How one thing leads to another…

~ beetleypete

You may remember me posting recently about a leak inside the house. That necessitated the fitting of a new shower pump, which I mentioned previously. At the time, the plumber suggested that due to the hard water, it would be an idea to have a water softener fitted. I agreed for him to this, along with new taps in the bathroom sink.

And there was all that new guttering. Remember me mentioning that too?

Today, the plumber was due early, to get on with the arranged jobs. I went out into the shed to make sure his access to the heating boiler was free, and noticed the sound of running water. A quick investigation showed that part of the new guttering had come adrift, presumably unable to cope with more than two month’s worth of rainfall in four days. So I rang the guttering company, and arranged for a man to come and look at that.

Meanwhile, the plumber arrived, and needed to turn off the hot and cold water supply so he could get on with the jobs. But the valves wouldn’t turn off. They were both seized up, no doubt also corroded by the notoriously hard water, and the resulting limescale. So the tanks had to be drained, and a new master valve fitted on the mains water. No point leaving the faulty hot water valve, so that was replaced too. Then the stopcocks in the cupboard, necessary for isolating the bathroom supply. Also unable to be moved, so both replaced as well.

So to replace the taps and fit the water softener turned into an all-day job that required replacing four valves and four stopcock handles.

Then the man arrived from the guttering company. He was unable to get the curved piece of plastic piping to remain in place, so ended up securing it with four screws. But he warned me that the problem might actually be in the way that the rainwater drains away once it goes into the ground. He mentioned this might be a ‘big job’. (When is it ever a ‘small job’?) At least there was no charge for screwing the guttering in place, as his previous work was guaranteed.

So as I sit here with substantially depleted savings, four new valves, two new taps, a new water softener, and the recently-installed shower pump; safe in the knowledge that the guttering section will not come adrift any time soon, I should finally be content.

But you will forgive me when I say that all I can think about is “What’s next?”

71 thoughts on “How one thing leads to another…”

  1. What a hassle. I hope you don’t get too excited, Pete!
    You just reminded me of things that are still to come for me. I now know my way around electrical installation very well. 😉 Sanitary technology and all around water installation is the horror for me, because you now need more and more special tools.;-( Michael

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    1. The job in question will require taking up a concrete floor, Michael. That means builders with heavy drills, and lots of disruption. I will have to think about it. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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        1. There is a ‘soak away’ from the rain guttering that goes under that floor. Putting a new connection over it will probably not stop the problem, but I will certainly investigate that possibility.

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  3. Sorry to hear about all that hassle. 😦 Here, out Home Warranty would have paid for the shower pump, I think. I’m not so sure about other corrosion damage. I like this insurance. In the last two years we had to have our 2 water heaters replaced and they refunded us, minus a $100 service fee. But still very good, I think.

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    1. We have something similar for leaks, drains, and sewerage. But it doesn’t cover damage by limescale, which is so prevalent here. And it doesn’t cover any outbuildings which are not part of the main house structure. (Like the garage) They know their stuff, these insurers. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. Outbuildings: that makes me think. I need to check if our separate garage would be covered. I case of our water heaters: they were not interested at all in what, e.g. any kind of build-up, had caused the leaks there.But I agree with you: there’s a lot of exceptions.

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  5. The cosmic joker is busy it seems, on top of the tractor failure which we are still waiting for the parts to be made for, the car went for an MOT and came back with a long list of requests, still at least they gave us a pass so we could carry on driving whilst we arranged for the work to be done. Then the belt snapped on the hay blower and the paddling pool got a puncture, guess which one I will be fixing first 🙂

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  6. I also find the same thing happens when we start to remodel. We remodel one thing, and that leads to, “Well, we need to have these things match,” which leads to a bunch of other nonsense.

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  8. We had a similar extended ordeal when one of the faucet handles stopped working. Of course now they require some safety mechanism to prevent you getting scalded so we needed new plumbing. Then the bathtub broke the flooring below it flooding the kitchen. And so on and so on! My sympathy.

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  13. I remember when our air conditioner went out. Then the kitchen light. Then the bathroom commode … then an outside faucet — all in very short order. Owning a home is not always a piece of cake. Buyt renting can be much worse. Especially if you rent from The Wicked Witch of The North.” LOL

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  18. Pete, I have lived through the remodel of three bathrooms, new flooring in our entire house, a new outside patio, and the expansion of our house, w which took almost 18 months….I NEVER WANT A WORKER IN MY HOUSE AGAIN… as you say, there is NEVER a “Small Job…”

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    1. Just waiting for the plumber to return. One of the new taps is leaking all over the floor!!
      And on top of that, it is pouring with rain again.
      I think I might just go completely crazy, Sue. 😦
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  22. You’re right, one thing does lead to another. We had plumbers here in the winter and there were three leaky taps to fix and then fix again because they were still leaking, after which the macerator failed. I didn’t realise the water was so hard in Norfolk; we always think of places like Derbyshire having hard water rather than East Anglia

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