Our living room is full of 13 adults and a few kiddos. A rare moment of silence and Matt jumps on the opportunity to announce: “So, we’re having some plumbing issues. If you all could help by keeping toilet paper use and flushing to a minimum, that would be great.”
"Ok, ok, you can flush the toilet. Just be a little careful with using too much toilet paper." I tried to save face a little, but seriously, our friends didn't seem to care, made plenty of jokes about "if it's yellow..." and carried on with the party. It didn't even seem to make a difference in the amount of beer consumed.
Matt was just being honest. We are having plumbing issues due to tree roots infesting some pipes. It's been going on for four months, but has now gotten to the point that we have to repair the pipe, which means there is currently a 12 foot hole outside of our door. This also means that all the cash we were hanging onto for a sunny trip to Florida is going to pay for repairs. Apparently, our insurance company considers this to be "maintenance" since we had no interior damage. Does this look like maintenance to you?
"Ok, ok, you can flush the toilet. Just be a little careful with using too much toilet paper." I tried to save face a little, but seriously, our friends didn't seem to care, made plenty of jokes about "if it's yellow..." and carried on with the party. It didn't even seem to make a difference in the amount of beer consumed.
Matt was just being honest. We are having plumbing issues due to tree roots infesting some pipes. It's been going on for four months, but has now gotten to the point that we have to repair the pipe, which means there is currently a 12 foot hole outside of our door. This also means that all the cash we were hanging onto for a sunny trip to Florida is going to pay for repairs. Apparently, our insurance company considers this to be "maintenance" since we had no interior damage. Does this look like maintenance to you?
This is the view from right outside of our kitchen door. There is a 12 foot hole under those pieces of plywood and cones. Lovely, no?Anyway, the old, tall, big trees that we were one of the things that made us purchase this house in the first place are not good for old pipes, it seems. So, we're repairing some big problems that the roots have created.
We learned a lot about our water use last weekend. We had to be *very* careful, which meant no laundry or dishwasher, quick showers, careful bath draining, and limited toilet flushing. We were a really good example of water conservation. We tried to minimize the number of utensils each day, yet still cooked and carried on normally. But that's not the point of this story.
There are two points:
1. Once again, an old house can come up with some unexpected (and really expensive) curve balls. Like plumbing.
2. We have really great friends who aren't going to let a few plumbing issues get in the way of a good time.
4 comments:
You had plumbing issues for over four months? That’s a really huge disappointment. A tree is great to have at home and it's saddening that it had to be the cause of the problem. I just hope that everything's already fixed and that you've never faced any problem since.
Levi @ CapitalPlumbing.ca
It’s a wise decision not to let the plumbing problems let on for more many months before finally fixing it. Apparently, that kind of problem wouldn’t go away, and would only get worse the more you ignore it. I hope the problems are gone since the fix. Village Plumbing
Trees are nice – that’s until their limbs and roots compromise the foundation of our house. Good thing you didn’t wait for things to get worse before you took action. I hope that fix is enough to make all your plumbing woes go away. Good luck1
Lovella Cushman @ Perfection Plumbing
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