The Joys of Homeownership: Plumbing Issues
Oh, the joys of homeownership. There is always something and the honey-do list is never-ending. Today, I have a story of a husband full of good intentions and a serious plumbing issue he could not fix. Come with me on this journey….
I recently went out of town to visit family and I took my three sons with me. My husband happened to have the weekend off, but not enough days to go with us, so he stayed home and made a list of things to get done around our house. Our house is 58 years old and very much a fixer-upper. For the past 11 years, it has been a work in progress and it still has a long way to go. A couple weeks ago, we noticed our drain pipe from our washing machine was leaking. My husband bought a new pipe and replaced it. Water stopped leaking with the new pipe, but he found that our drain going out of our house was clogged. My husband used a 20 foot snake and 2 bottles of liquid drain remover. Two nights in a row I got a distressed phone call from my husband. He had spent hours with the snake and drain and had gotten nowhere. The drain was still clogged.
My children and I returned from our trip with a bag full of dirty laundry ready to start our work/school week and could not use our washer. My husband was less than pleased with his progress. After day 3, my husband broke down and called a plumber. On day 4, the plumber came out, found the clog 60 feet out and fixed the problem. $200.00 later, we have a working drain and washer!
My husband is still not pleased he could not fix it himself, but the mere fact he tried and made an effort pleases me. Homeownership is a commitment, like a marriage, but with an inanimate object that keeps breaking. The plus side is, when you yell at it, it never yells back (something else will just inevitably break to express its discontent)! Nonetheless, there are perils and benefits to owning a house. It is our home and we are blessed to have it. 🙂