Water leak destroys thousands of books at North Philadelphia store

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The owners of a North Philadelphia bookstore are trying to recover after losing thousands of books.

Tree House Books says a piping issue in an upstairs apartment sent the books on the shelves of their giving library to a watery grave on Christmas Day.

Thousands of donated treasures were destroyed.

"When we came into the giving library, it felt like a tropical rainforest. Just water coming down and wet everywhere," said Michael Brix.

Brix suspects the pipe above the space had been malfunctioning for some 24 to 36 hours.

And when they went to turn off the water in the basement, they discovered another five to six inches of standing water.

"We're estimated we lost anywhere between 4,000 to 5,000 books on the shelves, and the basement where we were storing all the books that went on the shelves - also ruined," said Brix.

Brix believes they'll be able to replenish the giving library fairly quickly with donations, but the biggest hurdle is the remediation to their space.

They've had to open walls and rip up flooring which is estimated to cost around $40,000.

For more information and updates on the restoration, visit TreeHouseBooks.org