Monday, September 15, 2008

Want to buy my house?

What has happened to the Milwaukee Brewers? To get swept in Philly was bad. Very bad. I am in a state of shock right now thinking about how they are letting this season go down the toilet. They still have two weeks left to get some footing and get back in the race. It doesn’t look promising but I haven’t lost faith. Time to do a massive gut check in that clubhouse and come out swinging. If I was Ned Yost I would play the scene from Animal House where Bluto tries to get the frat out of the dumps as a means to rally them.

That’s just me though.

Let’s go from bad to potentially worse. My plan to get new furniture has been put on hold. I may have a serious plumbing issue on the house. I noticed this on Saturday when I went downstairs to do some laundry. I flicked the light switch but got no light. It didn’t matter too much because there was some light coming through a window and I could see by the washing machine. Not a big deal until the machine didn’t work either. I went back upstairs to get a flash light and check the circuit breakers. Knowing as much about electricity as I know about quantum physics, I flashed the light on the breakers hoping to see one clicked to “Off”. None were on off. I check both the upper and lower units and found that everything was working. This isn’t good. I then checked my dryer which is plugged into a different outlet. That worked. I checked a light in the back area of the basement. That also worked. I then check another light and stepped into a puddle of water.

Um…why do I have water on my floor?

Great. Not only do I have a problem with electricity but I may have a problem with the plumbing. Worse yet, it may be the main drain that heads into the sewer. A pipe that comes from the upper unit, straight down, that is buried behind the walls of the house. I examined what I could and found some sludge on the pipe. At first I thought it was human waste oozing down. But it didn’t reek. That was good. I then got a rag and wiped it down. I then looked up as far as I could to get an idea of where the leak may be. I have maybe an inch of space around the pipe to work with and couldn’t see anything shining on the pipe like I had hoped. I then reached up to feel for any wetness on the pipe. It was wet towards the top with more sludge. I am hoping that wasn’t shit and was relieved that my hands didn’t smell like an outhouse when I pulled it back down.

So now I need to go and clean up the water on the floor. That would explain the musty smell I have had over the past two weeks that I couldn’t find. Each day as I left for work I smelled something from the basement. I would check around the wash tub and find nothing. I went back and checked the sump pump and found nothing. Now I found my problem and little idea on what to do next. Beside call a plumber that is. The plan for now is to put a hold in my closet and find the drain pipe to get an idea of where the leak may be. I am hoping a plumber could fix the problem without replacing the entire pipe. Replacing the entire pipe would mean tearing down some walls to get access to the entire drainage system which would have to mean big bucks to repair. I don’t have much of a choice here.

I can’t forget about the electrical problem. I don’t think these issues are related. For me the electrical issue isn’t as pressing. My tenant may think otherwise as they are not able to do any laundry now. I am curious as to how long it takes for them to say something to me about it. I am also curious as to how one set of outlets can be affected but not the entire basement. They appear to be on the same circuit so I am flummoxed as to why a light and an outlet would go down but not the other outlet on the circuit.

Ah, the joys of home ownership!

Looking at the bright side, I did win the second half of the pool at the bar and had a good time with my friends watching football. Now I just need a Cowboys victory tonight to get me in a better mood. Philly sports teams have ruined most of my weekend already. Time to put a stop to it.

4 comments:

jremotigue said...

Did you go to Z's no-no last night? ;)

StB said...

Don't even get me started on that crap!

Hey Jo said...

If you were Ned Yost you'd be looking for a job about now.

OMW said...

you think you have it bad???
You would NOT believe how I am living. Selling a house??????? Offer me anything over 60K and I'll probabnly take it.
One of these days I'll have to post some photos of 'my life'.

You guys Will not believe it.
By the way... even tho I have no idea what set me off, I'll probably keep com9img back and writin a bunch of crap---------aren't you lucky.