Lemme tell you, our bathroom’s wallpaper wasn’t its only problem-to-be-remedied recently. So brace yourself while we weave a little plumbing tale that spanned over the last few weeks (in fact it just wrapped up a few days ago). You know how we solemnly swear to share the good, the bad, and the ugly? Well, this one can be filed under “the bad” and “the ugly” with a side of “the gross.” So for everyone’s sake, we’ll leave out the graphic pictures.
During the process of buying this house we noticed a very small, dried out water stain on the ceiling in the living room, right below where the bathroom was. We and the inspector concluded it was likely from a toilet overflow from long ago, since the stain was only about 3″ wide and long dried up. So we weren’t too alarmed and just figured it was solved decades ago, so a little primer and ceiling paint were all that it needed. We never even photographed it, but here’s a hint as to where it was.
Then this fall, the toilet started to act up. Namely in that it would occasionally clog (this is your first hint to put down your breakfast) and when we attempted to plunge it, well, it would back-up into the shower. If that first hint didn’t work, something tells me you’re putting your breakfast down right about now.
Yeah, it was gross. And since a certain half of this relationship was already queasy from growing a tiny human, I was the only one on duty (a little pun to lighten the mood). Usually a bit more plunging and maybe a bit of snaking would fix the issue. I say “usually” because this happened more than once. And before you start judging our gastrointestinal prowess, I should note that this sort of back-up sometimes happened when the toilet wasn’t even involved – maybe after a shower or after I shaved in the sink. We googled for answers and contemplated calling in a pro, but the “incidents” were few and far enough between that we figured we could hold out ’til we remodeled the room.
But last month came the back-up that plunging could not conquer.
***PHOTO OMITTED TO PROTECT YOUR DELICATE RETINAS***
And in all of my furious plunging, I managed to create a new water stain in the ceiling below. I’d later learn that all the pressure of such vigorous plunging had compromised the wax ring and water started leaking again. That was our cue to call in a pro. He removed the toilet, ran an 150 foot snake and dislodged what he concluded was “years worth of paper build-up” way down in our pipes somewhere. Phew! Problem solved.
Except it wasn’t. Fast forward another week and the shower starts to back-up again. In fact, it happens as I’m using the tub to fill up the steamer during may latest wallpaper removal spree. So not only was that process miserable on its own, I was doing it with a less than fresh-looking (and smelling) shower nearby. Not to mention that we’re both beyond frustrated that our first call to the plumber didn’t solve the problem. So yeah, clearly the picture below was taken before the back-up happened. Just look at me all footloose and fancy free.
Remember when I called this post-wallpapered look: “gas station bathroom.” I was really thinking it was more reminiscent of that scene in Trainspotting. Yeah, you know the one. And if you don’t, well, I highly suggest that you NOT google it right now. Okay, maybe our bathroom wasn’t that bad. But it was bad enough that I was embarrassed that this was the state the plumbers would see it in.
Then again, things didn’t get much prettier once they arrived. Now that I think about it, I guess they’ve pretty much seen it all.
The plumbing company sent a different guy this time and, after explaining the series of events, he had a pretty solid theory. But it meant cutting into our ceiling to confirm it. Welcome to our crash course in two-story home issues. Kinda made us miss the days where virtually everything was visible from a crawl space or attic.
His hunch was correct. All of the bathroom plumbing was configured wrong. And it had been for 30+ years since they built this house. A key element – the slope of the main drain pipe – was incorrect. So rather than having gravity to help water leave the vicinity, it was actually sloped uphill – so water and sewage that should have been flushed down and out of the house would collect and pool and eventually back-up into the lowest opening in that bathroom (i.e. the shower). In the words of Clara: yuckaroo.
The only solution was to cut a bigger hole in the ceiling and have the experts replace all the plumbing. It even meant cutting out one of the load-bearing joists and reinforcing it with a new one so the new pipes could be configured at the right angle, so it was nothing that we dared to attempt ourselves.
Did we like having our house torn apart? No. But we were pretty relieved that the root of the problem was finally getting fixed. And I’ll admit that we were pretty entertained by the view through the floor.
It only took them a day to complete the task (they came back a few days after their initial diagnosis to get it done) along with a somewhat painful $650 check, but we were relieved that this hidden-behind-the-walls issue that had plagued this house for over three decades was finally solved. Which meant we could finally get back to our little bathroom update. And hey, while the toilet was removed, we were able to strip that small swatch of wallpaper that had been hiding behind the bowl, so that was kind of funny (very marginally at the time, but more so now).
But we were still left with that gaping hole in the living room ceiling well after the bathroom was trimmed out and painted.
