Water: Hot and Frozen
Ξ February 7th, 2010 | → | ∇ Uncategorized |
We have a house that was built in 1885. The house was five years old before they got around to adding indoor water, at the same time they hooked it up to the city water/sewer lines. As a result, taking a shower here was a little like trying to bathe in a gentle rain. Even worse, flushing the toilet while someone was in the shower did not just result in all the cold water being rerouted to the toilet, leaving the shower-victim screaming in rage and pain. No, it rerouted all the water, leaving the shower-victim standing there with shampoo running down into their eyes as they squinted painfully at the dripping shower head.
The only plus to this is that it was easy to let DaBoy know that his 30-minute shower was over. What is it with teenagers and showers? No…wait…forget I asked.
Last fall, we heard a rumor being circulated around the neighborhood that our water utility company had begun to force homeowners to change out their main water line from the street to the meter. At, of course, the property owner’s expense. They were doing this by refusing to switch the water bills over to the name of a new owner/tenant until the line had been changed out, but had plans to just start sending out demands to everyone. Property owners were being given 30 days to comply or face huge penalties. So, Randy and I decided that, since we’d recently paid off the car, we could use it for collateral on a loan. We put the car in hock, got the loan, and began calling plumbing companies.
What is it with plumbers not returning phone calls? Of the 10 companies I called, only three - 3 - of them called me back. And of those three, only TWO actually showed up to do the estimate.
I met with the first one, who proceded to explain to me what the job entails: “Well, first, see, we have to cut a hole in the street. Then we need to hack about four holes in this here driveway - ”
“Why do you need to cut four holes in my driveway?” I demanded.
“Well, now, see, this is a big job <ptooey> and we have to bring in some big equipment.”
“Uh huh,” I said, eyeing the glob of spit next to my feet.
“Yep, big equipment,” he went on, staring speculatively at the retaining wall that keeps the vacant lot next door’s front yard from collapsing into our driveway. “Not sure <ptooey> if we can manage it. Might have to take out that retaining wall there.”
“What?” I gasped. He’d begun wandering over to inspect the retaining wall. I followed, weaving around spit blobs.
“This here wall is in our way,” he said.
“Well, there is a vacant lot next door,” I pointed out. “This is a 50-foot long driveway and wall levels out and stops about 10 feet away from the street. It doesn’t come anywhere near the spot the water line has to go. Can’t you just drive your big equipment through the lot?”
“Hmm,” he said noncommitally. He turned, spat, and gazed at the vacant lot as though he hadn’t noticed it until now. “Wal, I spoze we might be able to do that,” he finally allowed reluctantly. “We can try it, anyway. But if we have to take out that wall, it’ll cost a lot extra.”
Then he informed me that the job - with the wall left intact - would cost around $6000.00. I just nodded, keeping my face blank: I have no idea what a good price for this job would be. When I told Randy how much they’d want, he turned white. “Check with somebody else,” he said firmly, when he got his breath back.
So I had the second company who called come out. This plumber stood in our driveway, eyed the distance between the street and the house for all of about 15 seconds, and quoted me a price of $3500.00.
“What about that retaining wall?” I asked.
“What about it?” he asked.
“Well…isn’t it in the way?”
“No,” he said, looking at me like I shouldn’t be allowed to run around outside without supervision, “we’ll just use that vacant lot next door.”
So I hired him.
Within three days, it was done, except for filling the holes in the driveway and the street. I have to say, I was really impressed. You know how long most construction jobs take? I’ve figured out why: it’s because they spend at least 50% of their time on the job waiting for someone to bring them something. And the reason I figured that out is because it just didn’t happen with these guys. They were so well organized that the item they needed was either on their truck, or pulling up in front of the house as they got to the point they needed it. Up to and including the water company coming out to “locate” the water main. Four times.
Now, this is not to say the job went smoothly; no job like this has ever gone smoothly since the very first plumber hooked up the very first faucet in the cave. They discovered that there are two water lines going into the house, both of which are equally corroded, and only one is live. But they can’t tell which one is live and which one isn’t, so they had to shut it off from the street. Also, the sewer line was damaged, so it had to be repaired, too.
The utility company came out four times, located our connection to the water main under the street in a different spot each time, and the hole at the end of our driveway got bigger and bigger until it’s wider than the driveway itself. Finally, the plumbing crew found it by - what else? - hitting it with the Caterpillar while digging a new hole for the new emergency shutoff in the middle of the yard. It was nowhere near the street, and necessitated them shutting the water off a good two hours earlier than expected with no warning.
But we have water pressure now! You can actually feel the water hitting your body in the shower! As soon as Randy got home, we rushed around the house, giggling like little kids as we turned on the faucets and flushed the toilets to watch the water pressure not vanish. We called our friends and told them to come over so they could flush the toilets - and they came! The first time I got into the shower, Randy waited, rubbing his hands and cackling until I’d been in there for what he thought was long enough before reaching for the flush handle. Just as his fingers touched it, I finished my shower and turned off the water. The next time he was in the shower, I rushed into the bathroom, flushed the toilet on him and waited for him to come boiling out of there. But he didn’t notice I’d done it; we have actual water pressure!
Of course, now we run out of hot water in half the time, but, hey. It’s a fair trade.
But overall, the job went fine until the city came out, inspected the hole in the street and took responsibility for it. It’s one of four holes we have to live with: the massive one at the end of the driveway; a small one where a new…something…is going to go (not sure what that hole is for) in the driveway on our side of the sidewalk; another large hole in the middle of the driveway where the old meter and emergency shutoff was located; and another massive one just off the driveway against the side of the house. The plumbing company is responsible for filling up the holes in the driveway, but the city is the only one who can do the hole in the street.
