There are some things nice about old homes. They are built stronger in some ways than new homes. I think back in the 60's when my house was built, the builders used better materials than they do now. Out bedroom has the old thin wood flooring that is hard to find. There is a now unusable laundry chute.
Then there's the headache of old technology and the fact that things get old and at some point, they need to be replaced or fixed. We've said after this house, and once the boys are out of high school, we're building a house and not fixing any more houses up. We'll see about that.
Enter my Friday night. I was doing some laundry, and found at the end of the washer cycle some very wet clothes. The washer was not draining all the way into the sink, and the sink was clogged. I did my best to open the drain with a wooden spoon handle that was in reach. No progress led me to more ideas. The plunger came out, and I had to try to get one side of the sink covered to make a tight seal for the plunger on the other side. When that didn't work, I realized there was a hose in the sink. Thinking it might work as a snake, I shoved it down the drain. Maybe a little too hard. Water started to leak out of the pipe under the sink.
This wasn't your normal fiberglass sink. It's concrete and the left side has the old washboard in the side of the sink. I called Brian down to see if he could do something about the pipe leaking, and after some grumbles about old houses, he said the trap needed to be replaced. He started to take it off, and I headed back upstairs. A little while later, he came up and said we had to replace the whole sink because when he tried to get the trap off, the whole drain broke out of the sink.
I guess I just wasn't meant to do laundry on a Friday night :)
Better news: my book launch for Trying is scheduled for May 15th at Triple R in Kimball. I'll provide some snacks like I did at the launch for Moving On. Feel free to stop out and watch for more info.
It seems that your sink has long been accumulating damage, so it was best to have it replaced then. So, how's your new sink? I hope it's working well, so that your Friday night chores will not be postponed. Thank you for sharing that, Megan! Take care! :)
ReplyDeleteEvon Brow @ Athens Plumbing
Sometimes it takes a major breakage to force our hand to replace something old. Your former sink sounds like it's out of the dinosaur age and incredibly heavy too, being concrete. I don't envy whoever had to lift and replace it. These things are sent to try us. On that note, good luck with your book sales for 'Trying'!
ReplyDeleteLovella Cushman @ Perfection Plumbing
We had something similar happen to us with our kitchen sink, a really old one. My wife called me to unblock the drain as it was leaking under the cupboard, but when I tried to take the drain off it snapped. We had to call out the local plumber, it's all fixed now. They checked all the other pipes too!
ReplyDeleteWilfred Andrews @ LB Plumbing and Heating