How I Spent my Spring Break

I went camping.  At an RV park on the north side of town.  My brother-in-law loaned us a camper, which was a good thing as there was a trench down the middle of the hall.  

Back in January, while I was in Costa Rica and my wife was recovering from surgery, she had to have the plumber out.  It seems the cast iron pipe had corroded to the point of not being there anymore.

That meant a whole new pipe.  Which means breaking through the slab.

The original plan was to jackhammer through the foundation, then dig over to where the line was.  Of course it went under cabinets and walls.  That started  on Monday, a week ago as I write this.  The ground was so hard that they dug a shallow trench and then filled it with water.  They let the water soak through overnight.

Instead of tunneling over, the plumber and his crew decided to simply lay a new line in the trench they’d dug.  I thought that was a good idea.  It was easier, and I hope it lowered the cost.  I haven’t gotten the final bill yet.

Long story short, we got an entirely new line except for the lines from the washing machine and kitchen sink.

We also had them replace the line in the backyard.  The sewer lines here run through the alleys, not the streets.  This turned out to be a good thing.  The line out in the yard is some type of compressed tar paper.  That seems to have been a thing around here at some point in the past.  This house is almost as old as I am, so it was a while back.

The new indoor pool is almost ready. Kinda narrow, though.

But I digress.  Once water left the house and entered the line in the yard, it had to run uphill.  Not good.  The city inspector signed off on the line in the yard this morning (he approved the line in the house last week).  All they have to do now is fill in the trench, and we’re done.

The carpet guys are here restretching the carpet.  They would have done it on Friday afternoon except there was something about everyone needed to deal with a water heater that had ruptured at one of the local schools.

Everything is, or will be in a few hours, as good as new.  Because much of it is new.

Not how I would have chosen to spend my spring break, but it was something that needed to be done.  And it will help if/when we sell the house.

4 thoughts on “How I Spent my Spring Break

    1. Keith West Post author

      Thanks. Yeah, having people tear up your house is a little awkward, but they did a good job.

      Reply
    1. Keith West Post author

      Thanks. I know approximately what the bill is going to come to. I may be finding a second job at some point since we are still getting medical bills for what insurance won’t cover, but so far I’ve (barely) managed to cover everything.

      Reply

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