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Burst water pipe blues

Posted on June 8, 2010 1:26 pm by TheAngelForever

Monday morning, I was feeling rather ambitious. I was moving out the clothing that NHL had outgrown, switching out JSL’s fall items for summer and heading down to the basement for laundry/get the next size items for summer. Minutes later, things in my little world were changing. To give you a sense, this was how I felt this morning:

Thank you Keurig machine at Mom and Dad’s house. You are definitely my hero today! Now, back to yesterday.

When I went downstairs, I saw water on the ground. Let me rephrase that, I saw a lot of water! Over 3/4 of the basement floor was wet. It was not deep, but I could hear water rushing. This was not in the usual spot. I immediately screamed for TechyDad to come. Much to our horror we quickly found the culprit. There was geyser of water from a pipe in the back corner of the basement.

I was freaked out and knew it was not good. I called my father and he had someone come over to help us try to stop the flow. Nada – so we called the city. They were at the house in about an hour. By this time, I was already gone. I took NHL to school and went to my parents house since we had no running water.

They eventually came and told TechyDad that it was a pipe running to our main service line and we would likely need to replace that entire line. My heart sank when I heard this. This would be beyond expensive and require a huge section of our yard to be dug up.

To make a long story short, two people came to look. The first plumber I called said they would be there in 2-3 hours. Then, my father mentioned another person to call. He was there in 20 minutes. He gave us a price. I had to get back to him after I heard from our insurance company to see if anything would be covered. Nada on that (mixed feelings after the roof fiasco just a month ago). I told him that we had another plumber coming and not to be insulted. The other plumber came and gave us a better price. The catch – they could not do the work until Thursday at the earliest and he told us we could not wait. So we went ahead, signed a contract with the first person. That check hurt to write.

The saga continued. When they turned the main water off, the water kept flowing. Yes, the river in my basement was still going and going to the drain on the other end. TechyDad went to clean up some with the wet/dry vac and saw more of a mess. As he was sucking water up, more was coming. He called the water department again. Different stories were given, the potential for our bill was getting larger by the minute. I was in tears hearing the story over the phone. Lucky for us, the two men went into the basement and they found something. There was a covered sewer pipe right next to problem pipe. Thanks to TechyDad cleaning that area, they were able to see it and removed the spot and it shot right down there

Below is a view of the leaking pipe area this morning. Looks SO much better than yesterday, but who knows what will happen today as the work progresses.

Fast forward to this morning. After 2 hours of sleep, I took JSL to the doctor and then went to our house. The power company, telephone company and numerous other had come to check in so they would know where it was safe to dig. There were several large vehicles parked outside our house. Before I knew it, this was the scene:

I left the house since it was raining and was told they would call if anything was needed. Now, I wait and see. With any luck, they will be able to fix it and restore the water. The box outside may also need to be replaced will will add a significant amount of additional spending on this project.

On that note, I am off to rest while waiting to hopefully hear some good news about the dig site in my front yard. Once again, I wish that dull moment would come soon.

Categories:
bad news decisions house jl looking back losing my mind photos TechyDad vent

Roof be gone. . . literally

Posted on May 5, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

This just has to have some words this week. Tuesday afternoon, the sky was turning black when I went to pick NHL up from school. I let him play on the playground for a few minutes. Then the rain started to come down a little and we ran to the car. We made it home as the wind started to gust. Within seconds of getting into the house, we could not tell it was day time and the hail started. The wind was horrible. I went to unplug the computer and get the kids to sit on the couch. The lights flickered and for a while the storm surged outside. The wind and sounds outside were unreal.

When it was over, I thought we were lucky. Many people in the area had no power. Ours stayed constant. TechyDad was making dinner and my parents stopped by to see the kids quickly. When I went to follow them outside to say goodbye, something caught my eye. There a metal area on the roof that did not look right to me.