We went back and forth about drywalling it ourselves – which basically involves mudding, taping, sanding, re-mudding, and re-sanding. Smooth ceilings are especially tricky (imperfections are a lot more visible up there) and we knew any remaining dents or seams would have bugged us forever, so we finally just pulled the trigger and called a highly recommended local drywall guy.
He fixed it flawlessly in a few hours for around $100, and was also very nice (he said Sherry looked like Topanga from Boy Meets World, which pretty much made our day). So now all we’ve got to do is prime and paint it.
Update: A few folks have asked if our home warranty would have covered this issue (that actually ran out before this fiasco) but it most likely would not, since this was an “existing condition” (the plumbing didn’t break after we moved in, it was configured this way for 30 years, so that’s not something typically covered by a home warranty).
These unplanned homeowner curveballs never feel good (especially when we’d rather be spending that money on fun updates that we can actually see and enjoy) but it’s nice to have things all put back together again. The irony is that we have another “oh the joys of home ownership” story unfolding (it’s still halfway-solved, so we’ll wait for the full resolution before crying on your shoulder). Please tell us we’re not the only ones. Regale us with some of your tales of woe in the plumbing/heating/other house systems arenas. We’re all in this together. Right?
Psst- The “Volume Two” part of this post’s title is thanks to this original leak lesson that we dealt with a few years ago at our last house. Best thing about that one is that it was something we could solve ourselves (read: zero benjamins).
Dena says
Those surprises are never fun and usually happen at the worst possible time (during renos, during maternity leave, day before vacation). Looks good though. Mind if I ask the name of the drywall guy? Because I have my own hole in the wall problem, too…
YoungHouseLove says
He was awesome! His name is Vaughn and his number is 804-814-0477. Would totally use him again!
xo
s
Jann says
Yes! I had the same question. We too had a 2-story home bathroom/shower issue and need to fix the ceiling.
Kelly {the Centsible Life} says
We’ve done our fair share of DIY plumbing projects, but there’s definitely a time to call in the pros. I know it’s no fun to write checks like that when it doesn’t include improving anything visible. Here’s hoping that’s the last of your plumbing woes!
YoungHouseLove says
AMEN!
xo
s
Alison Hinson says
One Thanksgiving we decided to put up new adhesive walls around our tub. We knew the old walls were allowing water to leak and the caulking was continually black from mold growing from the inside. Ever smelled molding drywall that has been molding for years? We had to take turns removing it from the bathroom because the smell was so bad!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that makes this prego gal gag. Literally, just happened.
xo
s
Vicki Cornelius says
I think you got a great deal on the price to do that plumbing repair–
to do all the work and replace part of the joist…
probably would have run 1K in my neck of the woods…
And perfect case in point that even the BEST inspection can’t show you what is being walls (or in the ceilings)…
it is always a case of buyer beware unless you can check every stage of construction process…
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, if only those inspectors had x-ray vision!
xo
s
Jolene says
They do have x-ray vision!!! Some of the home inspector guys have those infrared gadgets that can see the plumbing and stuff. Very impressive! I’m not sure your deal is something they would catch as a matter of course, but they would in a home buyers dream world.
YoungHouseLove says
Wow, that’s AMAZING! We’re living in the future, guys. THE FUTURE!
xo
s
Lindsay says
I feel your pain! My fiance and I bought our first house in April and in October we had a particularly nasty rain storm. All of a sudden the wall/ceiling in our study started “crying”. Cue the flurry of towels, garbage bags, duct tape, etc. to try and protect our 100 year old hardwood floors! It was really annoying to have to unexpectedly shell out a few hundred bucks to fix the roof and ceiling, but thankfully, it was just a small tear in the roof lining. It could have been so much worse! Glad you guys have a working bathroom again!
YoungHouseLove says
Ack, that sounds like a total panic situation! So glad you could save the floors and it wasn’t too bad to fix.
xo
s
Sarah @ The Simple Home says
Well, it had to be done :(
When are you guys going to share the family yearbook of 2013?!
Sarah
http://www.thesimplehomeblog.blogspot.com
YoungHouseLove says
Soon! It’s all made and ordered and supposedly on its way to us (set to arrive in a few days)! Can’t wait to get that in our hot little hands!
xo
s
andrea says
We’ve had a similar situation happen at our house. Oh the joys of home ownership!
MB says
Ugh, that’s the worst. So glad you got it fixed. My worst experience started with a burned out oven light. New bulb did nothing, and it finally bothered me enough to call someone to look at it. Who then informed me that the wiring to the oven was incorrect and had actually shorted the control board and he was impressed no one had been shocked. SERIOUSLY?!?! Eleventy squillion dollars later, wiring and ovens fixed. Yuck.
