Water Alarm
Some of you might remember the water leak under the sink that I blogged about before.
Well, the other night, Greg gave me a kiss and said, "I'm going to bed." (I was still in the computer room at the time.) I heard him say, "Why is there water on the floor?" The oh no, not that again, lump in my throat feeling came up as I turned and saw the puddle. I got up and said, "That's the same exact place I saw the water pool when we had the leak before."
We took out everything under the sink. Took the bottom face plate off of the dishwasher. Sure enough, water was coming out. We were tired and irritated, but felt like pro's about going through the mechanics of finding leaks. The cabinet "floor" is actually a couple of inches above the house slab and it was wet. As Greg fixed this new leak (it's an old house, what can I say?), he remarked, "We probably need to pull up the cabinet floor. I bet there's water under this that has accommulated from the last leak and this leak.
Sure enough, water, water everywhere. Yuck. Nasty stuff too. Good thing Greg had a wet/dry vac. It sucked up all the water and then we turned the dry part on and dried it out. While it was drying, Greg went to Home Depot and picked up 3 water alarms. When he asked me where I thought the water alarm should go under the sink, I replied, "If we put it on the cabinet floor, it won't tell us about water under it." Greg cut a hole in the cabinet floor, stood the water alarm up and placed two pieces of yellow duct tape on either side so we could easily lift it up should it start to alarm.
Everything was dry and we slept through the night feeling good about it being fixed. The other two alarms are by the washing machine and the hot water heater. The next day we wake up and go to the grocery store ~ only to hear that alarm going off. Take about feeling your facial expressions fall. What now?!
Yes, under the sink - AGAIN. Only this time, the cabinet floor was dry. We lifted up the cabinet base and there was water on the slab. This meant the water origins were from the pipe in the wall. Not a pleasant realization.
Greg had the flashlight and was able to see that there was a very slow drip in teh corner where a pipe was. He went outside, came back in, went back outside again and pointed to the roof, "This is where the air is allowed into the pipes so the water flows. I bet it has something to do with this." We didn't have any water spots on the ceiling, so we didn't think it was the roof itself.
My wonderful hubby went into the attic, flashlight and bruised knees and hot as you know what during Louisiana sweltering summers.... He came back down, grabbed a camera and showed me the proof.
My house is rigged. The people who owned it prior to me rigged this sucker up to not spend a cent on the maintenance. Ah well, it makes for interesting happenings.
The pipe that goes to the AC unit to the roof, that small pipe was too large for the hole made into the larger pipe. So they fashioned something around it to hold it in place. Only, it must have slipped and when the AC kicked on, the water dripped down the side of the larger pipe to meet up at the house slab under the kitchen sink cabinet! Ah, to be a water drop and tell the story of such travel.
Greg fixed the problem and we dried up the area. Before going to sleep, he remarked, "It's going to need caulking going around it, but we'll let the plumber take a look at it and do that part of it." I know he didn't want to go back up in the attic and I don't blame him.
The next morning, the alarm went off - again! Can you see my eyes rolling at this point? The good thing is that we never did cancel the plumber's appointment, because we wanted him to verify it was the problem in the attic.
The plumber called at 7:30am and was over by 8pm. After inspecting the area, he agreed with Greg that it was the water remnants from the attic still making "travels" down after Greg's fix. At least we knew what the problem was and didn't waste a lot of the plumber's time. He did the caulking and viola - no more alarms!
Home Owner, more like the Home Owns You.
The water alarm, though, seriously, if you don't have one, get one for peace of mind. Greg did research on the one that he bought and it had a 5 star rating. If we didn't use the water alarm, we never would have known about the pipe in the attic leak, because it was a slow leak. It would have taken time to pool up under the sink and come up under the dish washer (which is the lower point in the room) and left us floundering about.
The water alarms only cost 10.00 - well worth it! (Maybe we should buy some for the levee systems..... sorry, couldn't help myself...)
