This week we've been having some fun with the kitchen pipes. The fittings do not fit, and occasionally they come apart and whatever is in the sink ends up on the floor. The upside to this is that the kitchen cabinet and the floor in front of the sink is really clean. I did a fabulous fix-up job by putting an upside-down bucket under the elbow to hold the pipe in place. I even told all the kids to be careful not to knock that bucket out of place. That's good, isn't it?
I used to tell people that the Norths (meaning Bruce, me and our family) shouldn't be allowed to have running water in our home. Really, I don't believe that (or want it!)--I actually like having water piped into my house and being able to use it with a twist of the wrist. I like it a lot! But we have had our share of water problems.
When we bought our house in 2000 the grass was dead. OK, it was only mostly dead. Bruce's mom kindly came out and put fertilizer and weed killer over our yard; she said this would revive the lawn if we just watered it--Hooray! So we did. We hooked up a hose and ran the water on our "lawn" for about an hour while we worked on other moving-in stuff. And then I went downstairs to discover that the floor was an inch deep in water! Aaaaaah!! We learned that we had a burst pipe on that side of the house.
Fast-forward to summer 2001: This summer my kids had a penchant for taking their cups of water into any and every room in the house, and they invariably spilled water all over the world. So when I went into Lindsey's bedroom and found the floor in the doorway was drenched I was really not surprised, but I was really irritable. I soaked up the water with a towel, chewed the kids out and went on my way. They did it again! And not just a little water, but a LOT of water. I soaked it up again and went about my business. When this had happened about four times in a day I was very angry with my children. Even so, that very evening they'd done it again! I know, you're thinking I just hadn't gotten it all dried up from earlier in the day; but
no, it was a LOT of water. Well after I put yet another towel on Lindsey's floor I went into my room and, glancing up, I noticed that my ceiling was sagging and there was a little BB hole in the corner of it. I ran and got a pan to put under it just as it burst and water began to pour out. Yes, it was the swamp cooler leaking. (Now you're thinking that I'm kind of dense. Well, it was a stressful day--give me a break!) We ended up having to replace a 4 x 8-foot piece of our ceiling.
Summer 2002: The neighbors left their hose on over night, and since we live downhill it leaked into our basement. The window well looked like a fish tank. (Maybe we should have run with that and put fish in it.)
Summer 2003: We decided to have our livingroom carpet cleaned. The man hooked his hose to the faucet with the burst pipe. (Yeah, we should have fixed it, but if you could have seen what an awkward place it was in, you'd excuse us for not having done it.) At least the carpet guy was there, and he very kindly took the blame for it and cleaned the basement carpet too.
Summer 2004: Hey! I think we were dry this year!
Summer 2005: My dryer broke, so I went to Melanie's house to do a lot of laundry. As we got ready to go spend the day with Melanie I reminded myself about five times to turn off the water in the garden. But by the time I'd gathered all the kids and all the laundry I forgot. About ten hours later we came home tired and grumpy. I was bathing the little girls when Lindsey came up and told me there was water on the laundry room floor. Well, our bathroom floor sometimes leaks, so I didn't think much about it; I just told her to throw a towel on it. After the baths were done I went down to put the kids to bed. We had about two inches of standing water in the basement! I sent someone out to turn off the water in the garden and we set about getting things at least cleaned up enough to get everyone to bed. I was not a happy camper, but the kids loved camping all over the livingroom floor! We ended up throwing out all the basement carpet, and since I'd always hated the really badly finished walls in the kids' bedroom, I tore out all the drywall too (it was soaked about two feet up, so it seemed like the thing to do). We got the room fixed up, and I would have just painted the floor--seriously, I would have, it seemed like the safer way to go--but my mom donated some nice carpet and padding to our cause. (By the way, when the walls and ceiling were torn out, we fixed the burst pipe too.)
Since that last fiasco, we've remained clean and dry. Whew! Until yesterday. This time it was the swamp cooler again. This spring, when Bruce climbed up in the attic to re-connect the water pipe he'd taken a 5-gallon bucket to catch any leaks that might happen while he was working. He left the bucket in the attic when he was done; that's what saved us this time. Friday afternoon I went in my bedroom and saw a little, slow drip coming from the ceiling [see photo above]. I immediately turned off the swamp cooler and stuck a pan under the hole (at that moment, it was just a little hole). Bruce got home about 20 minutes later and hurried up into the attic. The bucket had filled up and was starting to overflow; he figured that it probably would have crashed down through the ceiling if I hadn't noticed it when I did. One danger averted!
