The Shower Leak Grows

In my house, there is a main bathroom, a showerstall bath off the main bedroom, and a "powder room" in the basement (that I installed) for convenience.  I never used the shower stall off the bedroom.  Actually, the shower stall was so useless to me that I set plastic liner in it and kept a painted turtle there for several years.  When you live alone, you can do weird stuff.

The turtle finally died (not from lack of good food) and I cleared the shower stall.  For whatever reasons, the drain leaked after that and I didn't bother with it for 15 years.   While having some general house renovations done. I had them fix the stall drain.

Several years ago, I discovered  that the shower pipes were leaking, so I put a repair on the "To DO; list.  Forward 5 years...

Having joined Angie's List to get top contractors for other reasons, I decided to have someone fix the shower stall leak.  Um, I didn't think to see if the shower stall pipes were still leaking.  Once leaking, always leaking, right?

So on the hour before the plumbers were to show up, I turned on the shower so they could see where the leak was.

No leak...

But when I flushed the toilet, water fell into the basement.  Talk about serendipidy!  It took a good 30 minutes for the 2 plumber guys and I to figure out where the water was coming from.  The water was leaking out around the air vent stack, not a water supply pipe. So:

1. There was a leak around the new roof flashing.
2.  The shower stall was leaking at the base where the tiles meet the fiberglass shower stall.
3.  There was a leak around a toilet or sink pipe.
4.  The toilet had a crack.
5.  The wax ring around the bottom of the toilet had dried and cracked.

The plumbers went for #1 because that wouldn't be their problem to fix.  And #2 for the same reason.  Now think about that.  They DIDN'T want a problem they could fix...  Don't they make money by solving problems?

So we all went into the basement to identify all the pipes.  OK, granted that I know the positions of the "equipment" upstairs, they couldn't figure out which pipes went to where.  Its understandable.  My builder's guys did some really weird stuff in the house, and I didn't know because I lived 60 miles away and only visited the construction site every 2 weeks.  And what would I know anyway?  I'd never seen a house being built.

It was #5 that was the problem.  On the VERY day before the plumbers came, the wax ring under the toilet had cracked and a gallon of water came out each time it was flushed.

It wasn't what they had been called to fix, but it was what was needed.  Sometimes, you just get lucky!  I'm not used to that kind of luck, but I'll take it when it comes...

In the next few days, I have contractors coming to look at replacing the crumbling 26 year old asphalt driveway and the 20 year old deck that I am beginning to think I will fall through.  And an electrician to hang a 17 pound fake Tiffany lamp over the stairs, add a lower stair lamp fixture, replace 2 smoke detectors, and fix a basement electric plug I can't make work. 

And THEN get someone out here to remove a ridge in the back yard that has aggravated me for 20 years (it was 5 years before I even really knew it was there because it was covered with thorny locust scrub trees that I spent 3 years killing).

So much stuff to catch up on, but this is the year I will do it.

Not About Dad

Well, I don't want to go on and on about Dad.  He still asks strange questions and makes no sense sometimes, but let me leave that alone for today.

I DO still have a life, and things to do all my own.  Projects especially.  The house is 26 years old, and now that some things like roof and siding have just been replaced, I can go on to other maintenance issues.

The framed raised garden beds are 20+ years old and are falling apart.  The deck is 20+ years old and, well "not falling apart", but was never great or "to code".  I started flooring the attic 15 years ago and only did half of it (the other half had electric wires resting on the joists and I never could quite decide what to do about that).  My utility trailer has exterior plywood sides but they are rotting.

So there are those things that I have put off in favor of the larger needs.  Now it is time for those smaller ones. 

I've designed new framed garden beds.  They will be wider and higher (15' H x 4' x 8' instead of 10" H x 3' x 8'), have 6" of sheet metal flat on the bottom to stop grass growing up against them (for easier mowing),  and have boards on the top edges for sitting.  With 4" x 4" posts along the outsides to suport the board on the sides and on the top.And I will be cutting down some trees to allow for more sunlight on the garden.  I regret losing the trees, but I have too much shade as the trees have grown taller for 26 years.

The trailer will get higher sides, and a solid bottom.  And of ACQ treated plywood.  The previous plywood rotted to fast and the bottom was boards with gaps.  I had to keep using tarps to keep compost and sand from falling through.

The attic came back to my attention when I had to "duck walk" across 30' of joists when the roof started leaking to place collection pans under the leaks.  I've figured out how to avoid the electrical wires of the joists without making them inaccessible for repairs.  I have 1" x 2" x 8' boards that I will cut into 6" lengths.  I'll screw those on top on the joists next to the wires and along the outer edges of where plywood can be screwed in place on top.  That may not be clear...  I'm raising the plywood just above the wires on the joists, but using screws so the plywood can be removed if there is a need to get at the electrical wires.

