The Roof! The Roof!

It isn't on fire, it is just being replaced. Dave, our roofer, was here yesterday and dropped off some of the stuff that he and his crew will need to strip off the old, worn-out slate and replace it with three-tab shingles. It is a sad thing to have to remove the slate, and not to replace it with slate. But we don't have $80,000 laying around for a roof.

Dave will continue to deliver stuff and the shingles should be here next Monday. We will have scaffolding put up with a walkway so we can walk around the house at roof-level.

We will also have part of the roof ripped off on the Southern side and we will have a window dormer put in. This is only part of the Grand Master Plan, which includes a new chimney (coming at the end of November), a new kitchen, new windows, new insulation, and maybe something else. Franky, the list is so long that I never quite remember what is on it.

The important thing: we will have a new roof by Thanksgiving and so no more water in the house!

Monday Morning Rush Hour Sucks!

At least my carpoolers brought me coffee for the way in. Now, I am jazzed and can handle whatever the roadway throws at me.

Per ardua ad astra

After assessing the options I decided to finally get underway. A visit to the hardware store provided me with a rented angle grinder, some new plastic piping and a couple of couplers. Oh and some fashionable goggles so I could look all cool and WWI aviator while 'at it'.

In its usual unforgiving way the house of course had some surprises. The area I was working on turned out to be directly above the electrical outlet driving the overhead kitchen lights. The positioning continues to astonish me. It is just so remarkably inconvenient and thus meant I had no margin for error in terms of allowing water to escape as I worked.

Of course we only discovered this when I was about 2/3 of the way through when we found water dripping around the outlet (causing a pleasant clicking sound) onto the kitchen floor. I hadn't let much escape but regardless it was enough to give me another 1 step forward, 2 steps back moment. Having dried out thoroughly we seem to be in the clear tho - phew.

So - goggles on chocks away and all that - it was time to play Biggles

Cutting copper it turns out is easy - I'd highly recommend it. Quick and satisfying. Cast iron on the other hand was somewhat more challenging particularly coupled with an antisocial location. Eventually however I was through and able to access the decades of repulsiveness that lay inside. It was an odd feeling to be honest. The euphoria of getting that pipe off was rather quickly replaced with a queasy feeling as I got my hands dirty.

Finishing up was fairly straightforward - connecting pipes and using the rubber couplings to go from metal to plastic just requires a bit of jiggling to get everything aligned and leak free.

All told the casualties were minimal - hands have a few cuts, wallet is about $35 lighter but look at the simplified piping that's now behind the tub. Water now drains in a timely fashion and I can easily access everything in the event of a future blockage.
"Through adversity to the stars" - Priceless.

Will's Conundrum

Our bathtub is clogged. And not in an easy pour-Draino-down-the drain-and-you're-good clog. It is a a convoluted mess of pipes and in the hardest to reach pipe is where we think the clog is.

Will spent hours staring at the pipes, laying on his belly with the flashlight trying to figure out where the pipes were clogged and once that was discovered (by running hot water through and feeling where the pipes then went cold), he spent even more hours on the internet looking at bathtub drains.

In his internet search, he discovered that the company who made the drain, the Speakman Company, was still in business! Will emails their customer service to see if they can after an unusual discovery.

In order to really appreciate this entry, you first must click on the two photos and read all the stuff. I'll wait........







Okay, you got that conundrum? A pipe-within-a-pipe! Because how typical is that? We don't have regular plumbing, we have crazy secret plumbing. As Will put in his email, he was flummoxed at this situation and could Speakman offer any advice?

And, to their credit, THEY RESPONDED!!!

"Dear Will,

Thank you for the pictures. I am not sure how much help we can be. Speakman has not manufactured a tub drain in over 30 years and it may take a plumber to repair the one you are working on. I am attaching a diagram form our 1927 catalog that shows how the drain parts went together and the parts inside of the pipes. I am not sure what the extra pipe is for although it does look like parts of a “P” trap.

Sincerely,
Frank, Plumbing Technical Specialist. "

And Frank attached the 1927 (!) catalog page pertaining to the tub drain. (I am so impressed that they have PDF'ed those old catalogs! So organized!)


We were shocked! As my mother says, "You are dealing with a company that started in 1869, is still in business, and responds with directions from the 1927 catalog! I would have expected that in England but not in the U.S." It makes her likely purchase of a brass-coated hand held shower nozzle for her tub a good investment, as she knows that the product will last!

Now, Will has studied the catalog drawing and found it somewhat useful. The next step will be to cut the actual pipes and so perhaps Will's conundrum will be solved shortly (though I think that he will have to call a plumber any moment now....please.... I want to take a bath....).

When relying the situation to his parents, Will's mother responded that they aren't surprised; that they always thought that the plumbing in this house, and specifically *that* bathroom was a bit iffy and they had loads of issues with that tub when they lived in the house. Um, yeah. Thanks for sharing that information with us *beforehand*.

(Side note: I am thinking that we need to have Will's parents sign a disclosure statement about all the stuff that they think is "iffy" in the house. So far every time we call them and say, well this is happening to the house, they respond with: well we aren't surprised....)

Can You Spare a Dime?

Will has a habit of coming home and hiding his spare change around the front living room, letting me find it when I pick up something to dust under, move a lamp, or get a wine glass. He has very clever spots, some not so clever, and some right out in the open. I have been missing this pile the mini-scales (normally used to measure envelopes to see to the amount of postage needed) for about two weeks now.

When Mike & Heather and their kids came over on Sunday (more on that visit later), their two boys immediately discovered the pile that I had been missing. Will was disappointed that he couldn't continue to pile up the money, and I was thrilled that the boys discovered it for me, as I didn't have to clean up a pile of dimes and pennies from the floor.

Thanks Ethan and Corbin!

WE GOT IT!

Submitted: September 19, 2009 as an emergency repair because every time it rains, we have water coming into the house.

Received: November 4, 2009, after 4-times-a-week phone calls to the permit office since submission, three separate visits to give them extra stuff or explain why we don't need an electrical review, and paying more money in fees.

If it took that long for an emergency job, I would hate to see how long it takes for a non-emergency job.

And so now that we are legit, our roofer can order roofing tiles, we can clean out/up the attic, and by the end of November, we will have a new (non-slate, *sigh*) roof. More importantly: no more water coming into the house and a chance to really insulate the attic.

One Step Forward...

Sink Fixed!

But, Five steps back: Tub now completely clogged.


And Will concedes that we will have to call a plumber.... after he tries just one more thing...

Of course, the clog is located in the pipe that is underneath the tub, where the snake cannot reach it since it is past two corner junctions. Will could feel where the pipes went cold, therefore the location of the clog, after running hot water in the tub. It will require cutting of pipes, in my expert opinion. Will thinks that his new heavy-duty wrench from our hardware store might be the answer.

Sigh. In the mean time, we are using the guest bathroom. Will had a brilliant idea this morning: We have so many rooms in the house, that if one fails us, then we will abandon it and move into another room. Considering that the ceiling in blue bedroom currently leaks, and the ceiling in our bedroom is has cracked and will soon start leaking again, that leaves only the front guest room.** If that room malfunctions, we are on the couch in the living room. Good thing that it is a really more like a twin bed.

** yes, we are in process of roof replacement but we need to get permits from DC gov't. We have two out of the three reviews (structural and zoning; waiting on electrical, even though, at this point, we aren't putting in wiring in the dormer). Hopefully by the end of the week we will have permits and our roofer can go head with the work.