Tripped at the finish line. Almost left 2017 with no issues.

House problems of 2017:

Well I have to say the last week of 2017 was not my week. I was kind of surprised at how fast things went from bad to worse in days. Here are my adventures of the expensive plight.

So early in November this year, I got a new sink, and and a new sump pump. A dry basement and a fancy faucet are great because I tripe on a toy and fell on my last faucet. Broke it right off. The only way we could do the cleaning in the kitchen was by hanging the faucet with a tea towel from the wash cloth drying rack. It was super fancy for a while! We did what we could until I was able to scrape together the money to get a new one. So when my parents and brothers came into town, they helped me install these things and do a few other fixes around the hose, leaving me sitting pretty for Christmas.

Then after Christmas on the 26^th at 7:15 in the morning, a great grinding rubbing squeaking noise came from the basement. “Oh crap” I thought, I threw on my shoes to go check it out in my dungeon of a basement. As I got closer, it got louder. From which of the two hearts of the house is it coming from? Quickly coming to the conclusion that I have no idea what I was looking at. The furnace or the boiler? I decided to go wake up my husband.

He shot out of bed. Went down into the bowls of our house and with some time was able to shut it off.

Then he called the people who fix things like this. Good man. We where on their emergency list, but we had to have the heat off for two days in some of the coldest weather on the east coast this year. Thank God my brothers cut and stacked a load of wood from the tress that fell in our yard. So I kept the fire roaring all day.

A repair man showed up and told us our boiler was shot. It would be 2 to 4 grand to replace it. Yup! Right after Christmas, sure I have that in my barn(yea right). This is the worst time for this. Plus we needed to get an a electrician in there to see if we could have different options for another cost estimate for a different system. The electrician could not come 2 days. So we had no hot water. So I keep pot on the stove for cleaning and cooking.

Then on the 30^th my kitchen sink backed up. I noticed water on the floor and had my husband check it out and he said there was a block somewhere down the line. Arrgh this is all I need, 2 days before I need my kitchen to make a cake for my son.

So all that day I was pour boiling water down the 3 drains that ran together. Then scooped out the blackest smelliest water ever. Years of gross coming up. With this I was able to locate the block of ice. The pipe was cold right under the spot where the 3 drains connected to go out.

Well to say the least my husband had to open up the pieces and use an auger to get it free and flowing again. It smelled so bad during the process. We think it was 3 things that stopped the pipe. Years of gross, a knot of electrical tape in the pipe and it might have frozen a little. But I was so happy to get my kitchen back. I am super proud of my husband too!

Then my hot water pipe froze in the kitchen because it has been getting so cold, and we didn’t have the heat on. So my dear husband had to get that free flowing again too! Can I be done with this? I would like to be, but we will see what 2018 has waiting for me!