I did not check alone. I went inside and asked hubby to come quickly outside. We went back onto the sidewalk and to our horror saw the hole in our roof (the flat rubber section) with birds flying into it. I immediately wanted to be sick. I called my parents to come back over to see it. Then, I ran inside to call the insurance company. They have people calling in the morning. I was given a number of a person to call Tuesday night to try to get a tarp put up. Unfortunately, they told me that it would be too dark and could not do it. So, tonight, little sleep will be had as we hope that the scattered thunder storms STAY AWAY until we can get a tarp up.

*sigh* Dull moment I could really use you!

Categories:
bad news house losing my mind photos vent weather Wordless Wednesday

Home Farming with some help from Triscuit

Posted on April 15, 2010 10:05 am by TheAngelForever

Six years ago this April, we bought our house and moved in by July. The following year, TechyDad wanted to start planting flowers and possibly some vegetables. Over the years, he and our oldest son, NHL, have attempted growing many different items. Each year, our biggest nemesis has been the neighborhood "wild" bunny family. These furry pests have destroyed many items over the years.

After the first attempt at putting them into the ground did not work, the boys tried to put them into pots that were off the ground. This did better, but there were still problems. Last year, our plants were in large pots on our front patio. Finally, we had items that were successful. We had a bumper crop if jalapeno peppers, a lot of mint, several cucumbers and a handful of tomatoes.

With Earth Day coming next week, we will probably try to plant some items this coming weekend. Our 2010 home farm will likely be grown inside our covered porch. This will allow it to have plenty of light, but protect our plants from bunnies, birds and hail.

During the Spring and Summer, we always support our local Farmers Market and love the local and fresh produce. Still, there is just something extra delicious about items picked from our own garden. In addition to the savings, our children have also learned valuable science and life lessons from growing our own plants and vegetables.

Thanks to Mom Central, I recently found out about a Home Farming campaign that Triscuit is working on. I received one of the four million boxes of specially marked Triscuit boxes that contains seeds to help start our own Home Farm.

Here is more about the program:

In an attempt to help Americans celebrate the values of simple goodness found on farms and encourage the growing of fresh herbs and vegetables at home no matter where you live, Triscuit has launched the Home Farming Movement in collaboration with the non-profit organization Urban Framing. Together, Triscuit and Urban Farming plan to create 50 community-based home farms across the country in 2010 in order to connect communities through growing food together.

To help get this fantastic program off the ground, Triscuit is putting plantable herbs seed cards in four million boxes of Triscuit crackers to be grown on home farms in backyards and balconies. With Earth Day right around the corner, this spring proves ideal for incorporating home growing values into your family’s life. Head to the Triscuit Home Farming Movement Web site, www.triscuit.com/homefarming, for more information on how you can start your own home farm or get involved in the Movement.

So will you be joining in on the Home Farming movement this year? If you are what do you hope to plant this year in your garden?

I know that we will be planting the basil that was included on our Triscuit box along with tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and other items that we find. With any luck we will have more nutritious and delicious items to eat right after we pick them. Happy planting!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Trisciut and receive the product necessary to facilitate my candid review. In addition, I received a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Categories:
Blog Tour food glorious food house looking back nhl photos Product review summer TechyDad

Pilot light out for the count

Posted on January 21, 2010 10:32 am by TheAngelForever

Yesterday evening, when JL got home from work, I went over to the thermostat. The boys were both going to have a bath, so I wanted to get the house warmer for them. Of course, all day I had been sitting and shivering in the house. A few of my Tweets mentioned that my hands were numb. Seeing that I have troubles with my hands from a car accident in middle school, I didn’t think anything of it.

At 7:00, both of the boys were ready to head into the tub. NHL was already in there and the little guy was perched on his Diego potty seat. I thought it was a little cold, so I went over to the thermostat. I did a double take. It was set at 65 and reading 62. This was not a good sign over an hour after I had turned it up.

I went into the basement to check on the furnace and could hear something, but had a feeling it was probably the hot water heater and not the heating system. I went upstairs and asked JL to head down to check and see if the pilot was lit. Hubby went down and confirmed that the pilot was not lit.

