More Water Troubles

Two ago, we were forced to replace the waterline from the road to the house.  A very high meter reading told us we had a leak, but we had no visible signs of water anywhere!  Turns out, the leak was under the concrete slab and the water was draining into the ground under the house.    We located a plumber who dug up the front lawn and ran a new line and connection into the house, capping off the old line. Thankfully, that took care of the problem and our water bills went back to normal.

Three weeks ago I was out mowing the front lawn and and stepped into a big mushy puddle out near the meter.  UGH!  I called the water department, and sure enough, there was a leak... this time on the City's side of the meter and they would make the repair at no cost to us.  Since then, we have had day after day after day of rain until, finally, it was dry enough today for them to do the work.


Imagine my surprise when I returned from walking Toby to find them digging a hole across the street!  Turns out, the leak was under the road somewhere and they had to replace the section that runs under the road between my house and the neighbors.

They eventually got around to digging up my front lawn also.

They tied a rope and the new line to the broken line and used the digging shovel to pull the new line under the road and up on our side.

 
When they had everything hooked up and running again, they did "repair" my front lawn... but i fear it will never be the same again!

Monsoon Monday!

After all that beautiful weather this weekend, Monday brought lots of rain!

The ditch across the front lawn from the water line repair was settling down and filling with water.

I sent Matthew out to rake the dirt into the ditch and hopefully level things off a bit more.

 

Water troubles

Last Thursday, the city came around and read the meters (gas, electric, water) as usual.   Some time on Friday a supervisor came by and re-read the meters.  I came home late afternoon to find a "lovely" red tag on my doorknob informing me of high water usage... more than double our normal use!  UGH!

There was no water running in the house... and yet the meter was spinning away!  I turned the shutoff valve in the basement... and still the meter was spinning! That meant there was a leak somewhere between the meter and my house. Since there were no puddles in the yard, best guess is that the leak was under the concrete slab the house was built on.  I opened the phonebook and was able to get two repair quotes before dark(one extremely high and the other comparably quite low) and the advice to call the 811 number and have all utility lines marked so work could start ASAP.  I waited for a third quote by a plumber highly recommended by one of the girls in my church group.

Scott learned his trade working with his dad, and took over his dad's business when he retired.  He is licensed and insured and a pleasure to work with!

First, the outside work.  Start with some hand digging near the house to avoid the gas line.    



Then pull out the trencher to dig across the yard and down 18in (below the frost line) to bury the new water line.

new line running under gas line into house

 

Outside work complete. 

Next, inside he capped off and removed the old incoming pipes and filter from under the bench in the center of the house in my quilting room

and hooked into the lines near the front of the house and installed a more easily accessable filter in my sewing room closet.

I'll just get a small tension rod and make a curtain to hide this rather than installing a wall with access door in the side of my closet.

Mission accomplished!  and the meter is no longer spinning like a top!