Oh Kate, my heart goes out to you. I don't blame you one bit for feeling sorry for yourself. I had something similar, but not near as serious happen. The water hose under my kitchen sink that goes to the purification system broke and I woke up to 2 inches of water at 1:30 in the morning. And then there is my pool, 10 leaks in 12 years at $500 to a $1000 per leak. Owning a home is a challenge. It is leaking now and we can't find it again. But try to keep in good spirits, because bad thoughts bring on bad karma. We love you and you can vent anytime. :o)

What a mess! Getting the entire house re-plumbed and then getting the bill is more stress that one should have to put up with, especially in a 16 yr. old house.

Is it possible that, while they're up there, there is something that can be done to the attic to keep the squirrels out? Maybe someone on here knows of something.

Good luck with it all.
Julie

oh boy, Kate... SOOOO sorry. House problems are just no fun....(some of us remember the hurricanes of 2004 ALL too well)....getting new plumbing is great, but, at the same time...it's the pits! Plumbin' AIN'T pretty. :( Nope, it's not the same as poor health or loss of a loved one, but, none-the-less, it's a real nasty blow and I'm sorry you are having to deal with it... thinking of you! HUGS.

Kate, doesn't sound like fun. Hang in there.

Kate, I am so sorry that you are experiencing all the stress of the current plunbling situation. Know that there are many of us out here who will share whatever plants we have with you and sometimes we have rare plants you can get pieces of. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make everything right for you, but alas Mickey will nto allow meto take the wand off property. My heart goes out to you and rememver that our shoulders are always available for you to cry upon. Linda

Who's idea was it anyways to bring water into the house???

sorry to hear its your turn now. We did our 23yrs ago and still remember it well.

Best of luck
tony

(((Kate))) Unexpected things like that can really be the pits. I'm sorry you are having to deal with this plumbing probably and hope all goes well and hope the mold problem gets finished up for you as well.

Our last water bill was huge compared to what we usually pay. We read the meter and it was right, but seemed to be moving at a steady clip, so we started checking things and finally found a leak in the old copper piping under the house under the kitchen. We fixed it temporarily with one of those clamp deals that you get at HD. DH is thinking we may have to redo the piping, not a project to look forward to. Our cottage is over 50 years old.

In spite of all the hassles that come with owning your own home, it is worth it.

Hang in there and pretty soon this will all be a thing of the past.

FlowerLady

Kate,

So sorry to hear about your home owner problems......DH was just complaining how we always seem to have something go wrong....I think once you own a home you just have to expect things to go wrong sometimes....it just sucks how everything always seems to go wrong at the same time. Good Luck with your plumbing woes.

Oh you all are so sweet and good to listen to me whine! I'm feeling much better today and sitting at work looking at paint colors on-line. (Don't tell my boss!). This will be the year I'll change all the colors in the house, I guess, since I have to repaint everything anyway.

The plumbing problem has gotten more complicated and today they are digging up the concrete under the dishwasher and water heater to run 'one more pipe'. But it is what it is and worrying doesn't change anything.

Thanks for your support, Friends!

Kate

(Tony, tell MaryBeth I just found the most beautiful begonia print quilt fabric on e bay! Her lovely quilts have inspired me to dust off the sewing machine. I haven't done a quilt in 2 years so its about time.)

Glad to hear you are feeling better today. I sure know how depressing it can be with unexpected BIG expenses. Just know we are always here if you need to whine. Everybody needs a friend or two to listen. :o)

Please DO NOT let them touch the mosaic wall!!!!!!

LOL! The first thing Jim told them was that if the wall got cracked somebody was going to die. He made it clear that although he considers himself to be fairly manly, he would have no trouble pointing at them and running like hell in the other direction when I got home. They took him seriously and have shown me each day that the wall is still intact. However, they did cut 4 large holes in the living room wall to access the little bar sink that's beside the wall in the patio! Given the choice I may have opted to just get rid of that sink, but there's holes everywhere else so I guess it doesn't matter. I'll post some pictures this weekend so those of you who have not re-plumbed can see what you have to look forward to some day.

Does this happen often, that the pipes leak in the slab? Then why isn't the plumping run in the attic in the first place?

Kate,

try to make sure the plumbers indicate several times in many ways that the leak(s) are a result of lightning damage. You probably already know this.

(I will mention the fabric on ebay to MB, thanks for the tip) Glad you are getting interested in it again, Poor Jim, he and I will be quilters Widowers together. (no, this isnt Pete!)

Kathy,
I think it is a fairly common occurrence. Piping is laid down with connections coming up, then the slab is poured. The piping is mainly below the slab with the connections sealed in by the poured slab. The house gets built around it all. It's much easier for the builders and it's been accepted practice for a long, long time.

To tun it through the attic takes a lot more piping and they would have to coordinate the plumbers schedule so that they could come in after the framing goes up but before the drywall. It's all easier to let the homeowner deal with it 20 years down the road. Lots of our neighbors have already had to do this - houses from 12 to 22 years old - so we're all thihnking some inferior supplies might have been used. Who knows. It is what it is. You just deal with it when it happens. .. and then you go to the store and buy a flat of impatiens in oranges and reds to make yourself feel better! Woo hoo!

Good for you getting those pretty impatients and for being able to say woo hoo now!

Wish I know known this before we built, I would have put the pipes in the attic. The funny thing was I said to myself at the time, wow if those pipe ever break in the concrete, oh no they know what they are doing. Yeah, right!!! Builder beware, if I ever build again.

Plumbing is all fixed and the drywall is repaired! Of course, there is drywall dust EVERYWHERE but I took today off (that why I'm on the computer) to clean, clean, clean. Since there were holes in the walls of almost every room, there's drywall dust coating everything in every room. Ah well, it all needed a good spring cleaning anyway.

The poor plumbers thought the job was going to be one day and that's how it was quoted. But it ended up taking 4 long days - they were here until 8pm 3 nights. But there was no additional charges for the problems they ran into. Can you believe that? They could not get through the connection to the kitchen sink because of a weird T connection under the slab, so instead of breaking through the floor and the tiles in the middle of the kitchen they broke through the slab in the garage, then pulled out the dishwasher (again) and broke through under that; then they pushed through a new pipe from the garage to the kitchen and came up in the space under the dishwasher, then through the side of the cabinet into the under-sink space.
On Thursday the drywallers came in and did a great job repairing every hole and mark. I'm impressed.
The only problem I still have is missing fixtures from one of the showers. Just gone. I'm sure it got tossed out with broken tiles and other trash. For all the extra work they had to do I'm not even going to ask them about it. Maybe when I'm at H0me Dep0t picking up a new fixture I can swing through the garden shop...

I have family coming in from out of town tonight for a weekend stay so I better get back to housecleaning. Yuk. I would rather be in the garden!

Wow! They sound like a wonderful company. So glad you're on the up swing!
Kat

Glad to hear things are done and done well and no extra charge. Sounds like a great bunch.

Hope you find some nice little plant treats when you go to pick up fixtures. : -)

"housecleaning. YUK. I would rather be out in the garden!" I know just what you mean.

FlowerLady

Me too, glad things are looking up for you and hope you find a plant or two to brighten your day. ;o)

What a week for you Kate. Sometimes it just s%$ks being a homeowner. Have fun in the garden dept err...err... I mean plumbing dept. LOL