's pretty obvious to me that water seeped in... 

The wet counter top. They kinda said to let it dry. 

I was not convinced. We ended up tearing the cabinets out to let it air dry... Guess what? I FOUND MORE DAMAGE than we thought there would be. 

The back of the upper cabinet was wet.

Wet table top.

It was surface dry but the water probably seeped down a lot. 

The floor was all drenched! 

See the water stains? 

The kitchen base was this wet when the cabinets were removed. 

This was the longer piece of cabinet for the cooker.. The sides which didn't have direct water contact was already this wet.

The back was pretty wet...

The sides..

The other side.

I decided to hoist the cabinet up.. Lo and behold.. the base was SOAKED. 

  

According to my photograph's timing taken with the phone, this was probably left to soak for about 30 minutes before it was removed.. SIGHS.

Bad isn't it?

The L-shaped side wardrobe wasn't spared either since water has no definite shape (Science baby!)...

The base was soaked..

And it did move up to the back too.. 

   

I forgot about the other piece of cabinet (the basin side) but based on the water marks on the kitchen base, it must have been soaked too. 

Our ID and carpenter kept telling us that the wood was of good quality (that I have no doubt) and that it'll be OKAY once we left it to dry. The skeptical me didn't like that. Water and wood just doesn't go. So many things could possibly happen after wood (especially raw wood) has come into contact with water.

MOULD 

ROT

CRACK

LIFTING OF VEENER 

(In this case, the laminates or Quartz top)

MITES

and possibly many many more. 

The solution when we left was to let the wood dry naturally over the weekend and Richie would meet me on Sunday morning to assess the damage. 

It didn't make much sense to me the more I thought of it. I really didn't want to take the risk and let the wood dry (thoroughly inside or not, that I don't know) but I know for sure it was a risk I was NOT WILLING TO TAKE. 

I asked Richie to replace the long affected cupboard. At about 7+ in the evening, he said that his boss felt that the the wood was no longer of standard and decided to change it for us.

The understanding now is that they would change all affected parts of carpentry for us... trying to rush it so that we can still move in based on our scheduled date. I really do hope that it'll all be well. ): 

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Update: 12.20am 12 July (Day 20)

The plumber came.. hacked the tiles.. mended the hole in the water pipe by soldering some metal on it.. 

The tiler will be up here later in the day to replace the damaged tiles.