Plumbing excitement
I came home Friday afternoon and saw a wet spot on the driveway. Huh. It hadn't rained recently. Where was the water coming from? I looked at the other side of the driveway, next to the house. Hmmm... a puddle (that a cat came up to investigate and get a drink from - because of course, puddles are so much tastier than inside water). Look back at the first spot and see a small trickle of running water. Doesn't sound good. I hadn't been home for several hours so I knew we shouldn't be using any water inside. Check the hose to see if it was left running accidently - nope. Check the meter - oops, its spinning happily (or unhappily in my view).
Next step, isolate the problem. Turn off the inside water. Check the meter - still spinning. Turn off the outside faucet - meter still spinning. That means the problem must be outside - in the plumbing part that was fixed. Crud.
My mom showed up in the middle of this (I don't remember exactly why, but I'm sure it was to do with coordinating plans to go to a wedding last night). So she helped me do meter checks and all.
Next step - turn off the water at the street. A pair of pliers - twist the doo-hickey on the water meter and thankfully the meter stops spinning.
Then time to call the guys who fixed the outside piping. I called them about 1:45 and explained the problem. First guy said he'd call the second guy and call me back. Fine. But then I remembered that I was due at the school to pick up kids for an orthodontist apt. Got to dash. My mom kindly agreed to wait at the house for 15 min for the return call from the plumber.
Meantime, I picked up the kids, plucking them out of the bus line, and dashed to the ortho. M got his last braces off and his lower retainer put in (upper was put in last month), then we went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. By the time I got home just before 4pm, the plumber had been there, fixed the problem, turned the water back on and left me a note. Yes. Life is much better with indoor plumbing!
Next step, isolate the problem. Turn off the inside water. Check the meter - still spinning. Turn off the outside faucet - meter still spinning. That means the problem must be outside - in the plumbing part that was fixed. Crud.
My mom showed up in the middle of this (I don't remember exactly why, but I'm sure it was to do with coordinating plans to go to a wedding last night). So she helped me do meter checks and all.
Next step - turn off the water at the street. A pair of pliers - twist the doo-hickey on the water meter and thankfully the meter stops spinning.
Then time to call the guys who fixed the outside piping. I called them about 1:45 and explained the problem. First guy said he'd call the second guy and call me back. Fine. But then I remembered that I was due at the school to pick up kids for an orthodontist apt. Got to dash. My mom kindly agreed to wait at the house for 15 min for the return call from the plumber.
Meantime, I picked up the kids, plucking them out of the bus line, and dashed to the ortho. M got his last braces off and his lower retainer put in (upper was put in last month), then we went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. By the time I got home just before 4pm, the plumber had been there, fixed the problem, turned the water back on and left me a note. Yes. Life is much better with indoor plumbing!
posted by owlfan at 10:28 AM
2 Comments:
Woohooo! Fixed without going without water overnight! That counts as a very happy ending in my book, plumbing-wise! Glad it worked out without any inside damage....
Definitely worked out well. I was only home w/o water for about 15 minutes. My jack-of-all-trades repairmen may take forever to do some things (finish staining the house), but they are great in an emergency. No way could I have gotten a plumbing company there and problem fixed in 2 hours while I wasn't home.
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