YoungHouseLove says
YIKES! So glad no one got hurt!
xo
s
Andrea says
OMG! Luckily no one got hurt!!
When my parents finally got around and bought a new kitchen for their flat, it turned out that all the kitchen appliances (dishwasher, fridge, stove, oven and microwave) ran on ONE single outlet. The guy who came to fix that and install a high voltage system said it was just a lucky coincidence it didn’t catch fire and burn down the whole house.
April says
I love this post. Keep on keeping it real. Also, good call on hiring out the drywall. I’ve attempted a few patches myself, and I swear, you need an advanced art degree to get that thing looking decent. Either that, or I just really stink at drywall-ing.
YoungHouseLove says
It’s rough right?! Sometimes we re-mud and re-sand three times instead of two which helps to smooth things out a bit more, but for bit 4′ wide areas like that in a ceiling we were convinced we’d see one of the seams as clear as day or something. The drywall guy was seriously an ARTISTE!
xo
s
tia says
keeping with the bathroom theme, i once had a clogged sink that turned into a semi-remodel. while fixing the clog the plumber noticed our loose toilet (which would rock back and forth a little when you sat down) which led to the discovery of a rotting sub-floor. i ended up getting pipes replaced, a new toilet, and a new floor. definitely wasn’t in the budget plan at the time but it had to be done.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man! The ol’ bathroom can of worms!
xo
s
Sandra says
Yeah it’s a pain to deal with these things and writing a check that big is no fun. On the plus side you know your house that much better. I always enjoyed learning about and exploring the guts of my houses. Leaves me feeling there’s nothing to be scared about, it’s not rocket science and anything can be fixed. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, have we seen the guts. Haha! Literally.
xo
s
Lisa says
Wow! That must’ve been really frustrating! How do you prepare for these really expensive jobs? How much would you put away per month to make sure that you can cover a large price tag when you need it ASAP?
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve had a savings account for the last 8 years of home-ownership that we just constantly contribute as much as we can to each month. Our method is really simple in that we just pay off all of our bills in full, and anything left goes in there. We’ve both been savers since we met in NYC, so it’s nice to have the love of that “safety net” in common, and when we moved into this house we made sure we had squirreled away as much as we could so we’d hopefully be covered in case a bunch of things went wrong all at the same time (knowing this house was empty for over a year and that many things like the furnace and roof were severely damaged motivated us to cover our bases). I don’t think there’s really a magic amount to know you’re covered in general though (some disasters are taken care of by a warranty or insurance and others are cheap while some are mind-numbingly expensive) so I’d just recommend saving as much as you can over time, and watching it slowly grow. For example, we coupon, drive one car, make a lot of meals at home, and just generally try to make lifestyle choices that allow us to save money that might otherwise go towards extras in other categories, like nice haircuts/highlights, fancy nights out, expensive clothing, etc (more on that here).
xo
s
betty says
I always wondered this too, so i’m glad someone else asked as well.
the second part of this question I have is, so your saving for the nursery, future kitchen/bathroom overhaul, other small project, etc… do unexpected house problems come out of this same pot? or do you have ICE savings and project savings? sorry.. if its too personal of a money question.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, we have one big pot going, so it does make it a little bit tricky. Basically we have a baseline “safety net” number that we like to keep things at, no matter what, and as it slowly grows above that more and more, we might say “ooh, now we have $300 for that item” and can take that out without going below that baseline safety net, if that makes sense. When we’re saving for larger things like a car (we like to pay them off all at once) or a kitchen redo (same thing, we like to pay them off in full) we’ll just keep saving and saving for years instead of months, and waiting for it to hit that “point” of enough that we can pull out to get that job done without depleting the safety net that we always want in there.
xo
s
Megan says
Not sure this would work for everyone but for me, the easiest way to save money is to pay myself first. My work pays me through a direct deposit and I have it set up so 10% of my paycheck goes directly into savings and the rest into checking. I try to put more into savings when I can but it’s nice to have that guaranteed amount going in twice a month without having to think about it.
YoungHouseLove says
Really smart! I miss those days of direct deposit. We did that when we worked in NYC, and it was so nice to have it automatically done!
xo
s
Stardancer says
There’s a guy called Dave Ramsey who runs a program called Financial Peace. He recommends that people save up $1,000 for a basic emergency fund. For a bigger one, he likes 6 months’ worth of your household expenses (just the important stuff like bills, not including things like restaurants). Obviously that’s just a guideline, but it’s a good place to start.
