Ok, so we're not plumbers
On the plus side, we now know where the water shutoff is outside the house.
It started so innocently.
Monica: "Honey, would you mind pulling the shower handle off to see if there's anything obvious to be adjusted that would make hot water come out of the shower?"
Marc: (said in a Super Man voice) "No dear. I'll get right on that.. but I'm an electrician not a plumber. So don't expect miracles".
When I got home last night there was water running out of the tub faucet and it wasn't stopping. No matter how you turned the knob the water never quite stopped. Marc says he tightened and then loosened 4 screws. He didn't force it.. there was not application of force... but the water wouldn't stop (very strawberry shortcake-like).
We tinkered with it for a while.. and then decided that maybe we should shut off the house water. So we circled the house. Nothing looked or sounded like the water shut off valve (there were no signs. We really needed a sign).
So we called a plumber. At 9:00 at night. Yes, we have a water emergency (though really, as far as water emergencies go, this entailed very little mess). Anthony showed up at about 10. He looked at the problem.. then wandered outside to find the shut off. In 2 minutes flat he found the shutoff and stopped the water.
He then declared our valve thing-y broken (I'm sure he had a more specific word than thing-y but as mentioned.. I'm not a plumber). He said we'd have to tear out sheetrock in the bedroom in order to access the plumbing. He then estimated the repair cost at $500 (which didn't include fixing the sheetrock) and offered to come back in the morning and fix it.
Choice 1: pay $500 and fix problem.
Choice 2: stop using water in the house
We decided on choice 1 and agreed to meet with him tomorrow when he came back. He also said he'd look at the water feed tube for the fridge.. so we can get filtered water and ice from our fridge (wheee).
Today when he showed up he tinkered with the knob for a while and said that he may have overestimated the cost. It looks like he can replace the valve thing-y without having to tear a hole in the bedroom (horray!).
At the same time he was here tinkering with the knob, Marc and I tackled installing the dryer. The dryer isn't on a fuse in the fuse box. It's wired into the main power only. I'm pretty certain that will need to change. But in the meantime, in order to remove the old, wrong, outlet and install the new, right, outlet, we had to shut off main power to the house.
So at a couple points today we had no heat, no power and no water in the house. It feels kind of medieval.
Tags: Bathroom