Plumbing issue wasted half a day

We were fixing a back deck and stair on a rental house in Navarre. I have actually been doing pretty good with the exercise, but as usual chit happens. While stripping the old deck boards my wife took one and threw it toward a pile we had created but her aim was not even close as she hit the faucet which came out of the crawl space, and broke it off. Water spraying everywhere. We were able to shut the water off at the street, but when I got into the crawl space, I found the faucet was connected to the vertical stack which distributes the water all over the house, and that when it broke, it broke a T on that vertical stack which required us to cut back all the piping to the backflow valve and rebuild the connections.

She runs to Ace hardware to get some three quarter inch pipe, and fittings and we begin around five pm to fix it. Of course the flashlights go dead and it is getting dark. We build a new stack and connect to some of the existing pipe, but when I turn the water back on a pipe had a pin hole leak caused by the twisting to remove the threaded section which required cutting the entire stack out and getting more parts before ace closed. Dark and getting cold we reassembled the stack and I simply bought some caps, and hooked the main lead, and turned it on. Another ever so slight leak, and I told the wife screw it we are done for the night and will need to finish it Sunday afternoon, as we need to get the deck and stairs done. We will be leaving Wed. and will simply turn the water off and finish after Christmas when we return for three weeks.

A wasted half day because a board did not land where intended.

Pretty sucky situation for sure, but congrats on your perseverance. Ah, the joys of home (or rental property) ownership. Pain in the patoot, seems to me, but hopefully it's all worth it for you and the wife in the long run.

Oh it gets worse. The water heater just gave out. Should have been expected because the house was built in 05, and had a thermostat fixed on it in four years ago, but to get 11 years on a water heater is pretty good. We need to get back to Illinois for a family Christmas celebration on Saturday. So what was suppose to be three or four days working in Navarre will turn into ten days with rain delays and just being worn out on the two decks and stairs we have built.

I am working on another project where my brother in law last winter brought down our Park Model and set it on eight acres we own in Santa Rosa as I did dirt work working on road base and landscaping as we clear the land. The problem is that as I had dirt delivered I sodded, planted grass seed over some electric and plumbing around where we set the Park Model, an because it had been incredibly dry since I finished some dirt work in November, I did not realize how when we had the big rains last week the entire area below the Park Model turned into a lake. I had to set a sump pump and drain it three days ago because I have to hire a pretty big rig to pull it out of its set spot and pour a concrete pad which we will finish. Well, the dam thing weighs 19k pounds, and if the ground is soaked we could bury the three axles pulling it out to pour the concrete after we remove the jacks and let the tires support the RV and move it back on the pad after we build a ten by eight by six inch mesh concrete pad which can hold the weight. I need to pull, build forms, pour the concrete before I leave on Wed, as I have an important meeting on Friday and then the Christmas Party. These Navarre problems have really screwed us, but I must admit I am exhausted and my arms and legs hurt at the end of each day from the work. I am sitting in my plastic chair resting more than ever, but I should be dead already and these short term projects force me up and moving, but are incredibly hard on my wife and the dog who simply wants to go home where she gets a three mile run every day, but not in the winter when there is snow and the causeways are icy and dangerous.......so it goes......life being imperfect but oh so sweet that every day is appreciated.

Seaot....just reading about your projects exhaust me.

I have plumbed four new homes, as one of my customers 20 years ago owed me some money and I asked him to give me advice, but not to do any work and we would call it even. I made one mistake on a drain Y connection, and he pressure tested everything and I passed with flying colors. I did the same thing with an electrician, and now my wife and kids all know how to build things. It got so bad, all the women in town were calling my wife to fix electrical problems that their husbands did not know how to fix. It got funny as she almost has her PHD in education and taught for 37 years. I have a great plumber I am working with on the project from a recommendation on this forum, but these are simple no brainer repairs which are just a matter of time. Plus I hate the way plumbers install hot water heaters. They should be designed with shut off valves and extra long flexible tubes which allows anybody to drain them, slip them out, slip the new one in, and put the connection from the flexible on the new hot water heater. Also, In the panhandle I see too much plastic on water lines. I like to solder, use copper, and give strong supports to the pipe. So we are just stuck with an allocation of time which will not let me watch football games today.