Sara says
This was my question exactly, Lisa! Thanks for asking, and thanks for answering, Sherry! It’s one of our goals to save more this year, and we’re excited to start that. (Next month, of course, as we just had a little student loan snaffu and an ER visit for our little boy – who is fine now, thankfully – uffda, those surprises!)
Laura @ Rather Square says
Good decision to call in an expert (or two) to solve this problem! Plumbing is one of those areas best left to the pros, especially when it involves sewage backup. Yuckaroo is right!
We’re getting ready to replace our toilet entirely – our plumbing isn’t bad, but the toilet itself is about 30 years old, and at one point it was “reconfigured” with a different tank, and now the bowl and tank don’t work well together. Pleasant times!
Currently we’re dealing with the refrigeration system in our kitchen. We just bought a new refrigerator – it was a very last-minute unplanned purchase (our old one suddenly died without warning), so we had to do some quick research and thinking to make sure we got what we wanted/needed.
http://www.rathersquare.com/2014/01/our-fast-and-snowy-refrigerator-quest/
Julianne says
I’m laughing in commiseration with you. We bought a 3 year old house thinking “great, all the appliances will be fairly new.” We have replaced everything but the stove and have had the a/c, furnace and water heater serviced extensively. We even found out the exhaust pipes for the furnace were installed at the wrong angle and to properly fix it we’d have to have a new whole cut in the roof. Yeah… we opted for the cheap get by for now fix. I feel like nothing surprises me now. Good times.
Carrie K says
Oh you guys! Sherry-your poor morning/all day sickness! Gotta love the photo of the Burgs looking at John through the floor though. We had a plumbing issue in our home that I noticed while loading the dryer in our basement. There’s a drain right in front of the dryer that I found had celery & onion coming out of it (from a previous dinner that I had put down the garbage disposal). Toilet clogged the next day, so we called a pro and he snaked through everything….save the details, but we can flush ONLY toilet paper now. It had 30 years of other “ahem” items backed up too.
It’s jobs like fixing plumbing and cleaning your air ducts that feels really good to do, but it’s not exactly photo-worthy. Kudos you two!
Lily says
That’s a happy ending. I have heard stories that plumbers, electricians, air conditioner repairer ect…charged hundreds of dollars but still couldn’t fix the problems for good. How do you find good drywall guy, plumbers, electricians, even roofers….?
YoungHouseLove says
We are really into looking up online reviews and asking people for recommendations. A while back we’d just do the phone book thing and it felt too random, so it’s nice to hear they’re nicely rated by a bunch of people online or recommended by a friend who has used them – although it’s never 100% (we still have our share of great and not-so-great service).
xo
s
Anele @ Success Along the Weighn says
I about lost it laughing at the pic of Burger staring at you through the hole! Sooooo funny!
I know that hole in the ceiling all too well. Despite the fact we’re in a house we watching being built, our 21 and 23 year old naivety when we closed didn’t have us inspecting too much before drywall went up. The bathroom drain was not connected properly and instead of fixing it because it leaked, they stuck a paper towel under it. How do we know? Because one morning when the Mr was taking a shower and after plunging a hair clog in the drain, I went downstairs to see a HUGE wet line and bowing ceiling in the living room. I yelled at him to come down and we had to poke a hole in the ceiling to drain it. The plunging finally broke the pipe loose after 14 years and ALL of his shower water went into our living room ceiling into a nice waterfall. We had 3 holes in our ceiling for 3 weeks…over the holidays. So I did what I do…decorated the holes with ornaments and hanging gingerbread men. We did take the opportunity to have the can light that was never centered moved and converted so we could hang a chandelier. So I *guess* a blessing in disguise?
Glad all is well with your place now!
Na'ama says
This made me feel sooo much better! We recently bought our first house (Oct. 2013) and have had 2 plumbing problems that popped up out of nowhere! We bought a new washing machine and when they showed up, they said they couldn’t connect it because the pipes needed to be fixed.. off we went to call a plumber ASAP (we do need a working washing machine! and a whole lot of $$$ later, it was fixed). Then our sink in the bathroom stopped draining, plumber came to fix it, pipe broke, $$$ and it’s fixed! Hoping our plumbing woes are over!! Glad to hear we’re not alone!!! You guys are so great and we learn soo much from you!
Molly says
I’m glad I’m not the only one with a leak problem! I live in a two-story condo with neighbors above us. Our VAC condensate drain connected to theirs and ran outside. This pipe froze over, backed up with all the condensate they were producing and it promptly flooded our house while we were at work. We couldn’t get the water to stop flooding into our unit, so we had to use buckets to catch never-ending flood coming into our unit until we could get repair guys out to help us.