Well, I guess all of this is just part of the joys of home-ownership. We survive it pretty well, although it can be a little irritating. But hey! At least we have running water!
I used to tell people that the Norths (meaning Bruce, me and our family) shouldn't be allowed to have running water in our home. Really, I don't believe that (or want it!)--I actually like having water piped into my house and being able to use it with a twist of the wrist. I like it a lot! But we have had our share of water problems.
When we bought our house in 2000 the grass was dead. OK, it was only mostly dead. Bruce's mom kindly came out and put fertilizer and weed killer over our yard; she said this would revive the lawn if we just watered it--Hooray! So we did. We hooked up a hose and ran the water on our "lawn" for about an hour while we worked on other moving-in stuff. And then I went downstairs to discover that the floor was an inch deep in water! Aaaaaah!! We learned that we had a burst pipe on that side of the house.
Fast-forward to summer 2001: This summer my kids had a penchant for taking their cups of water into any and every room in the house, and they invariably spilled water all over the world. So when I went into Lindsey's bedroom and found the floor in the doorway was drenched I was really not surprised, but I was really irritable. I soaked up the water with a towel, chewed the kids out and went on my way. They did it again! And not just a little water, but a LOT of water. I soaked it up again and went about my business. When this had happened about four times in a day I was very angry with my children. Even so, that very evening they'd done it again! I know, you're thinking I just hadn't gotten it all dried up from earlier in the day; but
no, it was a LOT of water. Well after I put yet another towel on Lindsey's floor I went into my room and, glancing up, I noticed that my ceiling was sagging and there was a little BB hole in the corner of it. I ran and got a pan to put under it just as it burst and water began to pour out. Yes, it was the swamp cooler leaking. (Now you're thinking that I'm kind of dense. Well, it was a stressful day--give me a break!) We ended up having to replace a 4 x 8-foot piece of our ceiling.Summer 2002: The neighbors left their hose on over night, and since we live downhill it leaked into our basement. The window well looked like a fish tank. (Maybe we should have run with that and put fish in it.)
Summer 2003: We decided to have our livingroom carpet cleaned. The man hooked his hose to the faucet with the burst pipe. (Yeah, we should have fixed it, but if you could have seen what an awkward place it was in, you'd excuse us for not having done it.) At least the carpet guy was there, and he very kindly took the blame for it and cleaned the basement carpet too.
Summer 2004: Hey! I think we were dry this year!
Summer 2005: My dryer broke, so I went to Melanie's house to do a lot of laundry. As we got ready to go spend the day with Melanie I reminded myself about five times to turn off the water in the garden. But by the time I'd gathered all the kids and all the laundry I forgot. About ten hours later we came home tired and grumpy. I was bathing the little girls when Lindsey came up and told me there was water on the laundry room floor. Well, our bathroom floor sometimes leaks, so I didn't think much about it; I just told her to throw a towel on it. After the baths were done I went down to put the kids to bed. We had about two inches of standing water in the basement! I sent someone out to turn off the water in the garden and we set about getting things at least cleaned up enough to get everyone to bed. I was not a happy camper, but the kids loved camping all over the livingroom floor! We ended up throwing out all the basement carpet, and since I'd always hated the really badly finished walls in the kids' bedroom, I tore out all the drywall too (it was soaked about two feet up, so it seemed like the thing to do). We got the room fixed up, and I would have just painted the floor--seriously, I would have, it seemed like the safer way to go--but my mom donated some nice carpet and padding to our cause. (By the way, when the walls and ceiling were torn out, we fixed the burst pipe too.)
Since that last fiasco, we've remained clean and dry. Whew! Until yesterday. This time it was the swamp cooler again. This spring, when Bruce climbed up in the attic to re-connect the water pipe he'd taken a 5-gallon bucket to catch any leaks that might happen while he was working. He left the bucket in the attic when he was done; that's what saved us this time. Friday afternoon I went in my bedroom and saw a little, slow drip coming from the ceiling [see photo above]. I immediately turned off the swamp cooler and stuck a pan under the hole (at that moment, it was just a little hole). Bruce got home about 20 minutes later and hurried up into the attic. The bucket had filled up and was starting to overflow; he figured that it probably would have crashed down through the ceiling if I hadn't noticed it when I did. One danger averted!Well, I guess all of this is just part of the joys of home-ownership. We survive it pretty well, although it can be a little irritating. But hey! At least we have running water!
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