Tuesday, November 06, 2007

The Hot Spot


Just before the weekend we started noticing how warm the tile was in the entryway. At first it was interesting, but then our actual brains kicked in and we both realized it couldn't possibly be a good thing. I called the city Monday morning and asked them if the water meter would be running if everything was turned off and they said no and told me what to look for. Sure enough, I went out there and the thing was turning and everything was off. The only thing that made sense was that the hot water pipe between the hot water heater and the guest bathroom was leaking. This wouldn't be so horrible in a pier and beam house, but we have a slab foundation (my first - my first two houses were pier and beam). So I called the plumber guy that my shower guy had recommended a while back to replace my shut-off valves when I was replacing the faucets in the master bathroom. As soon as I said, "Hot spot," he said "Oh no!" He also said:



  1. That meant the hot water was leaking into the slab

  2. Insurance companies only cover water damage and floor replacement

  3. They charge $1,450 per day for this work

  4. If I called my insurance on this after the shower and the roof damage this year I might lose my homeowners insurance.

After all my initial freaking out I have, as usual decided to look at the bright side. The bright side things are:



  1. They will not have to dig all through our floors to find and fix this leak because,

  2. They can cap that pipe off and reroute that water through our attic, and

  3. Although they have to tear out the wall behind the water heater and behind the bathroom sinks,

  4. The one wall is in the garage and the other wall is in the cat room closet.

  5. They don't do any wall repair work, but that is something I can do myself

For some reason I did not address the shower with the guy, but the wall behind the shower is in a large storage cabinet, so that should not be a giant problem. I guess the main part I am dreading is having to get up early and have all these people in my house although I really like the main plumber guy named David. I may have posted about him when he was here before but I don't remember. The cat room closet is where we keep two of the litter boxes so we will have to move everything out of there Wednesday night.

David said it should be done in 4 to 8 hours. I have a plan to make sure they fix everything in one day. I am going to make a crockpot stroganoff that morning. The smell of cooking food all day will make them want to hurry to get home to eat and will make them want to do a good job because it will feel all homey. I hope.

Because I do Meals on Wheels on Wednesdays, this will all be done on Thursday. I'm okay about it now. Although it's going to cost around $1700. THAT part sucks. At least on Wednesday I will have my catfish. I like to have things to look forward to.

16 comments:

OldLady Of The Hills said...

I'm hungry! (lol) That Strogonoff sounds wonderful...I actually thought that you were going to say you would feed them so that they don't even have to leace the premises....!
I hope they do a good job! It's a good thinh you discovered that.

I am not sure if CBS Owns Mary Tyler Moore or if the parent complant MTM owns it...But it would be great for them to put on some older shows....This is going to be a very interesting time. I remember the strike in 1988...the production comany's were scrambling to find NON-UNIO writers....I was called by someone because I had a play on in L.A. at that time...But I belong to three Unions and I was not about to cross a picket line....

Jazz said...

Ouch... Be careful with the stroganoff though, they might decide to move in!

Good luck.

ticknart said...

Well, that's much worse than the washer, isn't it.

Hope things go quickly and easily!

Ian Lidster said...

As dear Gilda Radner once said: "It's always something."
Good luck.
Stroganoff sounds good. Haven't had it in years.

Scarlet said...

I have some meatballs cooking but now I have a sudden craving for stroganoff and cat fish.

I hope the food makes you feel all better!

geewits said...

Naomi,
~~Feed them? At that price they can eat like kings eleswhere!

Jazz,
~~It might not be bad to have an availabler plumber 24/7.


Ticknart,
~~Yes, much worse. Thanks for the good wishes!


Ian,
~~Well why is that?

Scarlet,
~~The catfish was perfect as always. I have it every other Wednesday. The people there are getting close to calling me by name. I hope they don't.

Jo said...

Geewits, you're too funny. They'll probably think the stroganoff smells so good, they'll be inviting themselves for dinner. Reserve psychology *poof*. Heh.

Your house doesn't look very old, should it be having all those plumbing problems?

I've never had catfish. Is it good?

Okay, now I'm hungry. :-)

Jo said...

I meant reverse psychology. Proofread, proofread, proofread. :-)

Big Brother said...

Pier and beam?, slab?... what ever happened to a good old fashioned basement? In the great white north, if you don't have a foundation at least 4-5 feet deep your whole structure will buckle when the frost heaves it up. Well a leaking hot water pipe isn't all bad, people pay fortunes to have heated floors. You'd be like the Romans with a water based hypocaust. ;o)

Jammie J. said...

Oh no! That is not the kind of news a person wants to hear!

Back when I had a hot water leak under the slab, I think it was in year 2000, I figured it out because my cats wouldn't stop sitting on the spot. Hehe.

I was going to comment about that means some early mornings for you, and then you wrote it. :)

geewits said...

Josie,
~~I think it's 25 years old. Texas always has foundation problems, well this part of Texas, and with a slab, the pipes are in there. Catfish is like salmon, if it's good it's very very good and when it is bad it is horrid. ;) I would not order it unless it has been highly recommended by someone you trust.

Big Brother,
~~There are no basements here and no frost and no ground freezes. Texas is so big it's hard to generalize, but in our area it's rather flat and the ground is very hard clay. I hate to say it but I WILL miss the heated floor, but the trade-off is a cold shower and that was so NOT pleasant!

Jammie,
~~The plumber made a joke about cats and dogs being able to find the leak by insisting on sleeping there. Barney has slept there the last two evenings.

Tai said...

Argh! Well, at least it's on it's way to being fixed, without a horrible bunch of digging and holes being made.

Jocelyn said...

Holy Bajeezus, but that sucks.

The strogonoff will get you through...if you don't have to bribe the workers with it.

geewits said...

Tai,
~~More holes than I thought, but I'll get to that in my next post.

Jocelyn,
~~The stroganoff smells so good, I keep wanting to snack - that's not good!

Jo said...

Geewits, you'll have to check out Mary Anne’s blog. She is going through plumbing woes as well.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to know.