I'm not going down there...

"I think I'll just stay here and observe from a distance. It's pretty stinky and noisy. Usually stinky and noisy things don't bother me so much, but it's a weeknight and I can't figure out what my humans are doing down there...."

-Billie

You know you're into something bad when even Billie doesn't want to come and watch. Billie has grown up with construction and can practically sleep beside you while you hammer nails or drill pilot holes.

But what was it that caused Billie to keep her distance Wednesday evening?

It started with a foul smell and a backing up drain. It seems our basement drains (we have two) need to be rodded out every year or two. In the past we've called out a plumber, but Steve was feeling thrifty & energetic this time and instead opted to rent a Rodder for about $57 from "Clark Devon"(Only the best Hardware store in the whole world).

So Steve went at the two drains with the rodder and I have to tell you, it smelled real bad. Like I wouldn't want to be feeling queasy and smell that smell.

What did I do besides take photos you ask? I held the rooter so it was stable. And I held the flashlight. I don't mind dirty jobs, but that rodder has been to places I don't want to even think about.

A hundred feet or so later, the beast starting flailing like a wild snake.

Luckily no one was injured and no teeth were knocked out. I have to say that thought crossed my mind a few times during this dirty job.

The result: The smell is gone and the drains seem back to normal. But it was gross.

Random Question: Do you like the show "Dirty Jobs"? We do.

We've got a ceiling again

Some ceilings we don't want. As a woman, I'm not in favor of the glass ceilings in some segments of corporate America. I believe our new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she broke through the "marble ceiling" just recently.

But here at the 2-flat, our ceilings are of a much more mundane nature. We like them where they belong without holes. I have to admit that living without a ceiling is easier to me than living with holes in walls- most certainly because one doesn't look up all the time.

Anyway, we got our ceiling back today. The best part was we didn't have to do it ourselves. Our contractors are doing it since the plumbing issue was their fault. They'll be back soon for the next few steps of taping and painting and we'll be good as new.

The only bonus to this is that when we originally drywalled the ceiling, Steve cut the hole for the light too big and we had to add a decorative plaster ring to hide it. Now, we won't have to have that.

Chicago 2-flat adage:

The one benefit to doing anything over again is usually you do it better the second time around.

Okay, Plumbing Gods, are you happy now?

On Tuesday, Steve cut a hole in the wall of the 2nd bedroom upstairs so the plumber could have access to fix the leak. His findings? The leak was coming from the shower head connection inside the wall.

It was good to have a licensed plumber confirm that "the plumbing work looks good," but not so good to hear that if our contractor had fully tightened the shower head arm to the water supply, there would have been NO leak at all. It took 2-3 more turns for it to be tightened and stop leaking.

I'd say this falls under Stupid Contractor Tricks, wouldn't you? Price of carelessness? Twenty minutes, $85.00 and half a ceiling missing and a large portion of wall gone. We haven't called our contractor yet to fix it because we are "drying out".

The plumber said that this little "boo boo" was nothing compared to the dumb and incompetent things he's encountered in his career. One story he told was about a homeowner that hired an unscrupulous contractor to put a bathroom in a basement. The toilet was installed but the drain was never connected to the sewer pipe. It was a seldom used bathroom, but eventually the toilet was not working and they removed it. What did they find? A toilet draining into the dirt under their concrete floor directly underneath their home!

Our little problem didn't even make his Top 10, but he said it was a stupid mistake and if our contractor had tested it before he sealed up the wall, it would have been abundantly clear.

But why didn't he test it??? Sleep deprivation? Bad mood? Stubborn arrogance? Could be any of those. I know he isn't incompetent, but he must be watched carefully, which Steve did for the most part.

Anyway, the happy ending part is that the problem wasn't in the kitchen or worse than it was. Now, back to business. Tomorrow, we're planning to weather strip some windows in the basement and start the work patching and repairing the plaster ceiling in the basement where it was damaged with the post replacement last year. First step is the lathe...