A week and a half later (and thousands of dollars in damage), we finally have our house back. It’s not perfect (the drywall repair especially is not as good as I’d like it to be) but since the condo association admitted their responsibility and hired people to fix it I can’t really complain with ‘free’ at this point, even if I think the work is sub-par.
The joys of home ownership!
andee says
It must be a January thing. Our sewer backed up into our basement last week, literally the same day our fridge broke. Sometimes the money you spend calling a pro is worth the annoyance of figuring it yourself. Know when to hold and when to fold! It is nice to know that your house works on the insides.
Liz O says
So 5 or so years ago a guy came in and redid our bathroom and didn’t do a great job because the tub is now cracking in 2 places. You get what you pay for I say (in this case my MIL paid for it since she is our landlord) so she’s having that repaired next week, meanwhile at her house her water main breaks and that has to be repaired next week too. :| plumbing bad stuff all around.
Diane says
Looks like Burger has seen it all, too!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, and now he can’t UNSEE it!
xo
s
Lisa | Winter Heights says
I guess we’re still pretty newish to home ownership (3-4years) an all I think when we have to pocket out money for repairs is what that could’ve gone towards. But I’m learning we have to be more proactive with upkeep and maintenance before my typical “what till it breaks” mentality.
But it’s gotta feel nice knowing you won’t have an unexpected guest show up in your shower! ;))
sommer says
When we moved into our house we kept having similar… issues. Called a plumber when we couldn’t plunge out the problem. He found a plastic grocery bag in the pipe. Seriously, who flushes a grocery bag?
YoungHouseLove says
Gah!
xo
s
Lauren says
Posts like this are much appreciated. While I absolutely LOVE the fun decorating stuff, it is nice to read about you guys tackling the tough homeownership issues as well. Thanks for keepin’ it real :)
Cat says
I feel your pain!!! You are not the only ones. Our current plumbing issue is that We are renovating our downstairs bath, which is in the hall between the kitchen and garage. This bathroom was originally a bathroom/ laundry room when the home was built. The previous owners decided to take out the laundry room, put the laundry in the basement and in its place install a jacuzzi tub. That’s right, a jacuzzi tub in our downstairs bath, the ones our guests use. And to top it off, the previous owner installed it himself. He really did not know what he was doing. I just started uninstalling it this past weekend and discovered part way through that he had cut a big old hole in the floor and cut into a floor joist to accommodate his plumbing. Even more infuriating is the fact that he wallpapered over drywall mud and joint compound in some areas and removing the wallpaper from those areas has been a bear. We have so much to do with this bathroom, and its totally ripped up right now, but I don’t care, at least its progress. I’m glad to hear your drywall ceiling patch wasn’t too crazy expensive, that gives me some hope for the work I need to get done in there.
Alissa says
I think master bathrooms are cursed. My parents have lived in two two-story houses, and both of them had MAJOR problems with the master bathrooms being built wrong that necessitates ripping out floors/ceilings because they were leaking into the family room or kitchen respectively. Glad you got to the root of the problem and fixed it!
YoungHouseLove says
That stinks!
xo
s
Kristen says
Literally.
Sorry, I had to :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Laura says
Oh man. So not the only ones. Our 1938-built house has the plumbing configured all wrong (much of it is running through the outside walls instead of up through the floors). We live in Michigan, so this winter with our fairly regular subzero temperatures, obviously pipes and drains have been freezing all over the place. The plumber also said our water heater needs replacing and that the water meter makes no sense the ways it’s set up. So in addition to the new water heater and meter, we need to have the plumbing all rerun. Two story house = lots of holes in walls and ceilings to do so. eeeeeeeeegh.
(Reading this post made me feel better, though. Less alone in this deep dark homeowner place.)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, Laura! Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories. Commiseration Nation, baby.
xo
s
Jess says
You know what’s fun? When the previous owners heavily caulk around the base of a toilet which conceals the fact that it’s been leaking for who knows how long. Luckily, we were already ripping out that bathroom (that’s how we discovered it – it’s not a good sign when you pull your toilet out and the tile comes with it and the cement underneath is damp and crumbling)but all of the mold and subfloor issues it caused weren’t really fun to deal with. Not nearly as bad as having to deal with back ups and reconfigure plumbing but still pretty unpleasant.
YoungHouseLove says
Boooo!
xo
s
Amy says
Oh, man. That’s awful. A previous owner of our house GROUTED the base of the toilet to the tile floor. I don’t even want to know what has been going on under there.
