The FEAR of water

Recently Dani and I were sitting around a table with some friends and I had asked one of our friends if they believed that everyone has a fear? They weren't so sure, so we went around the table and almost everyone had some type of fear. Everyone except me. I couldn't think of anything that was a true fear. Then, today, it hit me, that perhaps I do? I think I have a fear of a water pipe leaking in a house when were not home. Back in Seattle we had a neighbor (our townhouse that we shared a wall with neighbor) that lost a water valve (yeah, it shot off) during the night when he wasn't home. This was on the third floor. He opened his front door (on the first level) with over 2 inches of water on the floor. So, when I say I fear a water leak, I just don't like how wiley water can be in a home when it gets out.

Another note: I LOVE our new home. It is fantastic, and I enjoy the many projects and creativity I have to use to complete them. With that said... here's a little taste of the past few days:

So a week ago I was moving the stove and noticed an old sink had been installed in place of it (years ago). As I tapped one of the original steel pipes I noticed a droplet of water and thought "oh crap, that's not good". There was a hole cut out in the wall where the pipes once connected to the sink, but the droplet was coming from above. I ran upstairs to the bathroom to check for overflow, and luckily all was fine there. I returned back downstairs and placed a mirror and flashlight into the wall to find a "T" valve about 8 inches up that likely was the "original" branch for the "original" sink that was once there. That part of the wall was covered. I noticed that the cold water pipe "T" had a plug in it, and it was fine. However, the hot water "T" section had a small pipe coming out, with a cap on it. It was corroded beyond recovery and was very likely the culprit of the leak. I waited for a while, tapped it, and again, a droplet came.

The plan was to remove the small piece of pipe, put a plug in place of it, and be done. Initial time estimate: 1 hour max., with time for cleanup.

Days later I was ready to start the small job. I first put a pipe wrench up into the wall and was able to reach the small pipe without a problem. Oh, I did FIRST cut the main water valve.... give me a little credit. I was able to get the teeth to catch, and wa-la. It was twisting in a matter of turns. However, the pipe was SO corroded, only half of it came out.
Great. I made a small incision in the wall (a few inches) to gain better detail and evaluate the situation. The pipe was so corroded, it was less than a millimeter thick in one place.
OK, so now I had to extract the remaining part of the pipe. I was thinking I once used (via my Grandfather) a pipe wrench with a head that had horizontally extended teeth. I might have dreamed this up, but I feel like something like this exists (and if not, make note--go get a patent now!). I went to a few stores and they just stared at me. I explained the situation to one guy, and he recommended a pipe extractor. Great. I showed him the pipe piece I had, and he said a 3/4" extractor should do the job. I came home, drilled out some of the corrosion, and then looked at the extractor. The pipe looked closer to 1/2", although my 1/2" drill bit sat inside of the pipe w/ about 1/8" room. 5/8" pipe? They say there is no such thing. The extractor was not going to work. I got online and googled "how to remove a pipe", and found someone that recommended an internal pipe wrench. Wow, that sounds great. Went to store, and they had a number of them. Why didn't they think of this when I explained the situation the first time? Oh well, I got one, came home, and inserted said internal pipe wrench. I twisted. The piece that locks the wrench inside broke. I said some explicatives. I returned to said home store and requested a new one. They obliged. I returned home w/ new pipe extractor. Inserted tool, twisted, it locked, and then the battle began. I used a deep socket to grab the internal pipe wrench (I'm still working on this w/ about 2" cut into the wall) and the largest socket wrench I have. Nothing. I added a cheater pipe and twisted again. Geez. I gave it all I had, and it began to come out. Whew. Pipe removed.

I thought ahead and purchased a plug to put in. It was a 1/2" plug. It fit pretty good. I put it in w/ some Teflon. Turned on water. It leaked. Turned off water. Removed plug, used teflon paste. Returned plug. Turned on water. Still leaked. Turned off water. Called Dad. He recommended a different plug. Found one at Ace that was US made. It looked better. Tried teflon paste + new plug. It leaked. Tried more teflon, it leaked too. Called Dad. He recommended as a last effort epoxy. I thought what the heck. Cleaned pipe, etc. really good and re-ran threads w/ a tap.