Hubby and I have no clue how to light our pilot. We will both admit that we are afraid to do it since it involves the natural gas. We called the power company and told them. They told us that someone would be at our house at one point. About 40 minutes later, the doorbell rang and it was two gentlemen from the power company.

JL went with them down to the basement. As time went by, I was getting very nervous. Nothing was working. They were not able to get the pilot to stay lit. Eventually, they said they suspected that the thermocouple was no good on our furnace and it needed to be replaced.

Please picture my face draining of all blood. I seriously was freaked out about no heat. Our house was down to 60 degrees (normally at 63) and the night low was going to be in the teens. We could pile blankets on us, or go to my parents, but the old pipes in our house were susceptible. What happened next is what will warrant a call to the power company. The one gentleman took the old part off to show JL. He then took the time to explain exactly how to hook it back up and start the pilot. He also warned hubby that the thermocouple is easy to break, so to handle and uncoil it carefully.

Everyone left while I went to put NHL to bed. He was upset since he knew we had no heat and worried. Still, he settled and went to sleep. As I was trying to chase the little guy to bed, JL called from Home Depot. The thermocouple we needed was on back order for three weeks now, but thankfully they found ONE in the store that had already been partially opened. Oy! Thanks to my friend L, I got the number to Lowes and had JL call there to see if they had any. Nada!

JL came home with the one and only thermocouple in the area and all of the pressure in the world. I sensed he was worried about something happening to the part. I went down to the basement to cheer him on. If he can build a computer and make it work, I knew he could go this. When I arrived, he already had most of it set. Finally it was time to light the pilot. It was lit and appeared to stay on. At this point JL turned the nob from pilot to on and WOOSH – we saw the blue flame on the pilot.

I swear this sight was amazing! The fear of a huge bill, bursting pipes and more left my mind. We went upstairs to monitor the thermostat. In less than an hour we were up to 66 degrees. We turned it back down at that point and called it a night. TechyDad – you are my hero. Thank you for working so hard under pressure to fix the problem and keeping us all safe, I love you.

Stay warm everyone!

P.S. An extra special thank you to J and her hubby P. They were willing to help over the phone with the heating issue (with e-mailed photos). So nice to have such great friends.

Categories:
customer service house jl photos vent winter

Hidden termite control

Posted on September 21, 2009 12:46 pm by TheAngelForever

This morning I wrote a rather large check to the exterminator. As much as it hurt me to write that number on the line, I realized that we were lucky. Two weeks ago we called two exterminators to come and look at something. While they were here they found termites in our basement.

This began a huge roller coaster of emotions over the last two weeks. I was disgusted by the larvae that was causing us trouble upstairs, but glad that they made us catch the termites in the basement. It may seem silly, but I likely would not have noticed these mud tubes on my walls and let the termites gain more control and do further damage.

The exterminator was here with two other people. The three of them worked from about nine in the morning to a little past eleven. They did quick work cleaning/treating the word in the basement, drilling holes in the concrete for chemicals (and patching of course) and setting up the bait systems along the perimeter of our house.

When they were finished, the check handed over and contract signed, I went outside to look at the work with the exterminator. He had previously shown us what the bait systems would look like, but I did not realize what we would see once they were in the ground. Here is one of them in the grass along the side of the house:

I had seen these before at other houses, but I had not clue. I just assumed that were something else. Now of course I know their secret of termite control.

Of course, I will never judge someone over termites. We are powerless over where these critters decide to seek food for dinner. This time they selected my house, next time it could be yours. My suggestion to you, inspect your basements and know what to look for. . . then if you suspect something get a professional in to do a free inspection/estimate.

Now we just wait and see what happens. The exterminator will be back in November to look for activity at the bait stations all along our house. After that they will come back in the spring to check again. We will continue this 3-4 month routine for the next 2 years until we see nothing at the bait areas. In the back of my mind I keep chanting "Die termites die . . . that’s what you get for messing with us!"