Well, the other night, Greg gave me a kiss and said, "I'm going to bed." (I was still in the computer room at the time.) I heard him say, "Why is there water on the floor?" The oh no, not that again, lump in my throat feeling came up as I turned and saw the puddle. I got up and said, "That's the same exact place I saw the water pool when we had the leak before."
We took out everything under the sink. Took the bottom face plate off of the dishwasher. Sure enough, water was coming out. We were tired and irritated, but felt like pro's about going through the mechanics of finding leaks. The cabinet "floor" is actually a couple of inches above the house slab and it was wet. As Greg fixed this new leak (it's an old house, what can I say?), he remarked, "We probably need to pull up the cabinet floor. I bet there's water under this that has accommulated from the last leak and this leak.
Sure enough, water, water everywhere. Yuck. Nasty stuff too. Good thing Greg had a wet/dry vac. It sucked up all the water and then we turned the dry part on and dried it out. While it was drying, Greg went to Home Depot and picked up 3 water alarms. When he asked me where I thought the water alarm should go under the sink, I replied, "If we put it on the cabinet floor, it won't tell us about water under it." Greg cut a hole in the cabinet floor, stood the water alarm up and placed two pieces of yellow duct tape on either side so we could easily lift it up should it start to alarm.
Everything was dry and we slept through the night feeling good about it being fixed. The other two alarms are by the washing machine and the hot water heater. The next day we wake up and go to the grocery store ~ only to hear that alarm going off. Take about feeling your facial expressions fall. What now?!
Yes, under the sink - AGAIN. Only this time, the cabinet floor was dry. We lifted up the cabinet base and there was water on the slab. This meant the water origins were from the pipe in the wall. Not a pleasant realization.
Greg had the flashlight and was able to see that there was a very slow drip in teh corner where a pipe was. He went outside, came back in, went back outside again and pointed to the roof, "This is where the air is allowed into the pipes so the water flows. I bet it has something to do with this." We didn't have any water spots on the ceiling, so we didn't think it was the roof itself.
My wonderful hubby went into the attic, flashlight and bruised knees and hot as you know what during Louisiana sweltering summers.... He came back down, grabbed a camera and showed me the proof.
My house is rigged. The people who owned it prior to me rigged this sucker up to not spend a cent on the maintenance. Ah well, it makes for interesting happenings.
The pipe that goes to the AC unit to the roof, that small pipe was too large for the hole made into the larger pipe. So they fashioned something around it to hold it in place. Only, it must have slipped and when the AC kicked on, the water dripped down the side of the larger pipe to meet up at the house slab under the kitchen sink cabinet! Ah, to be a water drop and tell the story of such travel.
Greg fixed the problem and we dried up the area. Before going to sleep, he remarked, "It's going to need caulking going around it, but we'll let the plumber take a look at it and do that part of it." I know he didn't want to go back up in the attic and I don't blame him.
The next morning, the alarm went off - again! Can you see my eyes rolling at this point? The good thing is that we never did cancel the plumber's appointment, because we wanted him to verify it was the problem in the attic.
The plumber called at 7:30am and was over by 8pm. After inspecting the area, he agreed with Greg that it was the water remnants from the attic still making "travels" down after Greg's fix. At least we knew what the problem was and didn't waste a lot of the plumber's time. He did the caulking and viola - no more alarms!
Home Owner, more like the Home Owns You.
The water alarm, though, seriously, if you don't have one, get one for peace of mind. Greg did research on the one that he bought and it had a 5 star rating. If we didn't use the water alarm, we never would have known about the pipe in the attic leak, because it was a slow leak. It would have taken time to pool up under the sink and come up under the dish washer (which is the lower point in the room) and left us floundering about.
The water alarms only cost 10.00 - well worth it! (Maybe we should buy some for the levee systems..... sorry, couldn't help myself...)
Comments
Hey like the new background...Isn't Shabby Blogs wonderful!?!
I am so sorry you had to go through all of that, especially starting at bedtime. I love old houses and all their character but Oy, they can present major problems sometimes. I hope this is the end of it for you.
Hope you and Greg have a nice, dry weekend!
:)