Too Good to be True

Well, the plumbers began the replacement of the stack yesterday and unfortunately, things haven't been going too smoothly... They originally predicted that solid pipe for a new connection should be accessed within 5 feet of the stack, however, now more than 25 feet has been dug in the basement floor with no end in sight. So, we have a lovely trench that goes from the stack in the family room through the wall into the guest room and finally into the storage room. It is anticipated that digging will continue outside the house (through our new landscaping wall!) potentially to the street. What gets even more complicated is that the pipe is buried about 8 feet underground outside... This may require additional equipment (and additional funds) to complete... Needless to say, the stress isn't helping my current condition and lack of plumbing is taking its toll as well...

Not so bad?

So, after our initial sticker shock with our first plumbing estimate, we had started to get a little worried. As a shot in the dark, we called our homeowner warranty company to send someone out for another estimate... Well, after his similar assessment, he believes that our warranty will cover the replacement of the stack!! That means our only our of pocket cost will be a portion of tearing up the concrete basement floor... We haven't received the green light yet from AHS (American Home Shield), but things are looking up! I can't say it enough... That's the best $500 we have ever spent!!

The Joys of Homeownership

Add to the list of many mistakes we made when buying our first house... Not having a plumber inspect the main plumbing stack prior to making a final offer. As many of you may remember, we had a horrible inspector, however, one of the things we made a point of getting documented was the suspicious leak around the plumbing stack. He couldn't find the source of the leak, but noted the enormous amount of barnacles on the cast iron stack and recommended replacement. I'm not sure who's idea it was, but after the previous owners refused to replace it because they didn't have time (or so they say), we requested a $900 allowance for repair. Well, of course, we thought we could put it off for awhile- after all they didn't have any problems with it, right? Wrong. Last night it turned into a slow waterfall, soaking the carpet and making it obvious that we couldn't wait any longer for repairs.

We have someone come out for an estimate today and it turns out that whatever genius suggested $900 would be sufficient was completely off. Try more like $8-10k!!! So.... here we are, unable to use our upstairs bath for fear of further ruining our family room, wondering how we can manage to get this fixed. If anyone knows a plumber that wants a little side work, please send him our direction!!! Other than that, we can do some of the prep work to save on labor, and we are consulting our insurance company and homeownership warranty for any assistance they can provide. What a mess...

Still Alive...

I have been really bad about updating lately, but I'm feeling pretty decent this morning and thought I would catch up a bit. Let's see... Yesterday we had Matt's family over for dinner as well as his Aunt Nona and Aunt Fran. They and two friends were in town from Wisconsin for a conference. Given that I wasn't feeling so hot, Barb came over early and helped vacuum, mop, and tidy up with us. They even brought all the food! The evening was fun and I love that my house is so clean!

On Friday night, Katie offered to come over and help put up the Halloween decorations. The motivation was a huge help to get me out of bed and everything looks really cute so far. There's still a lot of details to prep before the party, but I'm glad this much is done.

Last weekend, we enjoyed a Mexican fiesta over at Sam and Susan's home. The food was great and Matt was very proud of his homemade sopapillas. We had fun playing Phase 10 for a bit, but we headed home early. Also that weekend, we were offered free tickets to the Ram's game. Given their 0-4 start, I wouldn't have really paid to go, but since they were free! The seats were great and the first half was actually pretty good with the Ram's creating an early lead. Of courses, that fell apart in the second half.

I'm hoping that my absence of abdominal pain continues so that I'll have more fun things to post about soon!