YoungHouseLove says
Woah now!
xo
s
Starr @ The Kiefer Cottage says
We’ve dealt with a plumbing fiasco recently–we just replaced some of our cast iron pipes, one of which was splitting in half. But our main bathroom issue is that the “master bath”, which is about 15 square feet suffers from being as ugly as homemade sin with more flaws than you shake a stick at. I’ll take ugly and functional though…for now.
Taurie says
You know that Cory and Topanga are coming back with “Girl Meets World” this year, right?!
YoungHouseLove says
NO WAY! Dude, my day just got better knowing that.
xo
s
Mira K says
OMG, Sherry, you DO look like Topanga! And yes, they are coming out with sequel told from the perspective of Cory and Topanga’s daughter.
Abby J. says
We just had to replace our toilet ring too. Ugh was it an awful job. And I think we’ve both decided that next time paying for someone else to do it might be worth it.
Abby
MissCaron says
This past August we bought our 1956 concrete block ranch home in Jacksonville Beach and we’ve had more than our fair share of the “joys of home ownership” than we care to deal with. Evidently our plumbing has settled under the concrete slab and now we’re regularly “snaking” the drains. It’s that or we have to pay thousands to have someone come and bust up the concrete to install new plumbing and that’s not something we’re very much interested in. UGH.
Audrey says
Want to hear a gross story about South Texas? Well, we get lots of visitors from Mexico, and apparently, some people grew up throwing their used toilet paper IN THE TRASH!! so, any public place you go… nasty used toilet paper IN THE TRASH!! go visit some friends… UGLY USED TOILET PAPER IN THE TRASH!!!
Kate says
I live in the Middle East, and that’s a big thing here. The jist is that the pipes are almost always old and thin, and constant water shortages mean there’s only a bit in the bowl at a time, ie. not. enough for paper and number two.
You get used to it eventually…
Leah says
Audrey, that’s because their sewer systems often can’t handle toilet paper at all. That’s certainly the case in most of Latin America. I just try not to think about it when I visit there.
sp says
this is true for most places outside america – the plumbing system cannot handle toilet paper. better the paper in the trash than clogged toilets!
LMN says
My dear ole grammie who grew up on farm and now has Alzheimer’s does this. So gross. But ya can’t get mad at dear ole demented grammie :-)
minabey says
Same thing in Asia. It’s gross but we’re encouraged not to throw toilet paper in the toilet (mostly in public toilets, we don’t at home) to avoid clogging.
Richelle says
Totally with you, guys. Here’s ours:
We redid much of the electrical in our 1908 house in September, right before we moved in. They did a great job taking out all the fire-inducing elements and replacing them with nice, safe wires. (yay!). Sadly, they left no less than 22 holes in our plaster walls. Ouch. So we started plastering away (and are still plastering away) to close them all back up.
Meanwhile, the shower started leaking. So when you showered upstairs, you also showered the dining room. Doh. When Dave (hubs) put a paper towel up there to try and quell the drips for a minute, he went right through the ceiling. Double doh.
So then we cut 3 *more* holes in the office wall to find the plumbing leak. Which was on the side of the pipe closest to the bathroom wall. Of course. One very nice plumber later, we have only one showering location (inside the actual shower!) and 5 more holes.
On the upside, we’ve gotten very good at plastering…
YoungHouseLove says
Eeks! I love that you have an upside though. thanks to everyone for sharing their stories. Totally makes us feel better. We are all in this together! It’s us versus the house!
xo
s
Janice says
On Boxing Day (December 26, a statutory holiday in Canada), with my Mom still here from Christmas. Both toilets in my house decided not to flush. Fun. I plunged & plunged, but nothing was working. So, on a holiday, I had to call in a plumber. Yikes! He concluded it was from the recent ice storm, and there was ice in the vent stack. He got them to flush, and we thought we were OK. The next morning, the one upstairs almost overflowed. A month later, I am still to scared to try flushing it, and have only been using the toilet in the powder room downstairs. Maybe today will be the day. In my defense, I’ve been dealing with more urgent leaking window issues. Oh the joys of home ownership!
Sarah @ The Simple Home says
Oh, and is it just me or in the pic where you can see John through the floor, does he look like the new bachelor (Juan Pablo)?
Sarah
http://www.thesimplehomeblog.blogspot.com
YoungHouseLove says
People have been saying that lately! So funny! I’m happy to report that he’s not kissing a bunch of ladies and giving them roses. That I know of…
xo
s
Stephanie @ Sandpaper and Glue says
we had a really similar problem– we’d use water upstairs, & the basement toilet would overflow. The 2nd time it happened we learned that because we’re up on a hill in a wooded area, we need to have our pipes cleared out once a year to stop roots from growing in and clogging the pipes– and the reason we didn’t know this was because there was another hole elsewhere in the basement specifically for snaking out the pipes that the previous owners covered up & CEMENTED over to hide during selling, because it’ll cost $300/year!!
