Ok, now for the rest of the
story�.
Last spring, we tore out the
downstairs bathroom concrete floor. It seemed to be extra thick where
the shower floor was recessed 6� below the regular floor surface. Moved
the toilet; widened the shower; put the sink on the other wall. A buddy
put in the new ducting I was telling about along with a new furnace and A/C
unit in the basement. The floor is now all ceramic tile. I covered
what was left of the exposed joists in the ceiling with diagonal T&G
knotty pine with three coats of urethane spar varnish. There are five
small low-voltage, high-brightness lights recessed into the ceiling: two in
the shower and three over the sink. Wiring them was difficult. I
had to remove drywall and use a long drill bit to go up through a stud wall
top plate. Had to toss a snare over the wide flat furnace ducting to
catch a �fish� line and pull it to where I could attach some romex wire and
pull it through.
It all worked great for three
months.
One day, the toilet in that
upstairs bathroom wouldn�t quit running. My son jiggled the handle and
it quit. Then, I noticed a puddle of water on the new ceramic tile
downstairs. Cleaned it up.
A week or so later, same thing
happened again. The stopper in the upstairs toilet was becoming less
reliable. That didn�t bother me. The puddles did. What was
only leaking when the toilet was running non-stop. �No puddles with
regular flushes.
I remembered hearing that when
toilets run constantly, the water in the tank doesn�t get to room
temperature. The tank gets as cold as well water and sweats as it
dehumidifies the bathroom air. You can get a puddle on the floor under a
toilet that keeps running even if it doesn�t leak.
I pulled the toilet off and
replaced the seal and remounted the toilet and ran a new bead of caulk around
the base. The problem didn�t go away. Where was the leak from and
why would it start up 8 years after the installation?
A chill ran down my spine.
What if I had plugged the drain pipes together and forgot to put cement in one
of the joints. Maybe it just fit so tight that I didn�t notice that it
wasn�t glued. Maybe now it has just wrestled loose. It probably
leaks a couple of drops every time the toilet is flushed and drys out on top
of the ducting. I didn�t think that was the problem, but couldn�t
imagine what else.
Tuesday evening, the day before I
started writing about plumbing, I took as many screws as I could get to out of
the heating duct. I pulled off the duct edge connectors. There were
still some hanger screws that were inaccessible. Then I got my sawsall
and a new 9� metal cutting blade and cut through one of the screws. Then
I was able to tilt two pieces of duct down at an angle and look above
them.
Up there, above the stud wall, I
could see with a flashlight the romex wire coming up out of the drilled hole
in the stud wall top plate. Just above the wire hole was another hole in
the toilet drain pipe that I had drilled when I installed my wiring. It
was a little hole, but a hole none the less. And though I could see it,
It was not very accessible. To get better access, I would have to
remove more ducting.
I got the sawsall again and
started looking for hidden screws sandwiched in the crack between the pieces
of ducting. I found two more. I cut through one and as I was
cutting through the other, there was a sudden noise of a WOSHHHHHHHH of
water. It started spraying all over the place. I had sawed part
way through a screw and, at the same time, part way through a hot water pipe
just above it.
Do other people have these
problems?
I had a half hour to race to the
builders supply store before they closed. I got the stuff and fixed the two
pipes. I think I�m going to have to call my buddy the furnace guy to put
the ducting back up.
Tomorrow morning, I�m going to
replace all the brakes and rotors on my car. It�s possible I can do it
without creating more damage than I have to start with�.I�m sure it is.
I think maybe I should spend some
time in the book of Job and also in Psalms to keep my attitude right.
Can�t afford to have my attitude in a fragile state. I�ve got Adventure
Rangers keeping a keen eye on my attitude and my integrity. I�m pretty
sure they have almost a sixth sense about that, and the state of my heart
counts far more than the content of what I say or read to
them.
--Cdr. Dave Perich.