I need a new compost bin, too.  The old one is in shade (it wasn't in the shade when I built it), was too small, has no top to keep varmints out, and leans over badly.  It wasn't my best design...  So I am designing a better one.  Larger, more air circulation, tops, in sunlight.  I drew up a framed hardware screen panel 4' x 4', and I will just make 6 of them to attach to sturdy 4" x 4" posts set in the ground, hinged on the front and top.

There are other projects too, but those should take a few months, LOL! 

The New Outside, 6

Well, here it is all done.  The gutter guys were in and out so fast, I hardy got any pictures (and I was pretty worn out by that time).

The house looks GREAT!

The neighbors have commented on it (favorably).

I am thrilled!

See the downspouts?  I have 6" gutters and downspouts, and a gutter cover that will keep leaves out (finally).

And this siding is smoother than the old siding.  No place for mildew to get into for a long, long time.  A lot easier to keep clean!

And something else.  The workers were very careful about my plants all around the house.  Very little damage.  I watched them moving the ladders around, and they really worked to not damage them.  That matters.

I will be giving them an "A" rating all the way on Angies List.

The New Outside, 5

The New Siding (finally):

They worked on the front first.  That went slow because of all the windows.  They were VERY careful about fitting the siding around those...

 It was the same on the back.  More windows...

The sides went a LOT faster.  No windows, LOL!  But the angles for the roof took time.  They were VERY careful about THAT too.  In fact, one guy did all the angle werk.  He seemed to be a specialist in a couple other parts of the job too.  And maybe they do the sides last because its easier to measure the amount of siding still needed.  That seemed to be a concern (but they had leftover siding they left with me).

I know the siding loks a bit gray, but it is greener than in the pictures.  Maybe because it was cloudy.

The New Outside, 4

So, he first thing they did was start puting new soffit on the undersides of the eaves.

I was surprised at how much work was involved.  They did more than the original builder did!  They added anchor strips and checked for it being level in all 3 directions.  I enjoyed listening to them calling the measurements down to the guy doing the cutting.  "5 4 3" is 5 feet 4 and 3/8 inches.  No wasted words, LOL!

The results looked great!  (This is before they screwed the outside edge to the bottom of the overhang).  But I don't have a good picture of that.

The New Outside, 3

The House, stripped of the old siding...

And the new underlayment/insulation on.

Unlike the original builder, they covered every square inch with insulation. 

End of first day...

They arrived the next morning, when the new siding was to be delivered.  It wasn't.  They did what they could, waiting.  There were some soffits still to be removed, and electrics (like my motion detector lights over the front door) to be detached and capped off for safety.

But the new siding still wasn't delivered.  They called about it and were told it wouldn't be there til after noon,  so they left.

But the delivery came immediately.  A delivery driver called in sick, but an office guy loaded up a pickup and drove it over. Fortunately, the siding guys saw it coming into the neighborhood and followed it back here.

So they unloaded...

And they went right to work!  YAY!!!

The New Outside, 2

The debris was amazing!

 They cleaned everything up every day.

They could have waited to the end of the work.  I would have thought that OK.  But they like to leave the place clean every day.

I was impressed!  They are professionals, and have pride in their work.

The New Outside, 1

OK, I took enough pictures of the changing of the outside of the house, so I an sure going to show them!

This is how bad the siding looked.  It got so abraded in 26 years that the mildew couldn't be blasted off with housewash spray and pressuse rinse.  It would look good for a month, then mildew grew again (the front faces north, so no sunlight to kill mildew).

I tried sprays, I tried mopping, I gave up.  Vini, Vica, Surrendre!  And 26 years of blue was enough anyway.

"There is a time, (turn turn turn)
To have a new look (turn turn turn)
To have another color, under the sun."

"A time for a change,
A time for new,
A time for color other than blue,
A time to re-flect a new clean of viewing."

So the guys are stripping the old siding off. They really knew their business.  Without words, they moved together or apart to do the job perfectly!

I knew the house was built badly just by living here.  But I learned new shortcuts about it when the old siding was pulled off.  See the raw plywood?  That was all supposed to have been covered with insulation.  It wasn't.  But when the house was buit in 1986, I could only visit on weekends.  I didn't see that part done poorly.

 The new work was what the old work SHOULD have been.  Insulation put on every square foot.  And the guys tapped every spot to make sure that they nailed not just into the sheathing, but the interior wall studs for greater strength.

They did such GREAT work.   Watching them measure the flashings around the windows (as they took the old stuff OFF was wonderful.  They checked the levels of all windows several tines before they attached anchors for the new trim and siding.

