Oh hey, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Soooooo, last time I got real angry at my blog and it’s publishing problem, maybe I should learn to save as I go. Just like school work. But anyway, hope everyone had a great holiday season and are looking forward to 2013! I sure am. This will be a big year for me. I’m hitting the 3-0, which I am psyched for and gettin’ hitched, also looking forward to that so it’s shaping up to be a fun year.
Unfortunately, as those of you with old homes know, winter can be a real bummer. The main part of our house was built around 1890 and is doing swell, the addition which houses the bathroom and kitchen and was built god knows when is a hot mess. Actually it’s a cold mess, I wish it was hot. There isn’t a heat source in our kitchen which can lead to some chilly days in there and the little baseboard heater in the bathroom doesn’t really keep up when it’s really cold, like below 30. I know, not that cold! So, last week Pittsburgh was in an arctic freeze, meaning multiple days under 20…gross. Having been through some “learning experiences” before with frozen pipes we planned ahead and last Monday went to sleep with our faucets dripping (which helps them to not freeze) buuttt of course it didn’t actually work. So Lou and I woke up Tuesday and tested the faucets and sad face, froze. We turned off the main water line to the house, in hopes of avoiding a disaster if there were any cracks or splits in the pipes. No water for flushing the toilet, showering, laundry, nothing.
Fast forward to Sunday, it’s been 5 whole days without water, so showering at our family’s and you know pooping on top of each other’s poop those kind of intimate things. The temperature is finally above freezing so we turn on the main water valve and cross our fingers. Small victory. Some, water works but not all, and no obvious leaks. So, we leave the water on and figure check back soon. Meanwhile a friend of ours was here to watch the Pens game and was investigating our plumbing woes when he said those fateful words, “do you hear something?”. NOOOOOO! Water is pouring out of an access panel in the kitchen ceiling (from the bathroom) all over the countertop, walls, dirty dishes, birth control and coffee pot. Only the most important things. I rushed to the basement and shut off the valve, and threw a trash can under the leak to catch the water. Yikes. What a mess. What a bummer. So, a plumber is coming tomorrow afternoon, hopefully there will only be one break and they can fix it on site. But that will be a gamble since the other frozen pipes were still frozen yesterday so it’ll be a crap shoot to see if there are other breaks or cracks. Everybody say your prayers, we need our water back for our sanity !!
This round of discomfort has pushed us to do some serious thinking about our house, and it looks like we’re going to have to do some major work on our addition. We’re thinking of tearing off the old aluminum siding, insulate and wrap it up tight and then bricking it to match the rest of the house. Big $$$ project. But definitely worth it. Unfortunately, the woman who sold us this house, didn’t care about doing things right or disclosing that there could be issues and not only do I not want to live like a pilgrim again but I couldn’t sell the house to some unsuspecting person knowing all of the problems we have had in the deep colds of winter.
Anyone else with frozen pipe stories? We could commiserate together.
