Dust and broken pipes

This week we finished up at the house we have been working on. The last job was to clean out the garage. One day when it was drizzling outside we had the saws to cut flooring set up in the garage. Micah sent me to get some carpet strips so we would not be tracking so much mud into the house. He said if we swept the garage it would also help to keep from tracking so much into the house. "Why would it help to sweep a dirt floor?" I asked. "There is concrete under the dirt" He patiently explained. And so there was. I bought the house thinking the garage had a dirt floor. That was a nice surprise. Believe me the surprises are usually not the good kind. 

This is what the inside of the garage looked like when we bought the house. I do not know exactly how many pickup loads they hauled away. I do know one Saturday they took 7 loads and that was not even half of what they hauled away over a 3 week period. 

Wednesday I loaded the pickup with cardboard and milk jugs and took them to the recycling bins. I took a load of trash to the land fill and then started sweeping.

10 bags of dirt later I had a clean floor. The dirt had accumulated a little at a time while all the stuff too "good" to throw away gathered up in the garage.

The house we are working on the end of this week we purchased on a on-line auction. I will give everyone a piece of advice when asked"do you want to use our closing agent or your own?" ALWAYS CHOOSE YOUR OWN. It's not that they did not do a good job. It does appear to me though, that Chicago rates are somewhat higher than local rates. OK take the local rates times 4 and you have almost achieved the amount they charged. You will need to add a few more dollars just, well I guess, just because when they are billing they certainly wouldn't want to not take another $50 or so.

This is where we got one of those surprises that was not a nice gift. The house had been vacant for a year. The foreclosure company had winterized the house in October. See there is a problem there. Winterizing in October 2017 did not protect the pipes during the winter of 2016. The former owners had insulated the house to the extreme. seemed like a good idea until it becomes apparent that heat does not travel down well to start with and then if you put 10 inches of insulation between the joists and cover that with inch insulation board, you have no heat down where the plumbing runs. They had shut off the water but had not drained the pipes.

I spent all day Thursday turning the water on, seeing water spray, going to Kelly supply and buying sharkbite couplers, cutting out the split pipe and installing new. Then I would turn the water on, see a new water spray, go to Kelly supply and buy sharkbite couplers, cut out the old split pipe and install new. I did not count how many times I made that circle.

The one time that really made my day was when I found a cvpc line that was split for about 2 foot. Wow I have all the cvcp couplers and elbows on hand to fix that with out going to Kelly Supply. I got that baby all cut out and reglued back. I turned on the water only to find out I had glued the split pipe back into the line. See those short pices of cvpc laying there. They are now too short for some idiot to pick up and glue back into a water line. I wouldn't know any idiot who would actually do that but better safe than sorry, right?

John called this morning to see if we had any work we needed done. 

Well, John, it is painting day so grab a brush and a roller and start painting. Thanks for the help today.

Micah could get right after laying new flooring instead of painting. A much better use of his time. Last house start to finish took 43 days. I am booking 21 days for this house so that means if we fall behind schedule all the Christmas parties will be held at this house working. I am just warning anyone if they see a change of address where the Christmas party will be this year you might want to wear work clothes and bring your tools.