Water, water, everywhere

"You only have to know two things to become a plumber: shit runs down hill and payday is on Friday." anonymous pipe fitter.

Remember on my previous post where I alluded to "unrelated roadblocks that life throws at you from day to day"? Well, I'm living through one of those right now. My wife and I were greeted with a large puddle of water in the hallway Thursday afternoon when we came home. First thoughts were that the hot water heater near there finally gave up the ghost. A handyman was located ASAP. In the meantime, we had to turn off the water at the main and begin a sort of in-house camping adventure.

It wasn't until this morning, however, that we finally figured out that our problems were far more involved. The water heater is still reasonably tight. That's good. But the 56 year old galvanized steel pipes buried in the cement foundation have rusted away and water is now fissuring through the bathroom floor tile grout. I took the day off work to talk with plumbers and insurance agents, both in person and over the phone. Nobody, of course is available on Friday to do anything for us. That won't happen until Monday afternoon.

In the meantime, showers will occur at the nearby health club and meals are now either brought in from the outside, precooked, or exist as ready-to-eat. Hand washing, tooth brushing and simple cleanups now require extra effort that you don't fully appreciate until you have to expend it. Toilets are filled up to the point at which we can't handle the smell any longer and we then run out to the street to turn the water main on, long enough to replenish the tanks before quickly flushing. Then, we mop the fissured inlet water from the bathroom floor once more, after shutting off the mains. Our modern water-oriented miracle appliances, such as dishwashers and washing machines, are currently rendered useless. Good thing there's a coin-op laundromat down the street.

We're probably going to be living like this at least through the middle of next week and this, of course, puts everything else - including artistic chair building pursuits - on the back burner for now. Savor those drawing from last week, ladies and gentlemen. I promise I'll follow on with additional progress as soon as possible.

One bit of good news, though. I happened to drop by the local Home Depot earlier this week with shed restoration questions. I was referred to the Pro Account Sales Desk and spoke with a woman there, Deborah, who was a wealth of knowledge and who generously spent a good deal of time answering my questions about framing, covering materials, insulation and roof design. She obviously knows her stuff and was able to present it to me without the typical "good ol' boy" pretense you sometimes get from these hardware store guys. Turns out she's got an architecture degree (!) and this was among the first jobs she could find upon arriving to town not too long ago. Six months from now, of course, she'll probably working her real trade out of some swank office and charging for such design and construction advise accordingly. But while she's still dressing up in the trademark orange apron at the local big box, I'm going to stop by often and get all the shed design advice I can absorb, while also stocking up on supplies.

More next week . . .