Article Summary
A sewage backup caused by frozen flushable wipes forced a flooring business to completely revamp their 12-year-old showroom, resulting in modernized displays, better lighting, updated products, and a more functional space that ultimately improved their business.
- A clogged sewage line backed up into the showroom, caused by frozen flushable wipes from the apartment tenant above
- The business completed emergency cleanup within 48-72 hours, including demolition and sanitization
- Instead of partial repairs, the owner seized the opportunity to completely refresh the entire showroom after 12 years
- Key improvements included resanded hardwood floors, fresh paint, removed outdated displays, increased natural light, and new product offerings
- The disaster taught the owner to proactively refresh spaces rather than wait for crisis, and to continuously improve what already works
On a Monday morning, after 12 years of the same showroom layout and displays, something happened that would thrust Floors by the Shore into the future. My office manager Lisa Grillo walked into the back half of our showroom to find little pieces of toilet paper all over the floor. Lisa immediately called her brother-in-law, who is a plumber. They were diagnosing the problem when I arrived, and with the help of another plumber, we came to the unpleasant realization that over the weekend, the building’s sewage line had backed up into my showroom. The water had already soaked into the concrete subfloor and left pieces of toilet paper and … other things … behind.
The culprit? A big frozen ball of Booty Wipes. The tenant who lived in the apartment above our showroom had left town for three weeks, during which we had some of the coldest winter days. During the three weeks when their water was never turned on, a clog of Booty Wipes—“flushable” wipes that apparently aren’t all that flushable—solidified and blocked the pipe. So, when the upstairs tenant started using their water again, everything backed up into my showroom.
After we documented everything for insurance, we got to work. We couldn’t lose any time, because our business depends on our showroom. Within 48 hours, we had the damaged parts demolished and in a dumpster. Within 72 hours, the BioWash guy had thoroughly sanitized the space.
The part of the showroom that was damaged was only one of three areas. We could have left the other two rooms alone and it would’ve been fine—we would have finished sooner and saved a lot of effort. But it had been 12 years since we built the showroom, so the plumbing disaster forced us into a much-needed refresh. There were displays with products we hadn’t sold in months, maybe even years. And the giant dumpster was already outside. We decided to rip off the Band-Aid and redo the whole thing.
We resanded all of our Allegheny Mountain Hardwood floors and updated their colors. There were other displays with products we weren’t selling that covered up windows—we got rid of those to let in more natural light and cut down on clutter. The little bit of vinyl flooring we did offer was replaced with Mirage hardwood. We replaced floors, painted walls and got rid of the stuff collecting dust. Now we have room for a big T.V. with photos of our work, as well as a beautiful bookmatch table from my friend Will Cusick, who owns a custom furniture store, Cottage By The Sea, in Monmouth County, N.J.
Through this experience, I learned that I shouldn’t wait for crap to literally rain from the ceiling to refresh old displays, declutter and replace products that I don’t care for with ones that I believe in. I also learned that just because something works, doesn’t mean it can’t be better.
And lastly, I learned to never, ever flush a Booty Wipe down the toilet.