LMG says
The day after Christmas our 6 year old water heater (installed by previous owners) died–and we have a baby! When we found a trustworthy plumber available over the holidays, we found out the water heater wasn’t installed to code (despite an inspection by our energy provider contractor) abd worse–it was an illegally refurbished used model not covered by the warranty!! We were out $1150 right after the holidays (including new copper connections to replace the not-to-code stuff).
When we bought our first house, we made sure to keep our mortgage payment low enough so that we could put $200/month in our “home fund” just for this sort of thing. Thank goodness for that…
Jacqui says
Yuck! Glad you guys made it through!
We’ve got our own dilemma at our new “old” house. Former owner had 6 dogs, and locked them in the backroom. So there was a bit of a smell when we bought it :S But we refinished all the floors over the summer, and they looked great, until winter came, and the heat was turned on. Apparently the dog urine stains go all the way into the subfloor; no amount of resanding was going to take that smell out! Wish us luck!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, wishing you lots of luck! These stories are so sucky yet comforting. Thanks to you guys for baring all, right along with us :)
xo
s
Sara says
Plumbing problems = no fun! I thought you had a warranty for this house though. Would this problem be covered since it was pre-existing? Maybe I am misremembering… It is looking great! Sara
YoungHouseLove says
We had one (and actually got a free furnace out of the deal, which was awesome) but it sadly ran out before this fiasco. Should have renewed it! In the words of Cher: iffff I could tuuuuuurn back tiiiiiime…
xo
s
Carol says
How does the house KNOW when the home warranty runs out? We paid extra to have the washer/dryer covered for the first year, then failed to renew and the washer and dryer BOTH died. UGH!
YoungHouseLove says
I know, right?! I’m only slightly comforted by the fact that this most likely wouldn’t have been covered since the plumbing configuration was original to the house (aka: a “preexisting condition” and not something new that broke and should be under warranty). Still so crazy how it knows though!
xo
s
Larissa says
We bought our house in October and were replacing the main pipe from the house to the street in November. Surprise! Similar to your problem, the pipe was flowing uphill. Even though it was an existing problem our home warranty sent us some money to help pay. It was only about 25% of the total cost, but every little bit helps, right? I’m really glad that we did NOT use the home warranty’s people to do the work because their quote was significantly higher than what we ended up paying.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome, Larissa!
xo
s
debbie says
we have an eerily similar bathroom/toilet leaking/uphill slope story! long story short, after 3 months of living in our new to us 100 yr old home, we discovered the upstairs toilet was leaking and the subfloor was completely rotten underneath. because we planned on renovating that space eventually (and got a little help from insurance money), we fast tracked the project and started renovation right away. 6 months later (we did it all ourselves minus the plumbing), we have a brand new bathroom that we love. and what’s best is we only have to walk 5 feet to use the shower rather than all the way downstairs and to the other end of the house. homeownership can be rewarding and frustrating all at the same time!
Jessica says
Oh no, I hope Leak Lessons: Volume 3 isn’t on the way…
We remodeled our master bathroom recently (it was the original, vintage, 1950s pink and green…) The shower had been leaking for so long that the tiles crumbled and fell off of the wall…
Also, ever pull out a hair clog from a sink drain that is Burger-sized and decades old? Yeah…
Oh, one more for you…how about when your kitchen sink clogs because the pipes are too small, and the clog is so bad that you have to cut the pipe, at which point the pipe starts sending down a rain shower of feces-looking goop down your family room walls that are below the kitchen?
Generally, I hire plumbers now ;)
Hannah says
Ach, you’re well rid of that pesky pipe! Satisfying to know it’s fixed. We had a similarly annonying-cos-it-costs-money-you’d-rather-use-for=pretty-things thing happen just after we moved in to our new house. There were two pigeons who sort of came with our home. They were obviously a couple and quite in love. They liked to bask on our fence in the sunshine. Occasionally they would coo down the chimney, which was annoying, but hey we thought, each to his own. Anyway, one day we noticed that Mr. Pigeon was alone. Where was Mrs. Pigeon? We were sad for him, but then we went away and forgot about him (heartless?). When we got back, we were sitting drinking a cup of tea in the living room when we heard an almighty kerfuffle in the chimney breast behind the gas fire. Our eyes went to Mr Lonesome Pigeon, and back to the fire. To cut a long story short, we had to call a gas fitter, who charged us £150 to take the fire off the wall, liberate a very bedraggled and sooty and weak Mrs Pigeon, and re-attach the fire. Mr and Mrs P are now re-united (tho we do wonder, did she fall or was she pushed?) and every now and then, we hear them softly cooing down the chimney. Must get a cap for the chimney! Haha. I am grateful my tale did not involve sewage tho..!
