House Problems

Did you ever have a total week or so of every little , (some not so little) tjhings going wrong at the same time? Before I left for a trip recently, I was aware that I had a problem with my jet tub in the master bath, which is upstairs over a bedroom. It began leaking like a waterfall into that bedroom. I may have gone forever, unaware if my grandson and his wife were not in that room preparing to go to bed. My daughter was having a leisurely soak in the tub and reading her book. That started the whole search to find where the leak was coming from. My son-in-law, grandson and a friend got very close to finding where the problem was located, and all agreed it had to be from the tub. After what seemed like many hours, and phone calls later, I found a repairman who works on the Lasco tubs. Whee!! Thought my problems would be over in a short time--NOT!! He is so specialized that he only does specific tub repairs, which does not include the pipe fittings. He checked around some , and finally decided the jets were leaking, not the ones that the builder left access too, (naturally!!) but the front ones which required removing all the beautiful tile all across the front. Me, "Do you do that? Him, Grinning, "No"! So a few more hours of searching and being on the phone forever, found someone to do it. By the way, that conversation with the tub man cost me $40.00, which would not have been so bad except he didn't DO anything. Well, that is not totally correct, he ran 400 gallons of water into the tub to find the leak , and leak it did AGAIN but I had put down towels so the carpet did not get wet. So, the guy came to remove the tile--could he salvage one tile from all that? NO!! of course not! Now I'll only have to purchace eight or ten new tiles that probably will not match. In my wisdom? and desperation of feeling the need to strike while the iron is hot( these guys are important, really busy people to the world), and if you get one to look, give advice, say what they can do for you, what the cost might be, you grab them for whatever project they agree to do. My front porch is tiled and some of the tiles were loose so he took them off, put them back, and was coming back on Sunday to caulk them. That was Mother's Day so he would come early because he had family doings. Great!! I'm all for that kind of stuff so I wasn't too disturbed when he did not show up. Fast forward--Came back from my trip, had a message from him saying he was coming by on Sunday to caulk--it's almost another Sunday and I have not seen or heard from him. OK again because I had a message from the tub guy that he had me on his schedule for Thursday.
( I'm beginning to think that he got lessons from a doctor or dentist!!) and the tub needs to be repaired before the tile can be replaced. He came, he looked, he ran 600 gallons of water in the tub, which went where? You got it!! Through the ceiling in the downstairs bedroom--it took a lot of towels. I was having other plumbing problems, and had asked him if he'd look at my hot water heater because it looked as if it has a leak when I came back from my trip. I got that eerie feeling up my spine when he gave me (what I refer to now as "the grin") but he said he'd look- I asked for it, didn't I? He put the fear in me when he expounded on how bad it was and gave the possible scenerios of what could have been while I was gone. Anyway, it was in very bad shape, (I don't understand that, It is only 20 or so years old!), so he said I should turn off the gas and the water and replace it as soon as possible because, if not, I could have a real problem, like I don't already have a real problem? He did show me where to turn off the gas and the water ( he can't do that, I might sue him, I'm beginning to think, " I wish"
KIDDING! I could not initially budge the gas turn off but he stood patiently behind me while I gave myself a hernia getting it off. The water turn off was really stuck so he took pity on me, reached around me, ( I'm standing right in front of the heater), and since he's a young, strong man, got it loose, and the water shot out all over me, got him a little wet, I'm soaked, here comes the grin again, he says, " that's why why I don't usually do that!" GRR! He collected his $40.00 and left!! He can't help me any more! Sooo, I called Dave, wo had been in charge of my re-model of the house in 1999 . He had just returned from a five week motorcycle trip from here to Mexico to California, to Florida and back. He had just returned the day before I called so he was swamped with work, but told me if I could get the water heater that day he would get it installed the next. I had other plans but changed almost all because this was an urgent matter. Bill took me to Sears in his van-truck to pick up the water heater (last 40 gallon one they had in stock), brought it back to my house, helped me unload it, came back later to take me to dinner at the country club. I had to take a COLD shower, because of the heater. True to his word, Dave sent one of his guys to install the thing the next morning. First thing out of his mouth was that the one I bought was much taller than the old one, tub guy didn't say anything about size, except that I had a 40 gallon tank, he doesn't get into much except whatever he does on tubs! Anyway the installer assured me that he could get the taller one in with a few adjustments, which he did, but the project took him three hours instead of an hour and a half, plus he talked non-stop, assuring me that he was working at the same time. Another NOT. I kept telling him I could not pay for talking , but he was a Chatty Cathy and wanted to tell me his life story, which after hearing some of it made me a little nervous about being here alone with him. He assured me he had not been in jail for nine years, he had been arrested, stopped for numerous and sundry infractions, but had not served any more time!! He is not married but has two kids, one nine, one four which helped him to reform, which is a good thing and, I would guess mostly true. After he left, Dave called and said he would come by after one call close by, and fix the pipe that is leaking on the jet tub. That was at three PM, he had not called or shown up at 7: 45 PM eeeeeeeee! I was going to fulfill an obligation that I had made at the church to help at the rummage sale set-up, instead stayed home to get my repairs done. Things still needed-- caulking, drain repair, tile replaced, access openings to the tub re-covered, and I have zilch-o hot water in the downstairs bath sink, plus the new pipes on the heater are leaking, the bedroom ceiling will need some kind of repair or painting or both but I will have to do some in-depth research to see who is qualified to do that--not the tub guy!! He has it made, and I could really be mad at him but he is a nice personable guy, and his wife came the first trip, she is his assistant, you know, turns the water on and off for him. You know when you can't get a job because you are over qualified--that's him!! I'll start again next week trying to solve the rest of the problem. In the meantime, tomorrow is Sunday
so after church I'll be going to the University of Charleston for Symphony Sunday. Even that is a little dissappointing because Pat and Bill and I always enjoy the Jazz Brunch but they are not having that this year. Bill will have a booth for Mountain State Press to try to sell some books. Pat and I will go up a little late because we are doing altar guild at the church, I'm in training, she's an old hand at it now and is helping me. I will be doing it with different people for, probably a year before I can do it alone. Not hard, you just have a lot of things to remember. Well!! I'm boring me, hate to think what it may be doing to whoever might see this, so I'm going to the hot tub now, meeting Bill at 6:00 for a dance at another country club.

I