This past week, my beautiful and patient bride of 49 years and I had to endure the throbbing and nerve-rattling experience of a massive hardwood floor sander grinding off the finish from the birch hardwood in our home. We were huddled in the basement along with our nervous pets as the workmen busied themselves with restoring our floors.
Just over two months ago, a chubby mouse gnawed a tiny hole in a PEX water line leading to a second-floor bathroom. The resulting slow leak happened while we slumbered. The water seeped under the hardwood floor in our master bedroom. Since wood is hygroscopic, it swelled and buckled, creating multiple ridges like the ice does on Lake Winnipesaukee in the dead of winter. Even though I shut off the water to the bathroom immediately upon discovering the leak, $35,000 worth of damage was caused by the pesky rodent….