The tub in our master bathroom has one of those pop-up plugs. You push it, it pops open. Push it again, it pops closed. At least that is the theory. Ours actually requires hitting 5-7 times before it grudgingly pops partially open or partially closed. It needs fixed.
The tub in the kids bathroom worked great. We used it all the time. Then one day we discovered a small bulge in our downstairs ceiling. Popping it got us wet. Water does not belong dripping from sheetrock ceilings. That is bad. Some unintentional experimentation demonstrated that water run down the drain in the kid’s bathtub runs out of the ceiling in the family room. So, tub two needs to be fixed.
Since our house has two showers separate from the two tubs, we’ve still been able to stay clean. The tub problems have been gathering dust awaiting funds enough to pay a plumber. The funds finally arrived last week, but I’ve been busy so never made the call. (I also suspect that part of me was still trying to figure if I could solve the problems without spending money. Not logical, but oh well.)
This morning a toilet clogged. 10 minutes of plunger work, 1 soaked Sandra, and 1 liberally splashed bathroom later and I still had a completely clogged toilet. I decided that since I needed to call a plumber anyway, I’d let him deal with it. He shows up today sometime between noon and 2 pm. Hopefully by the time he leaves all my plumbing will work again.
Ouch. I just hate it when problems start compounding like that.
The sheetrock water problem is very bad. You’ll probably have to replace the sheetrock eventually, but you can probably just patch over it until you get enough funds for that sort of thing. As far as the push in drain thing, I’ve always preferred the ones that you just lift up and rotate to keep the drain open. Simpler design makes it a bit easier to fix. I suppose the knob you use to lift it up might get in the way however.
Check to see what, if anything, your homeowner’s insurance will pay for. Some will pay to repair water damage but not pay for fixing the leak itself. It’s worth checking into.
Just as misery loves company, so do house problems.
They get lonely and get something else to break so they can commiserate together. It’s true.
We had the flood, then we found out we need to pay for cement to be poured into that section to make the floor EVEN and 2 1/2 inches higher to match the rest of the basement, swamp cooler needs replaced, then trees in the back yard are a big problem.
Happily the flood and swamp cooler are getting paid for by Insurance and Home Warranty, unhappily cement and trees and insurance deductible take up all the extra money for the rest of the year.
(it’s a good thing I had already planned on having a simple homemade Christmas this year.) You’ll have to pass on more of your tips on how to buy food and gifts cheaply, Sandra. Good luck with all the plumber stuff.
The total bill was about $300, much less than our $1000 home insurance deductable.
It turns out that the through-the-ceiling leak was a cracked pipe. The damage was very localized and the hole in the sheetrock was replaced with a plumber’s acess door. The next time we have a plumbing problem over there, the plumber will be able to get to it without a saw. (This of course insures that we’ll never ever have problem in that area again.)
Best tips off the top of my head are: Shop garage sales this fall and maintain a rotating food storage. You can find garage sales by looking them up at Hark-the-herald.com (But that may only apply to Utah valley.)
Also see if you can get your hands on a copy of The Tightwad Gazette books. Many of the things I’ve put into daily use came from there.