Home Repair and Improvement

This weekend saw some work around the house, revealing once again what a joy it is to be a homeowner and once again presenting the dilemma of "the line."

You remember "the line," yes? This is a concept in home repair that says that if you do not consciously pick out where a project ends before it starts that it will simply continue to grow right up until you are framing a new home. Protecting yourself from missing the line involves planning rigidly discreet forays into home repair and then having the discipline to hold to the line you began with. There's also a way to have trouble with the line that has less to do with discipline. We'll get to that presently.

If you go way back in the blog, you will find the story of our first household project in the form of a disaster averted. The story of the toilet that became a fountain. With that in our past we became a little concerned when the other commode in the home started making a hissing sound. So after a morning trip to the airport we made a stop at the local home center to get a new part and fix the toilet. Discreet project, bright, clear, bold line.

While at the home center we become distracted by the idea of trying to repair the sink. The pop-up drain has been broken for almost a year (no stopper) and the drain is a little slow to boot. Our discreetness failing under poor line maintaining discipline and suddenly we've bought a new drain kit and a pipe auger attachment for the drill.

This is ok I guess. The first project was a half hour deal, the drain has been annoying, and I will undertake almost any project that comes along with the prospect of buying a new tool.

So, home we go to auger a drain, replace a pop-up, and fix a toilet. Three discreet projects that have now encompassed two fixtures. I think we're still under two hours - and I got a new piece of gear.

First the augering. Nothing, nothing, nothing, its stuck, screw it in, POP! and everything drains very well. A project success? Is it possible? I mean, I know I broke the set screw on the new tool, but overall this is a great result - unless of course the water is now draining into the wall somewhere, or jetting up out of the downstairs sink. But for the moment it seems we've made a genuine repair.

No rest for the valiant though as we go at the toilet tank. Being a repair I'd done before this went quickly and easily. I learned the "turn off the water first" lesson last time and only spilled a little onto a towel when I forgot to put the bucket I had for that very reason under the hole where the water would come out. Oops. New piece in, hissing gone, two repairs attempted, two repairs completed. We're on a roll.

The drain was a new thing for me. We'd bought a little homeowner plumbing book to augment the hieroglyphics on the box the kit came in. I should bring in the box for the drafting class to show a nice exploded view - unfortunately its in the trash someplace. Goes to show you never can tell where good teaching resource material will come from.

Work clean, follow the instructions, finish up, check for leaks. Drip, drip, drip. Take the whole thing out, clean up the interfaces, reset the drain and use the putty this time even though it says you don't have to, work clean, follow the instructions, finish up, check for leaks. Drip, drip, drip. At this point your craftsman pride should be kicking in. Once is acceptable, but the second time, knowing what you were trying to avoid - having a leak is embarrassing.

But wait, maybe its not on me. Closer inspection makes it clear that the leak is not coming from the bowl or the new extension or the trap, but from the segment of pipe going into the wall. It appears to be cracked, and pressing with a thumb makes the crack into a very real hole.

SHIT!

This piece is soldered onto the other pipe. I don't have a replacement, or a torch, or solder, or any more patience for home improvement today. And here dear readers is where we see the other way the line can move. Do you remember when Ripley was with Newt in Aliens?

"Made a clean spot, now I have to do the whole thing."

Home repairs beget other home repairs. And this is in a scenario where you avoid causing the need for the additional repairs yourself. The number of drywall patching projects necessitated by someone punching a hole in the wall while moving a ladder to install a fan or a light must be staggering, or people that have to refinish floors after painting walls, or having to replace siding after replacing windows. The possibilities are endless. But even if you work clean, as if as a homeowner you work like a character in some real life role playing game of Top Secret, even being incredibly careful you are always vulnerable to discovering the next job during the current one. You just have to hope it isn't something that has to be addressed immediately.

Which is why I was glad that it was just a very small hole, on the top of a pipe that under normal working conditions isn't pressurized. Actually it was kind of cool, you could just watch the water flow through the drain pipe. As long as it doesn't clog downstream - and I just augered the thing to prevent that - there shouldn't be any overflow.

That word "shouldn't" though in my experience is problematic, and really unwelcome when you are standing in a flooded bathroom. So, for the time being there's a very homeownerly looking glob of plumber's putty on the pipe. One that were you to discover doing your own repair you would say "just what did that yahoo think he was doing?" And when I say that next time, I'll remember that in the course of what was probably carefully planned as a discreet and disciplined outing into home repair the previous homeonwer was confronted with a moving line and just did the best he could.

I'll have to remember that next weekend as I know what I'll be doing: buying a torch to do my next home repair and improvement.