Plumbing Woes, Redux

This seems to be the year of plumbing issues.

Look at those pretty new pipes!

In spite of replacing the toilet, the pipe, and the plumbing out of the house to the septic tank, we STILL had a leak in the basement.  After calling out 3 plumbers, we finally found a plumber who was able to find the source of the leak that was filling a large trash can every day.  Now there's a story - the first plumber is from the company we have our home warranty with.  He told us to replace the toilet.  Since the toilet was new, we called the company that redid the bathroom and installed the toilet.  They said "It's not our work, we're not fixing it."  The third plumber is the same one who replaced the line out of the house this summer.  The whole thing sounds a little like a retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, doesn't it?


The third plumber spent an hour tracking back through the plumbing and finally found a hairline crack in the copper plumbing just below the toilet.  In addition to that leak, he found three other leaks.  (OH BOY!  More leaks!!!)


Keep in mind, it took over a month to find a plumber who was capable of finding this issue.  In the meantime, we were turning the toilets off when we flushed them, and then turning them back on again after we used them in order to fill the tank to flush the toilet.


Let me tell you, the fun never ends in this house.


Another $1,000 and I believe that we are leak free.  I've got my fingers crossed - because this house is full of copper plumbing, and I know that it can go at any moment in time.

In the meantime, I'd really like to put money into something other than plumbing.....

Indoor Plumbing

Finally, finally, finally.  Our indoor plumbing is up and running!

The plumber had to come out and dig the line out from the house to the septic tank, and then replace the line from inside of the house, through the foundation wall, and out to the tank.  Our plumber showed up at 8 am this morning to begin work on what I thought was going to be a massive undertaking.  3 hours later, the line was replaced, water was running out of the house (instead of into the basement) and we are able to use our indoor pipes once again!

The bonus?  Our plumber upgraded the plumbing on that line to meet current building code!  Who-Hoo! One less thing to worry about!

Backhoe coming up the hill.

This is where the pipe failed.

 

Pipe is gone!  There's sunshine coming through that hole!

New pipe in place, cement around the hole.  Now to clean up that wall...

Pipe from the outside - house to the septic tank.

We lost the bush here. The pipe you see coming up from the ground is the clean out for the plumbing. Building code met.

Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes.
Ability to use indoor plumbing: priceless.

BTW: This is where I wanted to fix the landscaping in front of the house.  Do you remember my resolution to fix the landscaping here?  This is the spot!  I'm glad the backhoe took out the bush instead of us! (He wouldn't agree to take out the rest of them, though.)