Remodeling - Plumbing

~Oh yea, we got pipes.~

Today, May 13th, we had our plumber over. We have the best plumber in the WORLD and, even better, he came with the house!! (You can also read that as "this is the plumber Mom has used for years and so he knows the house better than anyone else"). Who is this Mr. Fantastico Plumber?? J.D. Williams!

J.D. came over to take out all the old plumbing for the "back bathroom" and put plumbing in for the washer.
The back bathroom is truly one of the dumbest rooms I've ever seen (no offense Mom). To get to it you had to walk into the back hall, which normally meant passing by several large & often muddy-pawed dogs. Since we've moved in, the door from the back hall to outside has often been left open, making the back hallway more of an open-aired porch than anything else. Making it all the more like going outside to go to the bathroom. And this town just ain't so fond of out-houses. No matter how much it might help the value of the house. So .. it is becoming a laundry room.

The pipes went in without problems, indeed we found out it was rather well insulated, though J.D. went ahead and insulated the pipes just in case. One really cool thing we did that was slightly out-of-the-norm?? We had J.D. make sure the pipes, and more importantly, valves for the water would sit above the washer. We had him put in ball-valves on the pipes, making it VERY easy to switch the water on & off. But WHY??

Several years ago my Uncle and Aunt came home to find that a hose on their washing machine had burst. The laundry room was on the main floor, behind the kitchen. By the time they got home the water had flooded out to the living room. That water ruined floors & rugs and many other things. The wall boards began absorbing the water. 3' up the wall!! Yea, THREE FRIGGIN' FEET UP!!! All gone, had to be replaced. But, the damage didn't stop there. There were exterior walls where this damage happened, meaning there was insulation, and by the time they were able to fix it, mold & mildew had taken hold. They never really, fully fixed the house back to how it had been.
Ever since then my mother has always turned off the washer between uses. My grandfather does this as well. When I told J.D. about this he regaled me with more horror stories of flooded dwellings and insane damages.
SO -- I figure if I can see the pipes, if I have to look at the handles on top of the pipes everyday, then MAYBE I might get off my lazy butt and take the two damn seconds it takes to turn off the water. Two seconds. Could save us thousands of dollars. Um .. yea .. I'm sold.

Now we're just waiting for tomorrow when the new walls are supposed to go up. When Harmon "muds the walls", making them ready to be pretty again. Then, this weekend, we'll paint the room ourselves. Since my washer is now completely unusable, I will be VERY happy when it is hooked back up!!

While J.D. was here I asked him to look at the 1/2 bathroom floor. Some weird brown liquid has seemingly been coming up through the floor lately. We're going to tile that room, but wtf??? Well, apparently, that old toilet and it's old gaskets (or whatever) are .. well, old. It is cheaper and more efficient to get a new toilet ... though we have to cough up the $$ for the toilet, but it should only cost us about $40 more than fixing the old one. So .. apparently we're getting a new toilet now too. Luckily the leak on the old one is new, new enough that it hasn't been able to cause damage to the flooring.

I am grateful that J.D. was here today. It was nice to have him. I've really liked Harmon and his guys, but it was nice to have someone here today that I know without a shadow of a doubt I can trust. It was reassuring and comforting.
Remodeling and renovations are amazingly stressful. It was nice to have someone familiar here to let us know we're doing good.

Today, I am thankful for J.D. Williams.