YoungHouseLove says
Holy cow, er pigeon!
xo
s
jen says
“…or was she pushed?” HAHA! poor mrs p
minabey says
They were probably arguing passionately. hahaha
Nice story.
em says
This is dreadful. But, you should take comfort in the fact that 1) you were planning to remodel that bathroom anyway. It would have been much sadder if you had just installed new floor tiles and then had to cut a hole in them. AND 2) if you lived in the DC area, as I do, I can guarantee the damage to your wallet would be way more than $750! Seriously- what a bargain!
YoungHouseLove says
So true! We have a lot to be thankful for!
xo
s
Connie says
Is there any chance of your home warranty covering at least part of your costs? Maybe that’s just wishful thinking, but it’s worth asking.
YoungHouseLove says
We wish, but it actually ran out before this fiasco! Should have renewed it. We foolishly thought “whatever was going to break should have broken by now right, so we’ll keep the money instead of renewing it” – famous last words!
xo
s
Tory C says
Oh…getting ready to replace my entire HVAC system…no big deal…yikes!
YoungHouseLove says
Yikes, good luck Tory!
xo
s
Sarah says
That sucks major! When my husband and I rented we had a similar problem, but they just told us it was common and normally it just had to be unclogged every 5 years or so. After learning about your experience, I’m glad we don’t live there anymore!
Currently, we have a mystery water stain around one of our recessed lights in the ceiling. My biggest fear was that we had a hole in the ceiling but there wasn’t and there also wasn’t any evidence of water any where except around the recessed light. I’m thinking it is condensation??? Maybe?? Who knows.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, anyone have ideas for Sarah?
xo
s
Brianne says
Could be a roof leak? I have recessed lights in my sunroom and I noticed this winter I’m getting an ice dam in one area. So when the ice start to melts, it tracks down and water comes out of the recessed light right below it. Hoping to get it fixed in the spring. If you don’t have another floor above the room you’re talking about, it could be a similar problem?
Kaitie says
Oh boy, this reminds me of my plumbing saga last fall. The toilet started draining slowly or just clogging and almost overflowing whenever it flushed. I told my landlord about it (I had just moved in and didn’t have a plunger), and he came down and plunged it and said it was fine, and that everything upstairs was fine (he lives in the upstairs unit). Well, of course everything upstairs was fine, it had 10 vertical feet of plumbing to drain into, thereby making my problem worse.
Anyway, he basically didn’t do anything about it but plunge it a couple of times because he didn’t think there was a real problem. Things came to a head one night when I flushed the toilet and it completely overflowed at like 11pm. I cleaned it up (swearing all the time), then happened to look behind the shower curtain to see my tub was FILLED with raw sewage. I gave up and went to bed, natch.
The next morning, I heard a knock on my door at 6am and my landlord came in as I was leaving my room (which opens into the kitchen, with the bathroom about 6 feet away) and told me “Don’t come out here, there’s water on the floor,” just as my foot touched puddle. Apparently the other downstairs unit had the same problem and had called him. I went back to bed (after washing my foot). Luckily, my building is old and has slopey floors, and the slope was such that the water kind of collected in a corner and didn’t run into my bedroom or the rug in the living room. Anyway, my landlord cleaned it up and finally repaired the plumbing to the tune of $9000 (yes, 3 zeroes). I’m trying to think of a moral to the story, and I guess it would be “Listen to your damn downstairs tenants when they tell you something is seriously wrong with your 120 year old plumbing.”
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh, that sucks! So sorry you had to deal with that Kaitie!
xo
s
Kristen H says
I totally get it. December was my ‘curl up in fuzzy pants and hide’ month. Shortly after getting t-boned on my 40th birthday at the beginning of the month, I went upstairs to handle some ‘special’ wrapping of presents for my still-santa-believing niece, and saw three rather large stains on the ceiling in the guest bedroom. Cue the hysteric sobbing. Seems I had a roof leak, and of course NC was getting monsoon rains at the time. I’m in a townhouse, so thankfully it is covered by the HOA, but the guy just came back and painted it yesterday.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! I’m so sorry Kristen!
xo
s
Ali says
I adore the Burger staring down at John through the hole in the floor picture! I can see my little dog doing that – and wondering how to get to us… :)