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June 26, 2007
plumb worn out
About a week and a half ago our impending plumbing crisis became an immediate plumbing crisis when the water in the kitchen sinks stopped draining. Back when we had a plumber in to look at why the basement laundry sinks weren't draining (after about a year of emptying the sinks with buckets after every load of laundry) we found out that there's a big crack in the pipes underneath the basement floor, something we'd rather not spend the money to fix just yet. There's a clog in the line somewhere under the floor that's affecting the kitchen and dishwasher drainage but not the laundry sinks. After poking around the basement a bit, Peter had the crazy idea to reroute the kitchen pipes over to the bathroom on the opposite side of the basement so that the water will no longer drain out through the broken pipe, giving us a couple of years' reprieve on having to have the floor dug up to fix it and getting us off the hook completely for having to deal with the current clog. And we decided to do the work ourselves.
*an aside: I'm not sure yet if I can bear to show pictures of our disgusting basement even though I think we're total superheroes for doing our own plumbing and I want to show it off, but while I decide about that here's a picture of the old pipe Peter cut out from under the basement bathroom sink (the spot we're rerouting the other pipes into). See where it says "Daymond Centralia"? The former Daymond Centralia plant, like the former Centralia College of Agricultural Technology, was not actually in Centralia but in Huron Park, my hometown. Back when my dad and granddad used to work at Daymond, my dad was one of Canada's number one smartest dudes in the area of industrial knitting machines. Cool, eh? So now I have this piece of pipe that I want to keep, despite my brand new resolve to throw things out and stop being a packrat. Any suggestions on cool crafty things I can make with a piece of old pipe will help me justify keeping it and be greatly appreciated.
So. The pipes are disconnected and the kitchen sinks are currently draining into a bucket. Last Monday I rigged up a temporary drainage line from the dishwasher into the laundry sinks (using a piece of pool hose that we'd never gotten around to throwing out in the four years since we took out the pool) so that I could run the dishes, and felt rather clever and handy and pleased with myself when it worked without spraying dirty dishwater all over the basement. Tuesday and Wednesday evening were spent measuring, planning, buying supplies and finally cutting pipe and fitting it all together (I was extra excited to be able to get the brand new mitre saw out and set it up for this job: we bought the thing four years ago with some money my gramma gave us as a housewarming gift, vowing not to allow ourselves to take it out of the box and use it until we got the workbench set up, which finally happened last winter. Now I'm looking around the house for things to cut, because I love using the saw so much). Today I have to install the metal strapping that will hold all of the pipe in place (it's tied up with twine right now), drill some holes in a concrete wall, then take all of the pipe apart and bring it outside where I'll glue it together in sections with a respirator on. Then it's back inside to attach it all, glue up the last joins and woo! Turn on the water!
In the meantime, we've been spending the last few weekends in London, working on a major deep-cleaning and de-cluttering of Pete's mom's house while she's in hospital recovering from surgery. We spent three days there last weekend, making the kids help, then the two of us went back alone this weekend and busted our asses for four days getting more work done than I thought two people could do in four days. I left there last night with a sense of accomplishment for what we'd done, and a new resolve for getting ahead on all of the things that need fixing, cleaning and organizing in our own house. But jesus murphy I'm tired, and after the little bit of gardening I did this morning there's a part of me that just wants to slip into my usual routine of sitting on my arse on the porch, drinking tea and staring at the laptop screen. But, lucky for me, the yelling neighbours across the street just came out on their steps a little while ago and started in on their favourite hobby (yelling at each other), so now seems a very good time to go inside and drill some concrete.
Posted by jodi at June 26, 2007 12:07 PM | categories: projects
Comments
DIY is just about the best thing in the universe. Just reading about your plumbing made me feel accomplished.
Posted by: rachel T at June 26, 2007 01:25 PM
I'm impressed! I can barely bring myself to tidy up never mind do all that!
Posted by: yarndancer at June 26, 2007 01:41 PM
How about a niddy-noddy out of the old pipe? I'm sure you could use the same type of construction as the PVC ones you see online. You could also make some sort of knitting needle holder? Possibilities are endless really..
(I'm supposed to be decluttering too.. its not working all that great)
Posted by: mouse at June 26, 2007 02:36 PM
You make me feel tired and un-handy! that's a lot of work you've accomplished! You SHOULD feel proud!
Posted by: Carol at June 26, 2007 09:57 PM
DIY is the rule around here as well but I hate plumbing, good for you. You don't need an excuse to keep the pipe, slip it up in your basement rafters until inspiration strikes.
Posted by: elan at June 27, 2007 09:05 AM
brave, brave woman...
Posted by: brenda in toronto at June 27, 2007 09:38 AM
When you're done there, I have a sink in my bedroom closet (yes, a sink in my closet) that needs a new drain pipe. We're going to have to take up the floor to get it out. And then, we need to rewire our house. and insullate. and... and... and...
HELP!
Posted by: Steph VW at June 27, 2007 01:20 PM