The Plumbing Gods Are Still Pissed At Us

[SlickTony]

You might remember the big saga of how we had to fix a leak in the upstairs bathtub and then I had to retile the ceiling of the bathtub downstairs. Well, that went ok, but then we had to replace the stem of the downstairs bathtub faucet. My husband did this and he neglected to pull the retainer clip, which resulted in the guts of the stem coming out so that we had to gouge the rest of the stem out, piece by piece. I think that must've scarred up the inside of the valve because when we put in a brand-new stem the faucet still leaked! Our last utility bill (electric + water) was upwards of $300, which is bad for this part of the world. We still haven't worked out what we're going to do about that. One thing I do know, if it's going to involve more retiling, I can handle that.

A couple of days ago we found a mysterious wet spot on the living roon floor. At first we thought the cat had found the remains of someone's drink that they'd left on the end table and knocked it over, except that it was too big and wouldn't mop up. We couldn't figure it out at first; how could it be an under-the-slab leak? We didn't think we had any pipes there. But then we figured out that yes, we did; there's a faucet at the back of the house. My husband talked to some guys at work who said we were probably looking at at least $1500. We're trying to pull the funding together to handle this; in the meantime, the shop vac lives in the living room.

 

[sadangel]

You might remember the big saga of how we had to fix a leak in the upstairs bathtub and then I had to retile the ceiling of the bathtub downstairs. Well, that went ok, but then we had to replace the stem of the downstairs bathtub faucet. My husband did this and he neglected to pull the retainer clip, which resulted in the guts of the stem coming out so that we had to gouge the rest of the stem out, piece by piece. I think that must've scarred up the inside of the valve because when we put in a brand-new stem the faucet still leaked! Our last utility bill (electric + water) was upwards of $300, which is bad for this part of the world. We still haven't worked out what we're going to do about that. One thing I do know, if it's going to involve more retiling, I can handle that.

A couple of days ago we found a mysterious wet spot on the living roon floor. At first we thought the cat had found the remains of someone's drink that they'd left on the end table and knocked it over, except that it was too big and wouldn't mop up. We couldn't figure it out at first; how could it be an under-the-slab leak? We didn't think we had any pipes there. But then we figured out that yes, we did; there's a faucet at the back of the house. My husband talked to some guys at work who said we were probably looking at at least $1500. We're trying to pull the funding together to handle this; in the meantime, the shop vac lives in the living room.

YOu sound like you could use some *hugs* and some good luck to go with it!!

 

[SlickTony]

YOu sound like you could use some *hugs* and some good luck to go with it!!

Thank you!

 

[TE999]

You might remember the big saga of how we had to fix a leak in the upstairs bathtub and then I had to retile the ceiling of the bathtub downstairs. Well, that went ok, but then we had to replace the stem of the downstairs bathtub faucet. My husband did this and he neglected to pull the retainer clip, which resulted in the guts of the stem coming out so that we had to gouge the rest of the stem out, piece by piece. I think that must've scarred up the inside of the valve because when we put in a brand-new stem the faucet still leaked! Our last utility bill (electric + water) was upwards of $300, which is bad for this part of the world. We still haven't worked out what we're going to do about that. One thing I do know, if it's going to involve more retiling, I can handle that.

A couple of days ago we found a mysterious wet spot on the living roon floor. At first we thought the cat had found the remains of someone's drink that they'd left on the end table and knocked it over, except that it was too big and wouldn't mop up. We couldn't figure it out at first; how could it be an under-the-slab leak? We didn't think we had any pipes there. But then we figured out that yes, we did; there's a faucet at the back of the house. My husband talked to some guys at work who said we were probably looking at at least $1500. We're trying to pull the funding together to handle this; in the meantime, the shop vac lives in the living room.

You have my sympathies...that sounds miserable...what damaged the pipe?

 

[ishtat]

Just wondered whether it might be cheaper to isolate this section and cut it off rather than repair it at all.

 

[SlickTony]

The house was built in the 70s, so probably the pipes' time had come. A few years back we had a leak in the kitchen, and had to call a plumber to see to it, and at that time he said that eventually the house would have to be repiped; maybe now is the time.

We talked about this revoltin' development with some friends we ate dinner with Friday night and they made the same suggestion. But that would put us with no water faucet for the back yard, and I don't want that.