Conversation #65: We need a plumber

(Photo from: lumbertonpolitics.blogspot.com)



Actually, the husband is pretty good at fixing things, but I sometimes I wish we could just pay someone else to do it.  Being a homeowner is great, but somedays it just feels like the whole house is going to fall down.

We were just going along living life like normal, and BAM!  Okay, well really it was more like we got our utility bill in the mail and it said we used 3 times as much water last month as the previous.  Yeah, that wasn't normal.  So the hunt for the water leak began.

Our house was built in 1955 and we live in TX so that means no basement and it is pier and beam, which also means we have a creepy crawl space that houses all of our plumbing.  Also, they used to say you should go there during a tornado, but I'm pretty certain that will never happen.  It is so creepy!  I think I'll take my chances in the closet, but hopefully no tornadoes hit our house!

Anyway, I guess the leak was a good thing because it forced us the hubby to get down under the house and we found another major issue.  Our shower drainline was completely broken off and all of the water was draining under the house.  If you have never dealt with drainlines - they are gross!  This happened to us once before with our kitchen drainline and that was probably even more gross.  Anyway, I always thought our hall closet smelled weird, but we had no idea it was because the shower was draining underneath it.  This was not the culprit of the leak since it was a drainline not a waterline, but we are so glad we found it.  The hubby had to wet-vac it all up, and that is a dirty job.

We actually had this fixed when we first moved in, and basically they didn't fix it.  So the hubby did!  He really is quite handy.  Okay so basically, we fixed one problem we didn't know we had and now we still have to find this leak. 

We felt faced with having to dig up our front yard to find it, but luckily the hubby found it.  I don't even know how, but he at least found that it was near our faucet for the backyard.  Upon further investigation this morning (yep, he crawled under the house before work), he found that it is right under the house underground.  My poor hubby has to dig up the pipe under our house (the crawlspace is maybe 2' tall if even) and fix this pipe.  Then we turned our water off over night and the water heater to stop the leak, but then the water heater pilot wouldn't ignite this morning so we had to take quick showers with the water that was still in the tank.  It really wasn't too bad, but sometimes I just think "will this house ever just be in a state of just being?"

Hopefully we'll be able to get the leak fixed first thing tomorrow morning.  Sometimes I hate that we do it all ourself and wish we could call a "professional" to come do the work, but the amount of money we have already saves makes me so happy that the husband is willing to get dirty.  We have already saved at least $745 and that was the quote we got without even fixing the leak.  That was just to find it!  I know someday the hubby will be too busy with work (once his practice takes off) to be able to do these things and we will have to call someone.  But for now, it sure is nice to keep that money in the bank!

Hope y'all have a wonderful Friday :)