I did get somebody to pull out the RV next week, so some things are falling into place. The leaks on the plumbing stack this morning were minimal, almost like a sweating pipe, but I have zero tolerance to a leak.

I was at Gulf Breeze Lowes getting some boards when this guy had a trailer rated for probably 1200 pounds and he had a full skid of treated six foot pickets, a half pallet of treated 2 x4s and about twenty five four by fours. He is driving a truck with a fifth wheel hitch in the back, and had them load the trailer with about three thousand pounds of lumber, as he was leaving lowes to get on 98 I started shaking my head and pointing to his tires which were half full because of the weight. He stops and starts heading back to the store, and I tell him it is better to take two loads with that trailer, he responds that he is going to air up the tires and prays he makes it. I mean all he had to do is have them take the top 2 loads off, and come back and have the forklift put the loads into the trailer, instead he is going out on 98 and putting folks at risk as that overloaded trailer will fail if going over five hundred yards. The funny thing it is just being lazy because he could have loaded the boards in the bed of the truck on both sides of the fifth wheel hitch. I just cannot believe the things I see sometimes.

If it only wasted half of your day then you did good.

Well the excitement never ends. I had spoke with a heavy duty tow truck on Sunday and they quoted me $175 for a ten minute pull of a large park model RV so I could pour a concrete pad when I return after Christmas. I call today and the quote me $350 minimum, but said it would probably be three hours from Pensacola to Santa Rosa or over $400. Last night they said on Wear 3 that a big rain storm was going to hit at 5pm this evening. So, I needed to get this pulled as I had raised the grade and the lower area fills up with eight inches of water and with the three axles their is a chance to bury the axles in mush soil if it rains, so I begin making the calls and nobody could do it today. Well I know of a rental place which has a 5k lb all terrain forklift, but last time I rented it I nearly got killed with a slipping transmission. Very dangerous piece of equipment, so I go and they tell me they had fixed the transmission. So I rent for $200 and it drives perfectly with no slippage, I get a 15 foot chain at the new Tractor supply in Milton, and pulled the RV out without a problem.

I will build the forms and use 3500 psi mesh concrete at six inches to support the 19k lb rv and I think we should be good by January to get all the mechanical connections and pad completed. I put down a hundred pounds of rye seasonal grass seed and then in the middle of the day instead of 5pm we were drowned like rats with rain, but fortunately the RV is secure on level gravel and what could have been a disaster turned out ok. My wife and I are exhausted with this trip, but I did take the time to get a catfish basket at Bob and T's favorite catfish place in Milton. I thought about Bob and I planning on meeting last February, but never got it done. I am glad. Bob and T have become such strong memories as ghosts that I do not think I will meet anybody on the forum because sometimes you just cannot beat your imagination about somebody's words. Productive trip, and I am still alive, but the dog cannot wait to get home, but they are saying snow is on the ground and it will be ten below Friday.

I love these stories, Seaoat. I've been thinking of you often lately, because a new house is going up across the street and I've observed every phase of construction, starting with tree removal and excavation. Reminds me of my old days as well. What kind of pipe ruptures from having a board thrown at it? PVC?

Yes it was PVC which was exposed with a large hole into the crawl space. When she threw the deck board we were removing from the old stairs and deck, she caught it just right that the T connector split shooting the faucet right out the hole like a rocket. I decided to build a hatch, turned the water off at the street, but will be rebuilding all of it in January.

In Illinois everybody uses copper. With the freeze cycle, we use the heavier copper tubing. I just cannot get used to how half asz everything is in regard to construction. It seems the cheapest material, and short cuts results in some pretty shoddy construction. I had three houses built by SS Steele which actually were pretty well built, brick and good skill levels, but the foundation was awful, but with no freeze cycle, my putting massive footing forty inches into the ground are not done here.....plus when you go forty you usually get into wet soils. I do like working outside in the Panhandle in January and February, and as long as my strength holds up.....I am all good.