I knew as I watched them merely REMOVE the siding, that they knew what they were doing!

Roof Replacement

Well, it sure got noisy around here today.  Last week, a branch fell and poked a small hole in the roof, so I had a person come out to take a look at it.  He did a quick patch job, but we discussed a fuller replacement job because the "20 year" shingles were 26 years old.  I found him on Angie's List and he had top ratings in every category, so I decided to get a quote for replacing the shingles. roofing paper, and any plywood sheathing that needed it in his opinion.

And since the vinyl siding was the same age, and abraded by weather to the point were even pressure cleaning it every few months left it dirty and ugly, I got a quote for new siding and gutters with covers.

The roof work was done today.  The crew did a thorough efficient job and the crew manager explained what they were doing every step of the way.  The siding has to wait about a week, because the trim color I selected had to be special ordered.

There really isn't too much to show about a roof job.  It's too flat (and high) to get any really good pictures.

It was amazing watched them go up and down the ladder, walk along the edge of the roof, toss stuff up to the roof from the ground, etc, though.

Here is a guy shoving plywood sheathing up a ladder.  I would have difficulty just carrying the plywood on the ground!

And if I was the guy on the top, there is NO possibility I could get it the rest of the way up.

So "let it rain"!

I can't wait for the new siding and covered gutters...

Ack. Roof Problem!

You never know when you will discover a house problem.  I happened to reach for a book on the top shelf of the bookcase, and a "wrong" image caught my eye.  You live in a house for 26 years and you know every square inch of it...

There was a slightly off-color spot on the living room ceiling.  I looked at it a few minutes, then backed away across the room.  A 3' area sagged about an inch.  I got up into the attic...

The attic is not my favorite area.  I always expect that hornets will have moved in, or squirrels, or knife-wielding people with masks.  Its been a year at least since I was up there.  Its "The Land of Old Boxes and Junk".  Ayla loves to climb ladders, and even she won't go up there!

Years ago, I put plywood sheets down on the center of the attic.  I meant to do the other half, but there were problems with wiring going over the joists and I put it off.  I should have finished the work. 

Because when I got up there and crab-walked over the joists to where the possible leak was, I found one!  One drop per minute while it was raining yesterday.  When the rain stopped, so did the drips.

So I looked around for a wide pan to catch the drips so they wouldn't soak the plaster ceiling any more.  I found an unused cat litter pan in the basement and went back in the attic with a piece of plywood scrap to span the joists to support the pan to collect the drips. 

You know how, any time you find a good solution, a better comes to mind after?  I was looking around for a large wide container to catch drips and settled on a kitty litty pan.  Well, when I went to bed that night, I was staring at a HUGE plastic storage bin that would hold about 20 gallons! 

I'm usually smarter than that about thinking of the best things to use.  But fortunately the rain is stopped for a week, so the need to get back up into the attic with the larger container is delayed.

I had a roofing expert come to the house today.  He was REALLY NICE!  He got up on the roof, examined the spot, and saw that a tree branch had fallen onto the roof and punctured the plywood slightly.  Small hole, slow leak.  Ans his best guess that even a hurricane (like Isaac) coming up through  the Southeast US IF it hit maryland on the way east, wouldn't fill the pan.  So I'm OK.

But that means a roof job.  It's 26 years old.  I had been planning to replace it anyway.  20 year guarantee and lasting 26 years is "OK".

But the roof isn't the only problem.  The cheap vinyl siding is about worn out.  It was "builders grade", and that is about as poor as it gets.  But I didn't know anything about that stuff 26 years ago.  It needs to be replaced too.  It is so abraded by weather that the surface is rough and grows mold and mildew rampantly.  It stayed clean for 13 years, so I cleaned it.  Then it only stayed clean for 3 years and I cleaned it.  Then it only stayed clean 1 years.  Then 6 months.  Now it can't stay clean of mold and mildew on the north side of the house at all.  So I need new vinyl siding.

So I have added new siding to the roof job (he does both).  I'm not going to be "the blue house" anymore.  We are changing to a slightly greyish green  with darker green trim and "heather" shingles.

I couldn't expect it all to last forever.  Well, actually, I didn't expect to live in this "starter house" for 26 years.  But here I am and I don't plan to move just yet.

I'm glad I have savings, I can write a check for the whole work...  On the other hand, that's 80% of the  checking account.  But the house is going to look a WHOLE lot better in a couple weeks and I'm not touching the savings account at all..  Happily, the inside is in great condition.

Its time to have some work done on the house...

Things are going to be VERY NOISY here for 3 days in a week from now...