When I say the hole is massive, I’m not kidding. It’s about 7 feet deep by 4 feet wide by about 11 feet wide. You could drop a car down there. And given that we have a little car, that’s not a good thing. You’d need Bigfoot to negotiate that hole. The plumbing crew filled it with the dirt, but that left it about a foot and a half deep; too much to try to get across with the Kia.
The passing-of-the-hole-baton to the city happened on a Friday at about 4:30 PM. The inspector measured it, nodded at the plumbing contractor, scattered six of those blinking barricades around it, and they all left. When Randy got home that night, he drove in through the vacant lot next door and parked in our garage.
The next morning, it began to snow. A lot. We got over a foot of snow, blizzard winds and we were trapped. There was no getting out through the vacant lot; it is just sloped enough that we’d have slid all the way across it and into the woman’s house across the way. She would not have appreciated it. On Monday, I called the city and asked them to bring out those big, metal plates they use to cover up holes in city streets. I was informed that they don’t own any of those. I must have been dreaming every time I’ve driven over them, then. So I called the plumber, who said he has two plates and would send someone out to lay them down for us. Which he so did not have to do; that hole wasn’t his problem anymore. But he didn’t know exactly where the plates were and wouldn’t be able to send anyone out with them for at least a couple of days.
So, we spent a total of five days trapped in our house. Finally, the plumbing company arrived in an enormous truck with a hydraulic winch. These two guys fought and wrestled the plates into place over the hole for almost an hour before finally getting them situated. Then the winch froze solid, and they had to fight with that for another hour before getting it secured enough to drive away.
That was in the beginning of December. Since then, we have had at least one more blizzard and several more inches of snow. The barricades are situated along either side of the hole, straddling the gaps where the plates don’t cover. It’s just exactly wide enough to get the Kia in with maybe an inch on either side to spare. No room to manuever. The location and size of the hole also means that the street is down to one lane in front of our house. We keep expecting to look outside and see our neighbors all standing there with torches, ready to attack us.
It is now February. Three days ago, the city finally showed up to remove the plates and fill the hole with concrete. I discovered this when I was cleaning the kitchen and kept hearing crashing and thudding noises that shook the house. I looked outside to see a guy driving this little, white tractor. You’ve seen them: they look like what your child would make with Legos. Like one of the big Caterpillar tractors brought his little son to work one day, and it spends the day trundling importantly around the job site, bouncing erratically and getting in the way.
So, here was the Lego tractor trying to move steel plates that are as heavy as the tractor is. The guy kept trying to get his bucket under the edge of one of the plates to pick them up, but only succeeded in shoving them around a little. Finally, after several minutes of bouncing around and almost tipping the whole thing over, he managed to get his bucket under the corner of one of the plates. As it rose precariously in the air, I noticed one of our trashcan lids was sitting on it.
Aside: That’s what happens on Trash Day. The trash-picker-uppers like to use the lids as Frisbees, so they fling them around. Half the challenge is racing outside to rescue your empty cans out of the street before a passing motorist runs over them; the other half is finding the lids. They don’t want us to be bored, after all.
Anyway, straining hard, the Lego tractor picked up the metal plate with our trashcan lid on it, looking like a waiter trying to move a table without disturbing the place settings. Then he drove off down the street with it. Before I could figure out where he thought he was going, he was back. He dumped the plate - and the lid - down into the gutter, then went after the second lid. The only thing I can figure is that he was so proud of himself for getting the plate picked up without losing the lid that he did a victory-lap up the street to show off.
By this time, I had called Randy to share. Randy’s version of that conversation would be that I called him just to gasp, shriek and laugh hysterically before hanging up on him. The Lego tractor kept almost tipping over into the hole, bouncing uncontrollably around (I could see the driver flopping around in the cab like a rag doll. I kept waiting for him to puke, but maybe he likes being seasick, what do I know?) and finally managed to move the second plate out of the way. Then the rest of the crew showed up, filled the hole with asphalt that caused huge clouds of steam to billow around.
The funny thing is, that patch of asphalt has had about 5 inches of snow dumped on it in the last three days - and there is no snow on it, still. The whole street has snow, ice and slush covering it, but this patch of asphalt is totally clear and dry. Creepay!
on February 7th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
LOL sounds like you’ve had loads of FUN with that. What a mess. But, at least you have water the way you should now.
They have been digging up the entire antiquated sewer system on our street, well the whole neighborhood is going to be redone…they started in November and they have gotten most of the way up ONE street now(ours), the job is supposed to take them until June or July to finish everything. At the rate they are going its going to be a lot longer.
I know exactly what you mean about huge holes and heavy equipment all over the place. We can’t park anywhere near where we live. The businesses down by the beach are all complaining because no one wants to come down there anymore because of the big mess.
I know all about those big metal plates you talked about…they go all the way up our street, and have been there for 3 months already!
I guess the only plus is that we didnt have to fund the project like you did at your place.
on February 7th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
And somehow, being the one paying for it makes one feel responsible for the mess and the inconvenience. We kept waiting for the neighbors to egg the house, but nobody did - or if they did, the snow covered it up! I still cringe when I flush the toilet while Randy is in the shower…and still giggle maniacally when I do it to DaBoy. And then I remember it doesn’t matter to them. LOL!
on April 26th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Mitch! Where are you???? Come out and play.
on April 27th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
I’m around! I just have all this boring rl stuff going on. I miss you!!
on May 2nd, 2010 at 7:52 pm
happy birthday!!!
on May 2nd, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Thanks! Randy was so sweet; he went and ordered a cake for me. It was just for me, Randy and DaBoy - and he ordered a 1/2 sheet. Now I have goodies for a meeting we’re hosting tomorrow…and maybe I should call another meeting for the next day!