The mysterious drip uncovered

So, as promised we cut open the ceiling on Saturday. Rather Steve did, while I was out canvasing for our local Aldermanic election. He cut to the left, thinking it was the radiator or toe kick in the kitchen, but didn't find anything.

So he cut to the right and things got decidedly damp and wet. Until, the realization dawned. It was the shower. The brand new and newly run shower piping was leaking. Good news in that we do not have to rip out the kitchen cabinets, but bad news in that half our bathroom ceiling is gone and we have to cut a large hole in our tenants bedroom.
The culprit? Our favorite contractor, Miro. We're hoping he'll come back and repair the ceiling and wall but we won't be having him do the plumbing again. Rather, we'll be calling in a licensed plumber. Live and learn. Sometimes it hurts a little.



Here's a close up of the leaking. Sigh.

Oh, and we decided after one night's disrupted sleep, that we are putting wall to wall carpeting in the bedroom over ours. Our tenant has a desk and chair in there and the sound of the chair scraping on the bare wood floors at 11pm prevents sleep. We need our sleep to deal with our life ya know.

Kind of a bummer of a start to the year having to spend our money and time on this stuff.

It came from above

It seems the plumbing Gods didn't like me having a little joke at their expense the other day. They are currently exacting their revenge.

Last night, ready for bed, I went into the bathroom and saw a puddle of water on the floor. What could that be? I looked up and saw a drip come down from above. Uh oh.

I told Steve there was water coming from upstairs, and he said,"Are you serious??" We called the tenants to see if their bathtub had overflowed or any such disaster. They said no and invited Steve up to take a look around. Nothing seemed out of order.


So, since it was after 10pm and not much we could do, we made a "quiet" bucket (bucket with a towel in it)and went to bed. No surprise that we didn't sleep too well. After about 20 minutes Steve got up and shut off the valves in the basement for the toe kick heater upstairs, convinced that was the cause of the water leak and worried it might explode in the night.



In the morning, the dripping was still going and we pulled the pan away from the wall. We saw there was a good amount of water being suspended inside it. So, we drilled a few holes in the ceiling to see if we could get it to drain. This technique has worked for us before.

Historically, all but one water leakage issue in our building has been caused by our heating system or the ineptitude of those working with it (not us).


We removed the pan and released the water that was behind it. As you can see from the condition of the drywall, there was in fact some water pooling.





We set up trays to catch the water.

Today, Steve went upstairs to check that dastardly toe kick heater. It was bone dry. This means we do not know what is causing the leak, which is quite worrisome.

If it's work that our contractor did upstairs in the kitchen (sink drain, dishwaher) or the bathroom (shower, sink) then his warranty says he has to repair it. If it's the pipes in the wall for the toe kick, our heating guy is responsible.

I should probably be more upset about this than I am. I am really just annoyed. I know we'll get it sorted. This is where renovation experience helps. This is really minor compared with other things we've been through.

I will however, feel better when I know what it is and how we can get it repaired. But God help me if they have to cut another hole in my kitchen walls or ceiling.

Assume the position

And just what is the position, you might ask? And what exactly does it entail? Why I can only be referring to the worship of the plumbing gods of course.

In this case, we had the typical holiday time clogged drain. It is my belief that if a sink or toilet isn't backing up during the holidays once in a while, something is terribly wrong.

Last year, you may recall it was the upstairs toilet.



I have a little organizational tip that helps us in times like this. We three hole punch all our warranties and appliance manuals and put them in large binders. Then, when we need them, we know exactly where they are. In this case, we needed to look at the faucet specs to recall how to disassemble it and clear the drain. The 2nd floor has it's own binder too.


And the cause of the clog? Long brown hair. In our house, I am the cause of all clogged drains.


It's working like a charm now though.

At certain times I like to look back to the exact date the previous year or years and see what was going on at the time.

I happened to do so this morning and last year's post on January 2nd made me laugh. And it relates to plumbing too. Ah, the memories...