So, if you've read our blog since we moved in to our lovely home, you already know that our house has issues. Plumbing issues. It's to be expected that not everything is just super perfect in a home that is almost 50 years old, but I have to say that sometimes I feel like we are keeping our local plumber in business. I know, that's very conceited of me. And we are well aware that our problems could be so much worse.
Today I left work at lunch because the plumber was supposed to be here sometime after 1:30. "Sometime" meant 3:00, and he got to work on our first problem which was a leaky pipe behind the wall of our guest bathroom. Luckily, the paneling was still cut open from the pipe that was busted by plumbers in January, so no further wall damage ensued. He couldn't find a leak, but in between the time we called about the leaky pipe and today, both this sink and our bathroom sink decided they didn't want to drain anymore. At all. Coincidence? I have no idea, because I know nothing about plumbing. Obviously.
While I was showing the plumber these two issues (leaky pipe and standing water in our sink), he asked if there was anything else. As a matter of fact, there was. While he was here, could he check the cold water pressure of our kitchen sink? Those of you who have visited us know (and may have forgotten, because it's really not memorable) that our kitchen sink dribbles when it is on cold water, but if you turn the faucet towards lukewarm, it scalds you. This has been like this since we moved in and hooked up our ice maker to the water line. We thought some sediment had gotten jostled in this process and was clogging the cold water. This was true, and the plumber finally fixed this. He had to call in a second plumber to come and clear the pipe, which this guy did while on the roof. I had NO idea that you got to plumbing from the roof. Shows how much I know. Anyway, back to the original problem, leaky pipe. He still couldn't see a leak, but took off the fitting on the pipe joint anyway. Long boring story short, the pipe fitting is round, and we have old copper pipe there, which is not round. Kind of a polygonal shape. So after being here for about 2 1/2 hours, we scheduled another appointment for tomorrow afternoon to finish up the job.
So, I learned a couple things today. One, if you have a minor plumbing problem, save it up until you have more than one thing. They charge by the hour, and a clog only takes about 5 minutes to fix, so we got our money's worth with the multiple fixes in one afternoon. Two, if you are graduating in May and still haven't figured out what you want to do with your life, consider plumbing. I don't think this profession will ever be not needed. Especially at this house.
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4 comments:
So did they get the kitchen faucet fixed? I remember that problem well.
Yes! It took him about 30 minutes or so, but it works well now.
So . . . I've wondered about if you graduated in the '60's.
JOKE - neurosurgeon calls a plumber on a Sunday morning to repair his plumbing. After 3 hours, the plumber charged him an outrageous sum. The doctor said "That's outrageous - I'm a neurosurgeon and I don't make that much in 3 hours." The plumber replied "I agree - I never made that kind of money when I was a neurosurgeon, either!" Sorry about that.
Good that you are so philosophical about it. You're right. There are a lot of things worse than a plumbing leak. Except I didn't think so when my water heater leaked and it was in the attic and they had to rehab the whole house because they couldn't just change the carpet in the hall because it was connected to all the other carpet so they had to change out the whole carpet and all the dust that they stirred up caused severe asthma problems and I ended up in the hospital and I was so freaked out that I sold the house and moved to an apartment where if you even get a little crack in the tile grout you just call the maintenance guy. But I tend to overreact. Occasionally.
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