It started last summer with what looked like the beginning of water damage on the basement ceiling.

It was next to the ceiling vent, so I didn’t panic because condensation from the AC was perfectly normal during that time of year. And then I noticed more water spots, so I called a handyman to clean and repair that section of drywall. He did a curtesy inspection and suggested we get someone out to check the plumbing because the main level toilet was directly overhead.  

I put a reminder in my phone to call a plumber, and then I was in the thick of wedding planning and didn’t have the brain space to add anything new to my list. And when I noticed the same water spots in the same area a few weeks later, I reached up to touch the spot and some of the soggy ceiling crumbled down on me.

When you choose to ignore it, the issue will rarely go away on its own.

That “little leak” became a big leak in a matter of days. The ceiling peeled away under the weight of the water and after a few hours, the bucket underneath was halfway full. And the worst of it happened 3 days before my wedding – horrible timing.

Turns out that our tile floors on the main level weren’t installed correctly, which caused uneven surfaces around the main level toilet flange that eventually wore away due to the leak and the instability of the floors, which caused the base of the toilet to leak through the ceiling and, and, and…

The more we uncovered, the more we uncovered.

Fast forward and our kitchen and main level renovation is now complete.

Our homeowner’s insurance came through for the bulk of it and we said, “Why not?!” and added a few additional upgrades to the job. We’d always planned to upgrade the kitchen floors, but had we done them when we wanted them without looking beneath the surface, we would have been deep in the hole financially and had to rip them all up to address that underlying water issue.  

When you choose to ignore it, the issue will rarely go away on its own.

I’m still thinking about what led to this big renovation and about the ways I could have approached the initial problem differently (i.e. at all).

Turns out there’s a lot to learn about life from a kitchen renovation, specifically:

• Don’t be afraid to look below the surface and seek help when you need it.
• Don’t wait for things to fix themselves – Time will not fix anything if you don’t do anything with the time (i.e. faith without works is dead)
• Upgrades aren’t linear – you’ll have to stop and assess the damage, change course when new issues arise, give things a chance to dry and reinforce boundaries for a more solid foundation
• Timing is everything – and sometimes not getting what you want when you want it is the biggest blessing. Be patient and trust the process (even when it feels like the process doesn’t know you’re trusting it!)

While all of the repairs were happening, I had to move around the contractors and negotiate space to work and cook. Things were noisy and messy and there was more dust in more places than I’d thought possible! But it was worth it when the final clean-up was done, the house was quiet and we got to stand back and admire the hard work that went into it all with the peace of mind that everything was also secure beneath the surface.

Life, like homeownership, is a never-ending journey of ruptures and repairs with every obstacle wrapped in a lesson and an opportunity to approach things differently the next time.

Tell me, have you lived through a renovation, planned or unplanned? What was your biggest lesson?