So I was in the bathroom before bed and I heard something. Something faint. The sound of running water.That is never a good sound. Unless, of course, you are actually standing in the shower.
So it sounds like it's coming from the laundry room. Nope. Nothing wrong in there, but from there is sounds like it is coming from under the house.
Oh shit.
Broken water pipe? How long has that been running? Fantasies of unpayable water bills begin to fill my mind. So on go the clothes and out comes the flashlight and into the yard I go to investigate. I round the house and stick my ear down toward one of the grates. Oh yeah. That's running water all right.
I go over to the access to the crawl space, pull back the hacked piece of aluminum siding and the warped plywood board that serve as my crawlspace blockade. I move aside the cement block that hold the contraption in place, I squeemishly point my mag light inside. And what to my wondering eyes does appear? A sump pump fountain.
After returning to the house to unplug the sump pump, I go back out, haul it out, only to find that the discharge hose has come loose. The hose clamp has rust through and with nowhere to discharge the water, the sump pump was running continuously.
Thankfully, it was simply a matter of re-attaching the hose. I'll have to pick up a hose clamp tomorrow.
Along with a new chain lock and door handle for the back door. Oh, did I fail to mention that on my way out of the house this morning, the back door handle simply came off in my hand?
My house is falling apart. I need a man. Or at least more money to hire this stuff fixed. Or more time to fix it myself.
The lawn needs mowed, but thankfully it's too wet out there. At least I have THAT excuse.
Posts
Glad to see it was only the sump pump. Unexpected repairs are the only real reason I'm nervous about owning a house someday. It's so convenient to just call the landlord and say "this is broken" and get it fixed without having to worry about money, time, or the long-term effects on your investment.
ReplyDeleteThe freedoms of home ownership far outweigh the temporary setbacks of the occasional fix it. In fact, I enjoy tinkering around the house. Granted, I am responsible for cutting the grass, but I am also responsible for landscaping any way I please, which gives me great satisfaction. I can paint whenever I feel like it, redecorate, remodel...start a project and leave it half finished for years on end. It's actually quite fun. AND, if you buy a house that is in reasonably good shape, you don't really have to worry about major repairs for a long time. Mostly, it's little things like sump pumps and refrigerators and other appliances that give you fits. But even then, you can purchase what suits you instead of the cheapest crap your landlord could find.
ReplyDelete