Before shutting off the water main I filled the sinks with water so that we'd have some for cleanup, etc. I applied a STRONG cleaning solution to the pipe (a concentrated pre-epoxy grease removed), and a small amount ran onto my hands. I figured it was the equivalent of gasoline, but it was not! It began to burn, so I ran to the filled sink of water and soaked my hands for a few minutes. Whew--good thing I had some water on reserve. Otherwise I might be typing right now.

Applied epoxy + new plug and waited 9 hours for the super Pro epoxy w/ kevlar to set. Turned on water the next morning. The plug did NOT leak. Great. However, I noticed a really small leak just below the plug on the "T" head. Crap. Well, I have all the cleaning stuff and epoxy. Why not? So, I cleaned all and applied a liberal amount of epoxy on said area. We ate out again that night.

Well, there you have it. It appears to be holding fine now. Below is a picture of the T valve inside the wall, with a liberal amount of epoxy around it. The newspaper is sitting there (for now) so that I can pull it out and check to see if any water has leaked. So far, so good... but I hesitate to say anything more, as we all know what can happen.

TGIF!

An email to those in the know (from 6/26):

Well, we started this beautiful morning off with a nice, cool walk with Murphy and then headed to our appointment. The midwife tried to reassure us that we may not hear a heartbeat today and if that was the case we'd do an ultrasound but it was nothing to worry about. After that, she took her little fetal doppler and found the heartbeat in about .2 seconds!!! We got to listen and smile for quite a little bit, which was nice. I think it's really setting in for Mark - the heartbeat was a good reassurance for him. I've had lots of other nagging things to remind me daily! :) Today is 12 weeks and 4 days. We have another appointment in 4 weeks. I'm feeling much better and the news is getting out...I told the other managers at work this week so now everyone at work knows!

In other exciting news, we close on our house today at 4pm! We have friends helping us move stuff on Sunday, which we're so thankful for! Although we did offer the incentive of free pizza! Mark's dad arrives in town on Monday (to help with some projects) and his mom, aunt, and sister should be here Thursday or Friday! This will be their first trip to Minnesota so we're hoping to show off what a great place it is!

Have a great weekend! Feel free to call...and know that we aren't ignoring you if we don't call or email, we're just a little busy at the moment!

Love (and apologies for the excessive use of exclamations),
Dani and Mark.

All is Well

An email to those in the know (6/11):

Well, we had our first official prenatal appointment this morning. We are planning to deliver with a Certified Nurse-Midwife practice that delivers at the hospital closest to us. So, today we met with Linda, one of the midwives. She put us at ease as we answered a ton of questions and then let us ask all of ours. It was a really nice experience for both Mark and me, being a little nervous.

Everything went well - I'm healthy! Yeah! And I haven't gained any weight yet (although she suggested 10 pounds in the next 10 weeks). We are 10 weeks and 3 days into this and feeling pretty good! :) The only small bummer was that we were not able to hear the heartbeat. Apparently, my uterus (sorry Lindsay) is tilted toward the back. This is no problem and will change as the two of us grow. And, not hearing the heartbeat wasn't a worry - so please don't! She was very nice and said, "why don't you come back in two weeks and we'll try again", despite not really needing to see me for 4 weeks. I think she sensed our excitement.

The funniest moment of the appointment happened while she was searching for the heartbeat with the little monitor. She was so patient and really trying hard for us. At one point she said, "this baby's being stubborn" which made me laugh, which made the monitor make horrible noises, and prompted Mark to say, "It runs in the family!" I wonder what he's taking about?

Settling Down (we hope)

Another long overdue post...Facebook may be the death of our Blog. It seems much easier to post pithy little ditties every now and then rather than sitting down to write. But, we try.

We have made an offer on a house that has been accepted. Today is the inspection!! We are very excited for this transition to a more permanent situation here in the Twin Cities! It's been interesting living in a rather small 2 bedroom apartment that is crammed with our stuff (bikes, tools, dog stuff...you name it). After having a home in Seattle, the apartment in St. Paul was to be a transition space. Unfortunatley, the transition has taken us longer than we'd (I'd) hoped. The good news is that we're hoping to close before the end of June!!!

Here are some pictures and video from Mark with those from the listing included. Take a look! But, seriously, only positive feedback! :)

The place has been fixed up already and it's a pretty clean slate. Great hardwood throughout and big enough to host parties and overnight guests! If you're looking for a summer vacation destination, you should consider St. Paul! We love it!

I'm sure with the house will come many exciting new adventures (it was built in 1917 but in great shape). And hopefully more exciting Blogs!