Oh, the pressures of being a homeowner. The second something breaks, it's on you to fix it. And sometimes you need to fix it in a pinch — otherwise, your day is ruined. Jon Wenzel and his family learned this firsthand after the doorknob broke on the door to their laundry room.
The problem was that after the doorknob fell off, it became impossible to enter the room. "We were left with one option to get in," Jon wrote on Facebook. "The laundry chute."
Now, a feat like this requires many people. If Jon lived alone, it might have been impossible to make sure the room was accessible. But not only is it easier to fix home problems when others are present, it's also safer. Seriously, the phrase "safety in numbers" definitely applies here, especially after you check out the photos of their master plan. The poor woman who was chosen to go down the chute is especially expressive.
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As you can see in the image, one of Jon's relatives is attached to a harness. The real question is, how do they have a spare body harness lying around? Regardless of the answer, it looks like it was made just for an occasion like this. The goal was to enter through the laundry chute, which sounds like the worst nightmare for someone who's claustrophobic.
The next shot also features the harness. Friends of Jon and those following his story were shocked to see this in action. Others tried to figure out other ways to solve the laundry room door issue in a way that didn't involve someone being shoved down a laundry chute. But desperate times call for desperate actions.
The third image is one of the funniest — and most shocking. Our hero in the situation gets placed feet-first down the laundry chute, with the help of multiple family members. They were probably documenting this in case they had to make an emergency 911 call, just to prove that everyone consented to this master plan.
It must be said that plenty of people following along on this venture asked why they couldn't just take the hinges off the doors. While nobody openly responded, let's hope there was a very good reason why that plan wasn't feasible. (Plus, in all honesty, it makes this story a lot less fun to tell.)
With all of those adults surrounding the laundry chute, nobody seemed all that panicked. That is, except for the woman who faced the reality of being stuck in there forever. Still, they had enough faith that they even let the kids in the household watch this adventure take place.
"I can HEAR her saying DON'T DROP ME," Facebook user Savannah McQueed wrote. "She's saying her goodbyes before going to battle," Lauren Burkes commented. Perhaps the woman in the chute is, at this point, realizing that it's even tougher to get out of the chute than it is to go down it.
Alas, eventually she fits in. Now she'll get to have an experience that nobody else in the family will get to have — she'll know how pieces of dirty laundry feel on the way down. Even more impressively, she can now accurately tell people that she's big enough to successfully fit down a laundry chute. In case anyone else has an emergency like this, she'll be their gal.
But out of all the images, this one may be the scariest — especially out of context. Let's hope the family told the children in the room that even though an adult is doing this, this isn't something they should ever try themselves. It's interesting to try to figure out what the chute lady was thinking about at this very moment.
Success! They managed to open the door, and nobody got stuck — which was a real possibility. Not documented was the drop to the floor, which may have been a danger factor that they didn't think about. Again, let's assume that they really thought this through pretty heavily before sending someone down.
While you should make sure that you have 911 on hand in case you do try to pull a similar stunt, just know that this family likely did have other options. Like breaking down the door. Plenty of people on Facebook had plenty of suggestions, from trying to open the door with a pin or a hanger to removing the stuck doorknob altogether.
Safety aside, Kevin McCallister would be proud. Sure, he's a fictional character — but in terms of dangerous home stunts, you have to give him props. In Home Alone, it seemed like he barely even had to think about the contraptions he used to save his house from the Wet Bandits. In this case, the family used items they had around the house to save their laundry.
This might make people a little more appreciative of a laundry chute. Not every home has one. Who knew it would someday serve as more than just a convenient way to get your dirty laundry from one floor to another? Keep in mind, the stairs are still a far safer way to travel in your home.
If anything, this little stunt proves that a family that works together is capable of anything. This laundry chute experiment will be a funny memory for years to come, and likely a story that gets passed on. Plus, for the brave woman who went down? It was a phenomenal photo opportunity that she'll probably get only once in her life.
But if this happens to you? Maybe you should call a professional and have them take care of the situation if you can't. The laundry chute should be your last option, even if you have a dedicated team like this woman did. Let's hope they had a big backup plan that wasn't revealed on Facebook.